Great books to get your child hooked on reading Available on RB Digital Culture Perth and Kinross

Audiobooks

Audiobooks are a great way of entertaining your children at home and research shows that they are also brilliant for improving your child’s reading skills through hearing the speech patterns and rhythms they might miss in print, exposing them to new vocabulary and by encouraging them to try and enjoy stories that may otherwise be too difficult for them to read. “You are never too old, too wacky or wild, to pick up a book and read to a child” Dr Seuss Spectacular Stories for the Very Young / David Walliams, narrated by David Walliams

Thirty-three minutes of side-splitting stories for the very young, hilariously read by David Walliams. This unabridged compilation includes: 'The Slightly Annoying Elephant', 'The First Hippo on the Moon', 'The Bear Who Went Boo!', 'There's a Snake in My School!' [33 mins]

Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door / Julia Donaldson, narrated by Olivia Coleman

Elmo and his sister love playing in the jungle house next door...that is, until mean old Mr Birdsnest moves in. But when it appears that Mr Birdsnest has kidnapped the children's grandma they must sneak back in to rescue her! [15 mins]

Boogie Bear / David Walliams, narrated by David Walliams

Up at the North Pole, a big furry polar bear is swimming, fishing and eating. But when she nods off and finds herself far from home, she thinks things can’t get any worse. But they can.... Much worse! [10 mins]

Armadillo and Hare / Jeremy Strong, narrated by Peter Noble

Armadillo and Hare live with their friends in the Big Forest. Hare loves dancing. Armadillo loves cheese sandwiches. Hare loves playing the tuba. Armadillo loves cheese sandwiches. Hare loves his best friend, Armadillo. Armadillo loves Hare - AND cheese sandwiches! [1 hour 26 mins]

Paddington at Work / Michael Bond, narrated by Hugh Bonneville

Paddington has a knack for 'smelling out things', and his sharp nose, supported by marmalade sandwiches, leads him into many adventures. Whether it's lending a paw to a famous Russian ballet dancer or serving baked elastic instead of baked Alaska, this unforgettable bear is as trouble-prone and funny as ever! [2 hours 20 mins]

The Iron Man / Ted Hughes, narrated by Ted Hughes

A mysterious creature arrives from nowhere, devouring farm equipment. The farmers are mystified - and terrified. And then they glimpse him in the night: The Iron Man, taller than a house, with glowing headlight eyes and an insatiable taste for metal. The hungry giant must be stopped at any

cost. Only a young named Hogarth is brave enough to lead the Iron Man to safety. And only Hogarth knows where to turn to when a space-creature as big as Australia and hungry for every living thing on Earth, darkens the sky. [1 hour 15 mins]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang / Ian Flemming, narrated by David Tennant

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a car on a mission to stop a criminal gang in its tracks and she is taking the Potts with her! Jump into the world’s most loved magical car, for her first adventure ever! [2 hours 22 mins]

The Ice Monster / David Walliams, narrated by David Walliams

Read all about it! Read all about it! ICE MONSTER FOUND IN ARCTIC! When Elsie, an orphan on the streets of Victorian London, hears about the mysterious Ice Monster – a woolly mammoth found at the North Pole – she’s determined to discover more... A chance encounter brings Elsie face to face with the creature and sparks the adventure of a lifetime – from London to the heart of the Arctic. Heroes come in all different shapes and sizes in David Walliams’ biggest and most epic adventure yet! [5 hours 40 mins]

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone / JK Rowling, narrated by Stephen Fry

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin! [9 hours 33 mins]

Rooftoppers / Katherine Rundell, narrated by Gordon Griffin

Everyone thinks that Sophie is an orphan. Found floating in a cello case, she is the only recorded female survivor of a shipwreck on the English Channel. But Sophie remembers seeing her mother wave for help… When the child welfare agency threatens to send Sophie to an orphanage, Sophie and her guardian flee to Paris to find her mother, starting with the only clue she has - the address of the cello maker. [6 hours 7 mins]

A Place Called Perfect / Helena Duggan, narrated by Rachael Berresford

Violet never wanted to move to Perfect. Who wants to live in a town where everyone has to wear glasses to stop them going blind? And who wants to be tidy and perfectly behaved all the time? Violet quickly discovers there's something weird going on - her mam is acting strange and her dad has disappeared. When she meets Boy, she realises that her dad is not the only person to have vanished... and that the mysterious Watchers are guarding a creepy secret! [7 hours 46]

