Books
I've divided the books on this page into:
- Novels
- You Choose
- Picture books
- Winnie the Witch
- Read On
- Tadpoles
- Reading Ladder
- Oxford Reading books
- Adult Novels
- Collins Big Cats Phonics
- Collins Big Cat
- Reading Planet
Novels
The Twisted Threads of Polly Freeman
isbn 1910611220
It's 1838. Polly is sent from a London workhouse to Quarry Bank Cotton Mill. The family who own Quarry Bank care for their apprentice children better than most mills of that time do. But Polly finds that she is owned by the mill just as the slaves in America who grow the raw cotton for the mill are owned. Can Polly and her friend Min escape? What surprises will Polly discover about her own family? A life or death adventure in which Polly Freeman learns who she is and what she wants.
Ginny's Egg
Illustrated by Adria Meserve
isbn 9781909991378
A re-issue of this novel, newly illustrated. Ginny finds an egg that is different from the other ones, and she hatches out a baby dragon that grows fast. What should she do with her dragon? In the background of Ginny's story, her parents come to terms with the birth of her baby brother with Down's syndrome.
The Great Sea Dragon Discovery
isbn 9781910611081
Set in the village of Grantchester, near Cambridge, in 1860, this is the story of Bill's struggle to save his family. Set in a time of coprolite mining, Bill is finding fossils that are of interest to Cambridge academics in this year when Darwin's theories were being discussed. And Bill makes an astounding discovery! This story could work well as an introduction to the topic of evolution for KS2 children. It includes a historical Afterword that explains where real history meets fiction.
Winner of the Young Quills Award for best historical children's novel 2019
A Dog Called Flow
Illustrated by Anthony Lewis
isbn 9781909991163
A re-issue of the book originally entitled simply 'Flow', this story has proved particularly popular as a class reader in Junior schools. Oliver struggles at school and longs for a dog to be a friend. He secretly gets a puppy, Flow, who also has problems, but, in an exciting adventure on the fells, both boy and dog prove themselves. Click Activities to find more information and teaching materials for this book.
Shortlisted for the Kathleen Fidler Award
Finding Fortune
isbn 978-1846471599
In 1897 tens of thousands of people travelled to remote north-western Canada after fortunes in gold were found in the Klondike area. This is the story of Ida and her father as they join that gold rush, running away from unhappiness at home, but in hopes of new beginning. An adventure story which twists and turns, but also very much the story of the relationship between daughter and father, and with domineering Grandmama back home.
To read of the family history, and ring, which led to the writing of this story, go to the blog on The History Girls
Raven Boy
isbn 978-1846470257
Set in 1666, during plague and the Great Fire in London, this is an exciting adventure story about a boy who wants revenge on the King. The boy character is taken from Pepys’ Diary where he describes a boy blagging his way into the household of the Lord Lieutenant of the Tower of London. I gave that boy a friend and mentor in the shape of a cunning raven, and the story ‘explains’ the myth about ravens at the Tower.
Shortlisted for the Stockport Children’s Book of the Year.
You Choose
Short, early reading books with colour illustrations...
You
Choose
Illustrated by Nick Sharratt
hardback isbn 9780552560351
paperback isbn 0552547085 - New tenth anniversary edition with added stickers.
A big catalogue full of pictures to browse through and choose the things we'd all like to be able to choose in real life, if only we could - where to live, who to live with, what pets to have, what to wear, what to eat, where to sleep, and more. Hundreds of different choices, some sensible, some daft. This book was chosen as a picture book to be given to all three year olds by Bookstart charity, but the book works well with a wide age range (including adults), as something to be looked at alone or as a focus for discussion or even as a starting point for story ideas.
It has also been given away to Year 7 children through the Booked Up scheme.
Winner of the 2011 Mumsnet Children’s Book of the Year for 3-4 Year Olds.
Shortlisted for the Coventry Inspiration Awards.
Winner of York Library’s Favourite Children’s Picture Book Ever.
