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Gareth Edwards, Hannah Shaw

Any child who’s ever enviously eyed up someone else’s food – or who’s ever been told not to eat food off the floor – will love this tale of a hungry badger following a sandwich through the park as it goes through mishap after disgusting mishap.

Pippa Goodhart, Nick Sharratt

A simple concept, brilliantly executed. Every page overflows with choices – Where would you rather live? What would you rather wear? What kind of bed would you like? – brightly illustrated in the classic Sharratt style. There’s no story, as such, but my children asked for this one over and over again, and we had some fantastic conversations as a result.

Tom Percival

Norman is perfectly normal – until one day he grows wings. Torn between excitement and embarrassment, he hides them – but this leads to more problems. What should he do? A beautiful, accessible little fable about the importance of being yourself.

Lindsay Camp, Tony Ross

Perfect for any child who’s going through the “Why?” phase, and for any parent who’s beginning to struggle for answers. A light-hearted story about how questions can be both annoying and incredibly useful.

John Dougherty and Laura Hughes

The story of a girl who gets a pig stuck up her nose, and her classmates’ attempts to get it out. I get lots of giggles when I read this to small children.

Atinuke and Warwick Johnson Cadwell

Told in a distinctive, lively voice and with some terrific characterisation, these are the adventures of a boy in a village in sub-Saharan Africa. Entertaining, touching, and great both for expanding children’s horizons and showing them that we’re all the same under the surface.

Steve Barlow, Steve Skidmore

The format of these choose-your-own-adventure books for the 21st century means that kids who are gripped by them will return to them over and over again. To quote a school librarian friend of mine, “The most reluctant readers I know can be found absorbed in the two Steves’ I Hero or I Horror (depending on age) books.”

Allan Ahlberg, Fritz Wegner

Some less eager readers, unwilling yet to commit to even a short novel, can be lured in by a complete piece of writing only a page or two long; and the more adventurous reader, too, can find poems short, sweet and satisfying. Ahlberg’s collections of verse about school, childhood and life are simply marvellous, and with an understanding of and empathy for the young reader that’s second to none.

Philip Reeve, Sarah McIntyre

I could have chosen any of the Reeve and McIntyre collaborations, and I encourage you to seek them all out; but I think this would have been eight-year-old me’s pick of the bunch, because it’s set in space. Featuring suspended animation, evil cakes, lots of brilliant illustrations and a great story.

Guy Bass, Pete Williamson

Stitch Head is an endearing little Frankenstein’s Monster type of guy, devoted to the mad Professor whose first creature he was – and who has since forgotten him in his quest to make his greatest creation. Funny, at times moving, and with just a hint of gothic creepiness, but without ever being genuinely scary.

Jackie Marchant, Loretta Schauer

Perfect for readers who have got through all of the the or stories and are ready for something a bit more text-heavy. They’ve got a similar rambling diary-style narrative – which ties up surprisingly neatly in the end – and, in my view, a more sympathetic central character. Previously and rather unfortunately published as Dougal Trump.

John Dougherty, David Tazzyman

Of all the lovely feedback I get about these books, my favourite two things are: they make children laugh, a lot, and children who aren’t keen on reading want to read them.

Andy Seed, Scott Garrett

For some reason people can be a bit sniffy about non-fiction, but for a lot of children – and, anecdotally, particularly boys – it can be what really gets them reading. This (and others by the same author) are great for dipping into to find funny and interesting facts about all kinds of things. And if your boy has read all of Andy’s fact books and is keen for more, try .

Chris Bradford

Around the age of 11, my son tentatively announced that he didn’t think he liked reading. About a week later, he discovered this series and eagerly raced through all eight books in five weeks. With a similar pace to the Harry Potter novels, they’re the story of a young English boy, sole survivor of a shipwreck in the 17th century, who is adopted by a Samurai and taught the way of the warrior.

Jo Cotterill, Cathy Brett

Part book and part graphic novel, the Electrigirl stories are terrific both for confident readers and those who might be a little more reluctant. There’s something of a myth in publishing that boys won’t read books with a girl as the central character (I wrote more about that ) but I really don’t believe that holds if the story is good enough, which these – action-packed, yet with real heart and depth – definitely are.

AF Harrold, Emily Gravett

The Imaginary is a beautiful, lyrical, suspenseful and at times scary tale of an imaginary friend cut loose from the child who has imagined him, and pursued by a monstrous man who wants to eat him. I’m aware of how weird that sounds, but it really is a brilliant book, perfect for any child with a strong imagination.

Jonny Zucker

If your son is obsessed with football (like mine is), then he’s going to want to read about football, and Striker Boy is a great place to start. The premise – a 13-year-old is recruited to play for a Premier League side – may sound unconvincing, but Zucker makes it feel entirely plausible, and adds in a healthy dose of intrigue and danger.