A Shiver of Snow and Sky / Lisa Lueddecke, narrated by Charlie Sanderson

On the frozen island of Skane, the sky speaks. Beautiful lights appear on clear nights, and their colours have meaning. Red is rare. A warning. Seventeen years ago, the sky turned red just as Osa was born, unleashing a plague that claimed the lives of hundreds of villagers, including her own mother. This time, when the night sky once again bleeds crimson, she must discover what it means before so many lives are lost again. [8 hours 22 mins]

E-Books

The BFG /

On a dark, silvery moonlit night, Sophie is snatched from her bed by a giant. Luckily it is the Big Friendly Giant, the BFG, who only eats snozzcumbers and glugs frobscottle. But there are other giants in Giant Country. Fifty foot brutes who gallop far and wide every night to find human beans to eat. Can Sophie and her friend the BFG stop them? The Story of Tracy Beaker / Jaqueline Wilson

Ten-year-old Tracy was taken into care a while ago, and now she lives in a Children's Home. She doesn't know exactly where her mum lives, but she used to have long, pretend phone calls with her. Tracy's had two foster families, but things just didn't work. She allows us to share her hopes for the future in this touching and often very funny tale. Wonder / R J Palacio

Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things - eating ice cream, playing on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids aren't stared at wherever they go.

Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan

Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. That's when things started really going wrong. Now I spend my time fighting with swords, battling monsters with my friends, and generally trying to stay alive.

The House with Chicken Legs / Sophie Anderson

Marinka dreams of a normal life, where her house stays in one place long enough for her to make friends. But her house has chicken legs and moves on without warning. For Marinka's grandmother is Baba Yaga, who guides spirits between this world and the next. Marinka longs to change her destiny and sets out to break free from her grandmother's footsteps, but her house has other ideas... Sculduggery Pleasant / Derek Landy

The first story in the series that has captured the imaginations of children across the nation, Skulduggery Pleasant has it all. Strap yourself in for a rip-roaring ride through a world filled with magic, mystery and murder most foul.

Holes / Louis Sacher

Stanley Yelnats' family has a history of bad luck, so when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre (which isn't green and doesn't have a lake), he is not surprised. Every day he and the other inmates are told to dig a hole, five feet wide by five feet deep, reporting anything they find. The evil warden claims that it is character building, but this is a lie, and Stanley must dig up the truth.

The Places I’ve Cried in Public / Holly Bourne 13+

Amelie loved Reese. And she thought he loved her. But she’s starting to realise love isn’t supposed to hurt like this. So now she’s retracing their story and untangling what happened by revisiting all the places he made her cry. Because if she works out what went wrong, perhaps she can finally learn to get over him.

Deeplight / Frances Hardinge 13+

On the streets of the Island of Lady's Crave live 14-year-old urchins Hark and his best friend Jelt. They are scavengers: diving for relics of the gods, desperate for anything they can sell. But there is something dangerous in the deep waters of the undersea, calling to someone brave enough to retrieve it. When the waves try to claim Jelt, Hark will do anything to save him. Even if it means compromising not just who Jelt is, but what he is . . .

Rebound / Kwame Alexander 13+

It's 1988. Charlie Bell is still mourning his father, and struggling to figure out how he feels for his best (girl) friend, CJ. When he gets into trouble one too many times, he's packed off to stay with his grandparents for the summer. There his cousin Roxie introduces him to a whole new world: basketball. A legend on the courts is born. But can Charlie resist when trouble comes knocking once again?

Love Simon / Becky Albertalli 13+

Simon Spier is 16 and trying to work out who he is - and what he's looking for. But when one of his emails to the very distracting Blue falls into the wrong hands, things get all kinds of complicated. Because for Simon, falling for Blue is a big deal.... It's a holy freaking huge awesome deal.

Children of Blood and Bone / Tom Adeyemi 13+

Tomi Adeyemi conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her West African-inspired fantasy debut Children of Blood and Bone.

The Poet X / Elizabeth Acevedo 13+

A novel about finding your voice and standing up for what you believe in, no matter how hard it is to say.