English Chapter Books

Romesh Ranganathan

Ever since his dad left, James can't seem to stop worrying about everything. His favourite hobby, baking, is a fun (and delicious!) distraction, but no matter how many amazing brownies he makes, James still feels like there's a missing ingredient in his life... Until he discovers rapping, and he's completely hooked. It's not long before James starts writing his own raps about everything -- from music and cakes to his giant pet rabbit, Graham! So when he hears that grime artist star Brukka is on the hunt for young talent, James starts to wonder -- could this be his chance to share his muffins, his music, and maybe even his feelings with the whole school? 

Kate McKinnon 

After getting kicked out of the last etiquette school that would take them, the Porch sisters expect to be sent away for good - until they receive a mysterious invitation to a new school. Suddenly they're under the tutelage of the infamous Millicent Quibb - a mad scientist with worms in her hair and oysters in her bathtub. At 231 Mysterium Way, the pizza is fatal, the bus is powered by Gerbils, and the Dean of Students is a hermit crab. Dangerous? Yes! More fun than they've ever had? Absolutely! But when the sisters are asked to save their town from an evil cabal of nefarious mad scientists, they must learn to embrace what has always made them stand out, and determine what side they're on - before it's too late!

Vashti Hardy

Twelve-year-old Rose can't remember anything before last week, when she woke up not knowing her own name, her own house or even her own mother. The only thing Rose recognised was her puppy, North. But Mother patiently explained everything – well, not everything. Not the real-feeling dreams Rose has about a mysterious forest she half-recognises. Or why she is not allowed to stray beyond the garden, out into Luminelle, the vast city surrounding them. Mother is kind and helpful, but Rose can't shake the feeling that something's not right. Or maybe it's everything that's not right? But then, when Rose flees to the outside world with North, it quickly becomes clear to Rose that she is different. And for reasons she doesn't understand, she's dangerous. On an unforgettable journey of discovery, Rose uncovers life-altering truths about the city she's in, the people around her and ultimately herself.

Rebecca Stead

Nathan never understood what was 'fun' about secrets, probably because he's always had to keep a very big one, even from his best friend, Victor. Although he appears to be a typical grade-six kid, Nathan learned at an early age that his family is from another planet, and he's part of an experiment to work out how to behave like a human and blend in. But the experiment suddenly seems to be going wrong. Some of the other experimenters, including Nathan's first crush, Izzy, are disappearing without a word. After his family is called back to the mothership, Nathan begins to question everything he's been taught to believe about who he is and why he's on Earth. Can he, Victor and Izzy uncover the truth?

Aubrey Hartman

Clare is the undead fox of Deadwood Forest. Here, leaves grow in a perpetual autumn: not quite dead but not quite alive - just like Clare, who leads a solitary life guiding souls to their final resting place. Clare's quiet and predictable days are met with upheaval when a badger soul named Gingersnipes knocks on his door. Despite Clare's efforts to usher her into the Afterlife, Gingersnipes is unable to leave Deadwood. This is unprecedented. Baffling. A disturbing mystery that threatens the delicate balance between the living and the dead. Desperate for help, Clare and Gingersnipes set out on a treacherous journey to find Hesterfowl, the visionary grouse who recently foretold turmoil in Deadwood. But upon their arrival, Hesterfowl divulges a shocking revelation that leaves Clare devastated, outraged, and determined to do anything to change his fate.

Waka T. Brown 

Twelve-year-old Rick Kotani is looking forward to a summer of baseball with his less-than-mediocre team and hanging out with friends until his mother tells him they'll be temporarily moving to Oregon for the summer to help his Japanese American grandfather transition into a retirement home. Things begin to look up when he bonds with his grandfather and he joins an ultra-competitive baseball team. When a traditional Japanese folktale his grandfather tells him about a fisherman who trades his simple life for an underwater paradise begins to parallel events in his own life, Rick learns choice lessons about treasures more valuable than money and winning.

