Radio 4 Children's Summer Book Club: Friendship

The Today programme’s Children’s Summer Book Club has returned for the holidays!

The Book Club recommends children’s books on different themes and for different age groups every Monday until the end of August. Recommendations include old favourites, classics, new releases, books you can borrow from the library and books to delight the whole family.

This year is even more special because they've enlisted the help of Frank Cottrell-Boyce, SLA Patron, award-winning author and screenwriter and the current Waterstones Children’s Laureate, as well as Cressida Cowell, author and illustrator of the bestselling the How to Train Your Dragon.

As Frank is a Patron of the SLA, this year we thought we'd get involved and support the Book Club by suggesting our own reading recommendations on each weekly theme!

Read on to discover our recommendations on this week's theme, and be sure to check back next week for more.

Theme: Friendship

Frank recommends:

• The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Raúf
• Minnow on the Say by Philippa Pearce
• Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner

Cressida recommends:

• Holes by Louis Sachar
• The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield
• The Cheat Book by Ramzee (discover more about this title by checking out the SLA's latest Meet The Creator interview with Ramzee!)

The SLA recommends:

KS1

• My Friend Andy by Emma Chinnery

- Dogs don’t judge and Fluffy knows Andy is a friend long before Mum and Lilly

• The Thing at 52 by Ross Montgomery and Richard Johnson

- A beautiful friendship between a young girl and a lonely monster who lives on her street

KS2

• Finding Bear by Hannah Gold and Levi Pinfold

- Sometimes the friendship between girl and bear is overpowering

• Nature's Fascinating Friendships by Mike Hills and Kerry Hyndman 

- Our wildlife too depends on special relationships to thrive.

KS3

• The Climbers by Keith Gray

- A group of friends will always have their rivalries as well as their support for one another

• Never Forget You by Jamila Gavin

- Four very different girls brought together at school, then flung apart while the country is at war.