There are many, many different ways to enjoy books and reading and none are better than any of the others. Whatever way you enjoy books is the best way for you to enjoy DEAR.
We’ve selected some of our favourite books of all different kinds so that you have a whole range of different options that will suit the kinds of books and ways you like reading. Take a look below and let us help you find something fun to read on Friday 11th April 2025.
Picture books
The Squirrels Who Squabbled / Rachel Bright, Jim Field
Two greedy squirrels on a wild case, led by their greed, to find pinecones.
My Name is Not Refugee / Kate Milner
A thoughtful way to introduce young children to the realities of real journeys being made by children forced to leaves homes and decisions involved.
But Wolves in Helicopters / Sarah Tagholm, Paddy Donnelly
A rabbit’s nightmares get increasingly intense until they are being chased by wolves in helicopters!
Bad Kids / Tony Robinson
A fun, lighthearted look through history, charting the worst kids the world has ever seen.
Books for younger readers
Balaclava Boy / Jenny Robson
When a new student joins the class, the race is on to be the first to discover why they always wear a mask to school.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid / Jeff Kinney
Becoming a massive international hit since it began in 2004, the Diary of a Wimpy kid series is an accessible and enduring favourite with younger readers.
Granuaile – The Pirate Queen (In a Nutshell series) / Ann Carroll, Derry Dillon
This colourful and delightful series introduces younger readers so some of Ireland’s most famous heroes, legends and places of importance, and this volume focuses on the life of the pirate Granuaile.
Football Legends – Raheem Stirling / Musa Okwonga
The exciting story of Raheem Stirling’s journey from Jamaica to the premier league.
Books for older readers and teens
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan
With the new Disney show, it’s a great time to check out the first thrilling adventure that started the series and see the young hero who dared defy his father and the Gods.
Holes / Louis Sachar
Bad luck and injustice sends a young man to a juvenile detention centre where a totalitarian warden forces them to dig all day, everyday, and it’s up to him to figure out why.
The Runners / Fiachra Sheridan
The story follows two boys growing up in 1980s Dublin, who end up getting involved in an adult world far more dangerous than they were expecting or prepared for.
A Song for Ella Grey / David Almond
A young woman watches her friend fall desperately, madly in love and get drawn into a web of tragedy and misfortune drawn from Greek myths.
Short Stories
The Lottery / Shirley Jackson
The perennial, traumatising favourite of English teachers, this slow-burn story turns from a small town fable to horror as the story progresses.
Eraser Tattoo / Jason Reynolds
A teenage couple prepare to say goodbye as one moves across country and they make plans for their future. Available in Fresh Ink.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties / Neil Gaiman
Hugo-nominated story of two young men attending the wrong, and increasingly strange party. Available here!
A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers / Alyssa Wong
A furious story of fighting and failing and fighting for a better world for you and your loved ones. Available here!
Graphic Novels/Comic Books
Heartstopper / Alice Oseman
Check out the modern romance blockbuster, following the story of Charlie and Nick, as they meet, fall in love, and navigate all the ways that changes their lives.
Blue Lock / Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura
An unknown high-school footballer joins Japan’s elite international team as their striker on their intense quest to qualify for and win the World Cup.
Invincible Vol 1. / Robert Kirkman, Bill Crabtree, Cory Walker
Mark is your regular high school student, right up until his superpowers kick in, and he finally becomes INVINCIBLE enough to join his father, protecting the planet, while trying to date, get through school and keep his after-school job.
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life
Scott, a waster early twenties guitarist, obsessed with video games and letting other people solve his problems, begins his quest to defeat the seven evil exs of Ramona Flowers in the hopes of dating her.
DIE / Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans
Described as goth Jumanji, the series follows a group of adults who are pulled into the world of their teenage D&D game and faced with the mistakes, wounds and failures of their fantasy and real worlds.
Audio books
Brand New Ancients / Kate Tempest
A short, powerful verse novel about the ways people become small, become less as they live and fail and are ground down by a hostile, brutal world, and how they can find themselves again, despite their failures.
Daisy Jones and the Six / Taylor Jenkins Reid
This full cast audio-drama reconfigures the novel as a full-tell all interview, charting the epic rise and fall of the one-album 70s rockstars, Daisy Jones & the Six.
Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring / JRR Tolkien
Read by Andy Serkis, the voice of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings films, begin Frodo’s epic quest to destroy the One Ring with his journey through war, loss and desperation from the peaceful Shire to the dark, poisoned lands of Mordor.
The Sandman / Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs
Based on the bestselling comic book series, the full cast audio casts James McAvoy as the tortured lord of dreams as he escapes imprisonment and tries to find his place in a world where either it, or worse, he may have changed a little too much.
Books for adults
After the Silence / Louise O’Neill
This book charts a tragic and mysterious murder across two time periods, the weeks leading up to the murder of a young woman at a party on the small island and years later when a documentary crew revisit the case and stir up memories and ghosts best left where they were.
Small Things like These / Claire Keegan
The prize-willing Irish novel set in 1985, as one man confronts the power and legacy of the church and the institutions which control the lives and futures of children, girls and women throughout the country.
Red Dragon / Thomas Harris
The psychological horror novel that first introduced Hannibal Lector to the world. Tense and disturbing it set the stage for it’s more famous sequel, Silence of the Lamb, and numerous adaptions of the entire series.
Gideon the Ninth / Tamsyn Muir
Described as “lesbian necromancers in space”, the novel follows bodyguard Gideon and her necromancer lord Harrow, trying to solve a mysterious murder against the clock, while chasing the prize of ultimate power in service to the God-Emperor, while never, ever, ever acknowledging their feelings, their past or the potential future neither of them is willing to admit they might want.
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