Jessie Ann Foley 

Nadine is sent to live with her grandmother in the small town of Centralia, Illinois while her mother goes through rehab. It's not ideal, but she's determined to keep her head down until things go back to the way they were. When she's partnered with her neighbor Francis for a school project, she can't help but notice that he's being bullied by the other kids. Though she vows not to get involved, their project on the Great Tornado of the New Millennium--an F4 tornado that hit the town and killed his mother when he was an infant--has the pair delving into details about the freak tornado, finding friendship in one another, and discovering a mysterious weather book.

Lisa Thompson

Cory is coming to dread having the Sunday Scaries. The kids at school are picking on him because of his cheesy daytime TV presenter father and he's struggling with lessons. Ahead of a Monday comprising a maths test and another lonely lunchbreak, Cory wishes that the weekend would never end and when he wakes up the next day, time has reset itself to Sunday morning. This is amazing! He can re-watch his favourite football team win a big match and have pizza for dinner, do-over some less brilliant things, plus play the lottery to win! But Cory soon gets frustrated with being stuck in this time loop – he may win the lottery, but the next day never arrives when he can spend the money. He must break the curse and return to normality – but how?

Kate Foster

Eleven-year-old Oli is spending his school holidays at Heroes Club, where kids can build friendships and learn about their emotions, but Oli just wants to be home ... where it's familiar, not-so-boring and he can play his favourite game. But when Oli and the other kids at the club see a stray dog who keeps disappearing into a soon-to-be-demolished building across the street, Oli and his four fellow heroes hatch a daring rescue plan to save the dog before it's too late. It's going to take bravery, some seriously smart teamwork ... and a few broken rules.

Maria De Jong

Twelve-year-old Folly is angry and grieving for her mum. She isn't ready for Dad's plans for a new life in Auckland with his new girlfriend. So Folly runs away with the one person who truly understands: her wise pony, Tooth. With her mother's ashes in her backpack, Folly sets off to the fabled Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of New Zealand. Through tourist towns and wilderness, across beaches, roads and forest tracks, Folly and Tooth find both adventure and hardship. But then a spur-of-the-moment choice sets danger on their tail. Girl and horse must fight to survive together - to the very end of the road.

Padma Venkatraman

After moving to Rhode Island from India in the wake of her parents' divorce, Geetha is struggling to find her way. She's forced to leave everything she knows, and she quickly becomes a target for bullies due to her clothes, her food, and her English. Thankfully, she makes a friend in Miguel, who shares her love of music, and their bond grows when they rescue an injured harp seal stranded on the beach. While visiting the seal in the rehabilitation center, Geetha decides to help in her own way, and she and Miguel start a beach-clean-up project, which leads her to meet other kind kids. Slowly but surely, Geetha starts to open up and find a safe harbor of her own as she finds a place to belong.

Jennifer L. Holm 

Razzi has always been told: don't go Outside. It isn't safe. There are people and creatures out there that will harm you. The walls of the Refuge will protect you from them. Razzi's friend Ollie was curious about Outside--and it led to his death. So Razzi is trying to be on her best behavior. She is the oldest kid left, the one the younger kids look up to. She has to follow the rules. But Outside has a way of getting in, and Razzi, guided by a dog she has a strangely close connection with, wonders what it's like to run free beyond the walls. If she steps away from everything she's ever known, what will she find?

Padraig Kenny

Stitch and his friend Henry Oaf were brought to life by the genius Professor Hardacre. But when his wicked nephew takes over the laboratory, they soon discover that the new professor's sights are set on Henry as his next experiment. Can Stitch and Henry escape his clutches and make their way in a world they were never built for--and that may only ever see them as monsters? 