NB The latest edition of the book has the added extra of shiny card pages with part stories and letters to be completed by choosing stickers and sticking them in to make your own story.
You Choose Colouring Book
Illustrated by Nick Sharratt
isbn: 978 0552564717
The whole award-winning You Choose picture book for you to colour; quite a challenge! Plus sixty stickers to have fun with.
You Choose Your Dreams
Illustrated by Nick Sharratt
isbn 0241334977
Formerly published as Just Imagine, this bright fun catalogue of visual ideas asks you to imagine yourself differently. Perhaps so tall you could look down on an aeroplane? So small you could fly a bird? What if you could do magic? Or be made of something different? Stretch your imagination!
You Choose Fairy Tales
Illustrated by Nick Sharratt
isbn (hardback): 0141378972
With its shimmering golden cover, this You Choose book offers fun with fairy tale characters as you make choices that will take you on your own fairy tale story journey. Who will you be? What about companions? Equipment? What foe might you face? Don't forget to choose what to wear and eat, and much much more.
You Choose in Space
Illustrated by Nick Sharratt
isbn: 9780141379296
Spreads rich in pictures of space crafts, planets, aliens, jobs and foods and places and animals and more. Food for fun discussion and choices and story-making, in the same format a perennially popular You Choose.
Picture Books
Best Test
Illustrated Anna Doherty
isbn: 978-1910328743
A group of small creatures create an obstacle race to test their skills and work out which of them is 'the best'. But they get a surprise! A good book for getting children to consider the question of being 'best', and whether or not it is important.
Fair Shares
Illustrated by Augusta Kirkwood
isbn: 1910328502
Bear and Hare can't work out how to share out chairs and pears because giving
each the same doesn't give the same result for each. But a small beetle teaches
them wisdom... before eating their chairs! A story about the difference between
things being equal and things being equitable.
Click here to see Pippa reading Fair Shares
This or That
Illustrated with artefacts from The British Museum
isbn (hardback): 978-1788002592
Would you like to wear a toga or trousers? Would you play with a doll or dice? Would you live in a tent or tree? This picture book encourages children to make their own choices from lots of amazing photographed objects from the British Museum and a QR code so you can find out more about them.
Daddy Frog And the Moon
Illustrated by Augusta Kirkwood
isbn: 1999955625
A lyrical story in which Daddy Frog seeks the perfect gift to show Baby Frog how
much he loves her. But, meanwhile, we see that he is missing out as Baby Frog
develops from tadpole to small hoppy frog... but all ends hoppily happily as at last
they come to understand each other.
Click here to see Pippa reading Daddy Frog and the Moon
All Sorts
Illustrated by Emily Rand
hardback isbn: 9781912497218
Frankie likes to sort things, toys, foods, flowers, then trees and vehicles and animals. But the problems start when she tries sorting people. And the hardest of those to sort is... her! But Frankie comes to realise that, 'Everyone and everything belongs in a muddle... and it works like that!'
Chapatti Moon
Illustrated by Lizzie Finlay
isbn: 9781848531284
Mrs Kapoor cooks herself a delicious dinner, but a honking goose makes her drop a chapatti that rolls away, leading to a chase all over the place by a growing band of animals and people. But Mrs Kapoor gets her chapatti in the end, and it tastes 'wonderfully moony'!
My Very Own Space
Illustrated by Rebecca Crane
isbn: 9781911171126
Little text, but with lots being shown in Rebecca's lovely expressive pictures, this picture book shows the story of Jack rabbit's attempt to find some peace and quiet in which to read his Space Bunny book - but then begins to miss his friends and family after all.
A Bottle of Happiness
Illustrated by Ehsan Abdollahi
isbn: 9781910328200
Very beautifully illustrated by Iranian artist Ehsan Abdollahi, this is a modern fable about what is of real value in life. We follow Pim and dog Tiddle as Pim tries to take happiness over the mountain in a bottle. Can it possibly work?
