World Book Day 2025

This World Book Day, our UK Content team members were asked to recommend a children’s book that stuck with them in recent years. They used prompts from the Renaissance Book Detectives game to discuss the stories they loved. For an added twist, everyone submitted a fun photo that tied into their recommendation in some way! Read on for their recommendations, photos and details of the associated Accelerated Reader quizzes. Why not download the book detectives game for your school and play along?

Happy World Book Day, and as always, happy quizzing!

Bev Sanford:
Oscar’s Lion by Adam Baron and Benji Davies | LY | BL 4.6 | #270561 | HarperCollins

I really fell in love with this book, which is full of heart, humour and meaning. It tells the story of Oscar, who wakes up one day to find that a lion is looking after him instead of his parents. Initially apprehensive, Oscar soon discovers that the lion is a lot of fun and they have some wonderful adventures together. And, incredibly, the lion transforms into other animals too before he makes an even more surprising transformation!

What really caught my heart with this book is the way that it subtly and carefully tackles important topics like grief, war and bullying, but within the realms of a wonderful magical adventure. We are with Oscar every step of the way, from his adventure in a wartime Spitfire to the heartbreaking moment that he hears the goldfinch-lion crying, and we feel everything that he feels.

Oscar’s Lion made me think of my grandparents, so I wanted to share this photo from their wedding day in the 1940s, before World War II ended. My grandad Fred Ross was a Telegraphist Air Gunner in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, and my nanny Doreen was in the ATS, directing anti-aircraft guns.

Lucy McGraw:
A Map for Falasteen by Maysa Odeh and Aliaa Betawi | LY | BL: 3.8 | #270391 | O’Brien Press

This World Book Day, I’m recommending A Map for Falasteen by Maysa Odeh. It tells the story of Falasteen, whose class is tasked with finding their families’ home countries on a map, but no matter how hard she looks, Falasteen can’t find Palestine. When she turns to her family for answers, they encourage her to see their homeland from a different perspective, and each of their stories helps her understand her people’s history and her own place in the world.

This book made me think about the meaning of home, and what home can look like for different people around the world. As someone who lives in a different country to where I was born, I feel like I now have two homes – one in America, and one in the UK. I feel very lucky and grateful to have a place to go home to, as well as family and friends to talk to when I feel homesick. This book made me think about what it might feel like for people like Falasteen and so many others, who can’t find their home on a map. I imagined the heartbreak they might feel without a homeland to return to, along with the pride and joy they might experience while carrying their home with them in their hearts.

To celebrate this book, I cross-stitched the flag of Palestine, Falasteen’s homeland, made up of symbols that can be found in the illustrations in the book. This image was designed by Etsy artist hibstitches.

Kerry McGuire:
The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings | UY | BL: 2.4 | #241094 | Hodder Children’s Books

What I loved most about the graphic novel The Sad Ghost Club was the way the author used cute illustrations and light-hearted humour to put across a really important message to teenagers about mental health. For me, the best part of the story is when the two ghosts, SG and Socks, sit on the bench for the first time and see a shooting star go past, making them think that the universe wanted them to meet.

I find SG’s character especially interesting as SG is a little bit of a mystery in this instalment of the series, and as readers, we aren’t yet sure of the cause of SG’s anxiety. A lot of the everyday worries that SG expresses will be relatable to any teenager who feels even a little socially anxious in a group setting. I hope that young readers will finish the book with the feeling that there is a friend out there for everyone.

Krista Culbertson:
Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer by Jeffrey Boakye | MY | BL: 5.3 | #270094 | Faber and Faber

Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer absolutely tickled my funny bone. Jeffrey Boakye vibrantly brings to life the nostalgia of being a child in the summertime – when the sun is hot, the music is loud, you are invincible and everything in life is ahead of you. Kofi and his friend Kelvin get into all sorts of shenanigans in a story that feels like watching episodes of your favourite sitcom. As a 90s baby, the soundtrack was so loud – both figuratively in my head and loudly whenever I needed to hear a song that was mentioned. I always hear Shanice’s “I Love Your Smile” when I think of this book.

The characters are so vibrant, memorable and funny as heck. I want to live in this world. One of my favourite parts was when Kelvin showed off his excellent rap skills; we love an underdog story! What was most surprising for me was the one-two punch towards the end of the story when it tackles the realities of the Black British community’s relationship with the police in the 1990s. Joy and pain can exist in the same stories, just like they do in real life.

Peter Smith:
Brrr! Where Did the Dinosaurs Really Go? by Kes Gray and Nick East | LY | BL 3.7 | #244039 | Hodder Children’s Books

Brrr! Where Did the Dinosaurs Really Go? by Kes Gray and Nick East has been one of my favourite books in recent years. If I had to describe it in three words, I would say: dinosaurs, knitting, and fun. Of these, “fun” is perhaps the most important (although we all know that dinosaurs make everything cooler, it’s just a fact). Telling the story of the last days of the dinosaurs, who are struggling to stay warm as an Ice Age begins and have to be saved by the knitting T-rexes, it appeals to the inner child. It takes you away from the grind of everyday life and makes you smile. It epitomises “reading for pleasure”.

Laura Claridge:
Dim Sum Palace by X. Fang | LY | BL 2.7 | #270490 | Pushkin

Dim Sum Palace is an absolute feast for the senses! The delicious smell, which is wafting at the start, draws the reader into a palace where they will find tasty-looking dim sum that proves to be a very satisfying meal. I loved the way this book engaged my eyes, mouth, and nose to appreciate all of this, giving me as hungry a stomach as Liddy’s! When the time came, my ears were alert to Liddy’s shouts, which changed the course of events.

My brain also responded by prompting me to remember special times being taught by my husband and mother-in-law to wrap dumplings, as we talked and shared our own stories.  I also really enjoyed the dreamlike quality of the book. This comes through very strongly from the wonderful illustrations that help to tell the story, taking over from the words in places. These illustrations have such a vibrancy and a vivid sense of texture to them that I am convinced I know how everything pictured would feel to touch! I loved this book, and I hope you will, too…
Here I am stepping into the world of another food-related picture book – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.