Episode 41 - Will the government's new reading assessments undermine the National Year of Reading?

School Reading List podcast hosted by Tom Tolkien

Season 1: Episode 41

For transcripts, resources & show notes: https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/podcasts/series-1-episode-41/

Part 1
Book post

• Dead Straight Line by Malcolm Duffy
• How to Question Everything by Susan Martineau and Vicky Barker
• The Dream by Gideon Sterer and Nik Henderson
• Camping in the Wild by Nicholas Oldland
• We Can Be Mermaids by Lanisha Butterfield
• Moon’s Lullaby by Júlia Moscardó
• Nico the Donkey’s New Home by Elena Mannion and Erin Brown
• Glam & Beardy by Ruby Clyde and Rachel WD
• SPYGLASS by David Solomons
• The House with Chicken Legs Runs Away by Sophie Anderson
• Peregrine Quinn and the Battle for Olympus by Ash Bond
• The Protectors by Victor Kloss
• A Million Tiny Missiles All At Once by Lucas Maxwell
• The Last Death Poet by Stephen Daly
• The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss

Rundown - top 30 children's and YA books in May 2026

• Astrophysics for Supervillains by Matthew Bothwell 
• The Hospital for Mythological Creatures by Cathy Evans & Ed Brown
• Dragonflare by Jamie Hammond 
• This Boy I Hardly Know by Lisa Heathfield 
• The Ice Cream Crocodile by Mariesa Dulak 
• Koroba: The Case of the Missing Kolo by Alaba Onajin 
• Marcie and Giraffe by Kim Gregory 
• Princess Pete by Zoey Allen 
• Max and Ella, Stuck Together by Kristina Rahim 
• SuperQuesters Mission: Desert Danger by Paul Ian Cross 
• Aardvark Day by Victoria Gatehouse & Kate Lucy Foster 
• Buzz by Richard Jones 
• Reach In! by Hervé Tullet 
• Rise of the Goblin Queen by Francesco Bedini & Stefano Tambellini 
• In the Theatre by Tove Jansson 
• Stormbringer by Tig Wallace 
• The Little Cook's Handbook by Lizzie Mabbott
• A Sister Like You by Sarah Hagger-Holt 
• Like A Brother by Nathanael Lessore 
• Lies We Told This Summer by Emily Barr 
• All in the Mind by Gill Arbuthnott 
• Goldenborn by Ama Ofosua Lieb 
• Tadpole Summer by Catherine Bruton 
• If the Invader Comes by Tom Palmer 
• Your Murder Next by Ravena Guron 
• Where the Tide Lines Lead by Sophie Cameron 
• Lily Tripp by Amelia Tait
• What If?: Grow Your Imagination by Tom Schamp 
• Broken by X. Fang 
• I Want by Ziggy Hanaor 
• The Ministry of Manners by David Solomons

May 2025 books of the month

• Fiction: A Sister Like You by Sarah Hagger-Holt
• Nonfiction: Nature is the Answer by Chris Packham
• Picture book: Koroba: The Case of the Missing Kolo by Àlàbá Ònájìn

Part 2
Piper at the Gates of Dusk by Patrick Ness

New book pitches: A Poem A Day by Tara Ali, Dyrne Hill by Chris Dewar & Sally the Spider’s new shoes by Clodagh Ryan

Part 3
Will the government's new reading assessments undermine the National Year of Reading?

Credits & licensing
Sounds are licensed. Audit: https://bit.ly/3TFkwsl