Winnie the Witch
Under the author name 'Laura Owen', but written by me, these are books with four short stories in each about Winnie the Witch and her cat Wilbur, famous from the picture books. Wonderfully, madly, energetically, funnily illustrated in black and white by the inimitable Korky Paul. As you can imagine, they've been great fun to write, and there are more books on the way.
Winnie and Wilbur: The Santa Surprise
Illustrated by Korky Paul
paperback isbn: 9780192767462
hardback isbn: 9780192767455
The very first chapter book about Winnie the Witch and Wilbur! Winnie thinks that its not fair that Santa who gives so many presents doesn't himself get a visit from Santa, so she and Wilbur set out to put that right. Full of magical disasters and wonders and fun, this books is fully illustrated with coloured pictures.
Read With Oxford: Stages 4-6
These are the stories already published as Winnie and Wilbur story books (scroll down to see), but carefully trimmed and reworked, and the pictures coloured, to make reading books within the Read with Oxford scheme:
Stage 4:
Winnie Makes Trouble
isbn: 978-0192773739
Buy from Hive
Winnie in the Sun
isbn: 978-0192773760
Buy from Hive
Chilly Winnie
isbn: 978-0192773746
Buy from Hive
Winnie at Work
isbn: 978-0192773753
Buy from Hive
Winnie's Witchy Tales
isbn: 978-0192773777
Buy from Hive
Winnie's Holiday Fun
Isbn: 978-0192773722
Buy from Hive
Stage 5:
Tidy Up, Winnie
isbn: 978-0192765239
Buy from Hive
It's Teatime, Winnie
isbn: 978-0192765215
Buy from Hive
Winnie Dresses Up
isbn: 978-0192765222
Buy from Hive
Winnie's Awful Aunties
isbn: 978-0192769176
Buy from Hive
Tellytastic Winnie
isbn: 978-0192769152
Buy from Hive
Time Travel, Winnie
isbn: 978-0192769169
Buy from Hive
Stage 6:
Go, Winnie, Go!
isbn: 978-0192765253
Buy from Hive
Winnie's Problem Pets
isbn: 978-0192765260
Buy from Hive
Party Time, Winnie
isbn: 978-0192769183
Buy from Hive
Winnie's Outdoor Fun
isbn: 978-0192765246
Buy from Hive
Winnie's Animal Antics
isbn: 978-0192769206
Buy from Hive
Warbling Winnie
isbn: 978-0192769190
Buy from Hive
The Misadventures of Winnie The Witch
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn: 9780192734617
A gift edition of eight of the story book stories about Winnie the Witch and Wilbur, with the original black and white illustrations enlarged and colour tinted. The collection includes favourite stories, Winnie's Knickers and Car Boot Winnie.
Winnie Spells Trouble
illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748461
Winnie finds herself in all sorts of trouble; trouble in running the afterschool club, trouble when Auntie Aggie comes to stay, trouble in Ancient Egypt, and even trouble with her own double!
Winnie Adds Magic
illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748478
What will Wilbur think when Winnie decides to get a new kitten? And what will happen with Winnie and Wilbur decide to go camping, bring magic into school, and even find themselves in full armour, competing in a medieval joust?!
Winnie The Bold
illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748485
What will Wilbur think when Winnie decides to get a new kitten? And what will happen with Winnie and Wilbur decide to go camping, bring magic into school, and even find themselves in full armour, competing in a medieval joust?!
Winnie's Alien Sleepover
illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748492
Wilbur gets the chance to star in a TV advert, but it’s studying the real stars in the sky that brings Winnie into contact with an interesting alien. Magic gets zapping when Winnie loses her beloved teddy bear, and it produces very strange results when she tries riding a bike instead of a broom!
Spookie Winnie
isbn 9780192748454
This time Winnie is helping out with the school’s Halloween party, turning back time, struggling with wayward wands!
Winnie Goes Wild
isbn 9780192748447
Winnie turns detective, has a day of doing things differently, finds herself and Wilbur in the jungle, and resorts to magical measures in order to keep warm.