Erin Entrada Kelly

When 12-year-old Lila's estranged Grandpa Clem dies, she has to spend the summer in Ohio while her parents decide what to do with Grandpa Clem's creepy Victorian Inn. Even worse, strange things keep happening. En route to Ohio, the family gets into a scary car accident. No one's hurt, but the remainder of the trip is ... odd. At every rest stop, Lila sees people in weird old-fashioned clothes. People no-one else can see or hear ... Lila convinces herself it's just her overactive imagination until the day of the funeral when she spots an old man. She does a double take - it's him, Grandpa Clem. He tells Lila that he didn't die of a heart attack: he was murdered. Possibly by someone who wants to control the inn. Because it's not a normal bed and breakfast: it's a portal between the land of the living and the realm of the dead. A hotel for ghosts passing onto the afterlife. 

Kwame Alexander & Jerry Craft

J is the best artist in the fifth grade, while K is the best writer. When they both decide to enter their school's annual creative storytelling competition, the two develop a rivalry and try to undermine each other in order to win. However, when they realize that their best chance of winning might be collaborating, they discover both friendship and fun. 

Calyssa Erb

Maya lives and breathes musicals. When her chance to finally be a part of the summer musical program at the community theater comes up, Maya is convinced she will get the lead. After all, who knows The Drowsy Chaperone better than she does? However, things don't turn out exactly the way Maya's planned, and the summer turns out to be jam-packed with problems: dealing with her best friend's move, her parents' busy jobs, and--since her autism diagnosis--the ongoing puzzle of how to be Maya in Public. But perhaps most important of all, Maya has to figure out how to play the part that truly feels like her own.

Sarvenaz Tash

Eleven-year-old Roya is the superintendent’s kid in her regal Brooklyn apartment building, so she knows pretty much everything there is to know about its residents. An aspiring reporter, she even hosts a secret podcast about the lives of the building’s tenants. It’s a good distraction from the problems in her own life. 

But when Katya Petrov, one of her favorite tenants, goes missing, Roya discovers an eerie connection to Grandmother’s Predictions, an antique fortune-telling machine at Coney Island. "Grandmother" has been linked to multiple disappearances in the Petrov family over the last century. Now, with the help of a new friend who’s just moved in, it’s up to Roya to make her own headlines as she searches for Katya and attempts to break the Petrov curse once and for all.

Kat Zhang with Eric Darnell

Amy has always loved art, but lately her drawings have been less than impressive. There's no passion, no personality, no...magic. Until Amy visits her Lao Lao, her grandmother, and finds an ancient paintbrush that brings anything Amy creates to life!

Now her creation Luna has taken over her bedroom and is running through the streets of Flushing, Queens. What awaits: an international adventure filled with an ancient Chinese legend, a greedy adversary and ghastly beasts!

Beth Ferry 

The Tupper family lives at Number 3 Ramshorn Drive, where young Jillian dotes on her beloved houseplant, Ivy, much to the chagrin of Toasty the goldfish, who is technically the family pet. Things get even worse for Toasty with the arrival of Arthur, a knowledgeable spider with a broken leg and a curious mind, and Ollie, a school houseplant who just wants to be friends and sing. But when Toasty splashes the plants with water from his antique octagonal fish tank, the plants develop magical powers. The residents of Number 3 Ramshorn Drive soon realize that Toasty's tank isn't an ordinary fish tank but was created by a curious inventor who gave it special powers, and they must work together to keep it out of the hands of a greedy man.

Martin Howard

Mallory Vayle would list her interests as being normal, books about ponies and very definitely NOT talking to dead people. But when her parents' carriage takes a leap off Gibbett Bridge - an accident for which there appears to be no explanation - she is taken in by a strange aunt the family disowned years ago and brought to her new, and very spooky, home. Aunt Lilith, a charlatan psychic, is quick to monetise Mallory's prodigious skills in talking to dead people and starts to advertise grand seances in her spiritual news sheet. The ghosts of her parents also take up residence in the house but are cruelly snatched away by the shadow of Hellysh Spatzl, the grimmest, wickedest necromancer in all of history. To get them back, Mallory will have to learn how to use the talents she hates and raise the old hag from the dead.