Nitty Winnie
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn: 9780192748430
In which Winnie Abracadabras a time machine to whisk Wilbur and herself back to dinosaur times, organises a witchily Winnie-style wedding, finds herself stranded in a sandcastle as the tide comes in ... and mixes nits and maypole dancing with hair-raising results.
Winnie Goes For Gold
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748423
There's a wackily Winnie-style Olympic feel to the school Sports Day when Winnie decides to help out, and ends-up as a winner herself! In the other stories in this book, Winnie tries her hand at babysitting, throws a house party that gets out of hand, and tries to save some birds from extinction.
Winnie shapes Up
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748416
What happens when you attach a sat nav to a broom? Aliens happen! In the four stories in this book, Winnie and Wilbur don’t only sort out their alien problem. They also try to get fit, enter a pancake race, and try to help the children with their sponsored silence. Magic makes mayhem of them all!
Winnie Takes the Plunge
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748409
When Winnie gets flushed down the toilet and out to sea, who do you think will save her? Wilbur the cat and Jerry the giant, of course! Only Winnie could make music from squeaky mice, and make a street party that even a shy giant can enjoy. But how will she react to an encounter with a not very friendly abominable snowman? Read and find out!
Winnie Goes Batty
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748386
In which Winnie joins the circus as a high wire act that turns her into a clown, she floats off in a bubble to get away from her troubles … and finds some new ones, she digs such a deep hole in a search for treasure that she creates a cooling swimming pool and discovers new bugs, and she goes in search of bats to cook but decides that she likes them better as friends.
Chosen for the Richard And Judy Children’s Book Club.
Chosen for the libraries’ Summer Reading Challenge
Winnie On Patrol
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748393
Winnie takes over crossing patrol duties at school with results that please the children more than the adults. She tries out ordinary life, and decides that being a witch is best after all. Winnie tries to get her house into order, but the furniture starts to take over. And she wants the perfect costume to win her the fun run … but the costume she ends up in wins her something quite different.
Winnie's Big Catch
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748379
Winnie goes into production with a new line in knickers, she tries to tidy her life, she takes to the football field during a vital match, and she gives Wilbur the birthday treat of his dreams when she takes him out in Stinky Stan’s fishing boat.
Whizz-Bang Winnie
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748324
In which Winnie loses Wilbur one hot day, Winnie hatches some eggs with interesting results, Winnie tries to help out on the school’s Book Day, and Winnie joins in a race and gives the men a run for their money!
Giddy-Up, Winnie!
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748362
In which Winnie decides to go horse racing, invites her awkward relatives to tea, makes the garden rather special for a visit by the children from school, and takes a different kind of holiday. All helped, of course, by good old Wilbur.
Shortlisted for the Coventry Inspirational Books Award,
Raring 2 Read book of the year.
Winnie Says Cheese
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748331
In which Winnie meets her match with a grumpy tooth fairy, where she creates a one-witch band, where she tries, not very successfully, to make herself more beautiful, and where Wilbur's chances at the cat show are put in jeopardy by fleas!
Winnie The Hive
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748355
Mini Winnie
Illustrated by Korky Paul
isbn 9780192748348
In which Winnie and Wilbur have to cope with a visit from an awful Auntie, Winnie tries her hand as a cleaner at the school, Winnie uses a ghost writer to help her enter a poetry competition ((note the ghost writer’s initials!), and when Winnie gets shrunk to the size of a teaspoon.
Read on
Short, colour-illustrated, fast-paced books for teenagers. Easy to read.
This Boy
Illustrated by Iva Sasheva
isbn 9780007464708
A romantic ghost story in which young Kerry meets the ghost of a young man killed in the First World War; a young man who gives her something rather special…
Tadpoles
Short, early reading books with colour illustrations..
Dragon Magic
Illustrated by Lesley Danson
1405282444
A story about how getting to know people can be the best form of ‘defence’ The King is in a flap about strangers coming, so he orders Big John the Blacksmith to make a strong gate to keep them out. But Big John’s dragon, Huff, is too old to breath much fire, so Jess finds a new dragon, Puff, who enables her father to make a gate that is strong, but not in the way that the King had expected.
Dragon Boy
Illustrated by Martin Ursell
isbn 9781405282383
Grandpa tells Lily a strange tale of a boy who was brought up by dragons. 'And was that boy you, Grandpa?' asks Lily.
Oxford Reading Books
The Reading Web books are the very simplest of little reading books, but Oxford Reading Tree's Treetops readers provide proper short novels with chapters and lots of illustrations for extending reading at different levels.
Rocket Girl
Illustrated by Ben Whitehouse
isbn: 9780198414742
A wordless story for pre-readers, showing a dropped present of a toy rocket girl coming to life to make her own way to the birthday girl she was intended for.
The Ups and Downs of Elodie Taylor
Illustrated by Alessia Tunfio
isbn: 9780198421306
A (20,000 word) chapter story about Elodie who longs to make her parents proud, but who tends to get things wrong. She may be slow at reading and bad at spelling, but surely she can win at something? She finds her way to shine in a surprising way that makes her Grandma, visiting from Trinidad, very proud indeed.
Puss in Boots
Illustrated by Thomas Radcliff
isbn 9780198305897
Youngest brother of three, Jack, inherits just a cat whilst his brothers get the mill and the donkey. But that cat soon proves to be an exceptionally clever one that wins Jack both love and a big enough fortune to make his brothers cross!
Sleeping Beauty
Illustrated by Bee Willey
isbn 9780198305927
Princess Aurora is having a lovely christening party until the fairy who hadn't been invited arrives! She will have to sleep for a hundred years, but will find happiness at the end of that, as will somebody surprising in this new twist to the tale.
The Frog Prince
Illustrated by Yannick Robert
isbn 9780198339564
The traditional tale told with a child princess who doesn’t want to be friends with a cold wet frog. But a promise is a promise…
The Jungle Book
Illustrated by Mike Spoor
isbn 9780198448624
t was fascinating to read the entire original Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling, and then select and rework them to produce a single episodic story following Mowgli’s life from being adopted by wolves when he was a baby, through adventures with friends Baloo, Bagheera and Kaa, fighting the tiger Shere Khan, and finally having to decide whether to live as an animal or a man.
Tom Thumb And The Football Team
Illustrated by Philippe Dupasquier
isbn 9780199151868
A retelling of the traditional story of Tom Thumb, but in this version Tom Thumb is the inventor of table football - and King Arthur becomes a fan!
Sister
Ella
Illustrated by Jane Bottomley
isbn 9780199184514
What if Cinderella didn't tell the truth and actually it was the step sisters she labelled as 'ugly' who were actually nicer and Ella who was the spoilt one? This is the journal written by one of those sisters. Pages at the back tell about what life was like in the eighteenth century.
Snooty
Prune
Illustrated by Peter Kavanagh
isbn 9780198447702
Prunella doesn't like her name or the way she looks, so when she tries to get a friend by writing to a pen pal club she makes herself sound more interesting than she really is. But she mightn't be the only one playing that game!
Hamper's
Great Escape
Illustrated by Caroline Holden
isbn 9780198447603
Clare and Sam's hamster escapes. They need to find it quickly because Gran (or is it Grandad?) is scared stiff of mice.
Collins Big Cats Phonics
The Grasshopper and the Ants
Illustrated by Janbjuan Oliver
isbn: 9780008352059
The traditional Aesop fable, but with a slightly kinder ending!
Red Hen
Illustrated by Kay Hiatt
isbn: 978-0007516339
An early reader version of the traditional tale.
Collins Big Cats
Oh No, Rosie!
Illustrated by Sian James
isbn: 978-0008398958
When Megan is told that she is going to have to move house and school, she is comforted by the promise of a dog. Rosie isn't the dog she had in mind, but proves useful in making new friends.
Reading Planet
Rising Stars, White Galaxy: The Little Mermaid
isbn: 9781510441736
A child friendly early reader version of Andersen's traditional tale. In this story, Margaret, a child mermaid, wishes she had legs so that she could join the children playing on the beach.