Read For Empathy 2024 - All Books

The 2024 Read for Empathy Collection

We're delighted to share this year's Read for Empathy Collection

Chosen by a panel of expert judges, this book collection and the accompanying guides help parents, carers and educators fuel an empathy-educated generation, with each title in the collection offering children the opportunity to connect with different people and different lives.


Scroll down to see the full listings for the Primary and Secondary books in the collection.


Download our FREE Read for Empathy guides!

How to get and use the books:

  • Buy from your local independent bookshop - find yours here.
  • Order online via EmpathyLab’s Bookshop.org page OR by clicking on the book jackets, below.
  • Order full sets for your school via Peters.
  • Visit  your local library to borrow the books for free

Primary for 3-11 year olds

A Child Like You

Na'ima B. Robert (Author)

Nadine Kaadan (Illustrator)

Otter-Barry Books

All Bodies are Wonderful

Beth Cox (Author)

Vicky Barker (Illustrator)

b small publishing

Be More Dog

Caroline Crowe (Author)

Carlos Velez (Illustrator)

Floris Books

Bear and Bird:

The Picnic and Other Stories

Jarvis

Walker Books

Beneath

Cori Doerrfeld

Scallywag Press

Blue

Sarah Christou

Faber

Budgie

Joseph Coelho (Author)

David Barrow (Illustrator)

Barrington Stoke

City of Stolen Magic

Nazeen Ahmed Pathak (Author)

Sandhya Prabhat (Illustrator)

Puffin

Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star

Laura Noakes (Author)

Flavia Sorrentino (Illustrator)

HarperCollins Children’s Books

Dimple and the Boo

Pip Jones (Author)

Paula Bowles (Illustrator)

Barrington Stoke

Fablehouse

E.L. Norry

Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Finding Bear

Hannah Gold (Author)

Levi Pinfold (Illustrator)

HarperCollins Children’s Books

Finding My Voice

Aoife Dooley

Scholastic

Geoffry Gets The Jitters

Nadia Shireen

Puffin

Gina Kaminski Saves

the Wolf

Craig Barr-Green (Author)

Francis Martin (Illustrator)

Little Tiger

Glitter Boy

Ian Eagleton

Scholastic

Grandpa and the Kingfisher

 Anna Wilson (Author)

Sarah Massini (Illustrator)

Nosy Crow

How to Be More Hedgehog

 Anne-Marie Conway

UCLan Publishing


I Am Nefertiti

Annemarie Anang (Author)

Natelle Quek (Illustrator)

Five Quills

I Will Swim Next Time

Emily Joof (Author)

Matilda Ruta (Illustrator)

Floris Books

It's Her Story:

Irena Sendler

Margaret Littman (Author)

Sara Lunan (Illustrator)

Sunbird Books

Jamie

L. D. Lapinski

Orion


Kofi and the Rap

Battle Summer

Jeffrey Boakye

Faber

Lift-the-flap:

Questions and Answers

about Refugees

Katie Dayne (Author)

Ashe de Sousa (Author)

O. Drachkovska (Illustrator)

Usborne

My Baba's Garden

Jordan Scott (Author)

Sydney Smith (Illustrator)

Walker Books

My Heart is a Poem

Various authors

Various Illustrators

Little Tiger

My Life on Fire

Cath Howe

Nosy Crow

Nour's Secret Library

Wafa' Tarnowska (Author)

Vali Mintzi (Illustrator)

Barefoot

Our Story Starts in Africa

Patrice Lawrence

Magic Cat Publishing

The Final Year

Matt Goodfellow (Author)

Joe Todd-Stanton (Illustrator)

The Girl Who

Became a Fish

Polly Ho-Yen (Author)

Sojung Kim-McCarthy (Illustrator)

Knights of Media

The Mystery of the Missing Mum

Frances Moloney

Pushkin Children's Books

The Spaces In Between

Jaspreet Kaur (Author)

Manjit Thapp (Illustrator)

Big Picture Press

The Way of Dog

Zana Fraillon (Author)

Sean Buckingham (Illustrator)

Chicken House

To the Other Side

Erika Meza

Hodder Children’s Books


Until the Road Ends

Phil Earle

Andersen Press

Victor, the Wolf

with Worries

Catherine Rayner

Macmillan Children’s Books

What You Need to Be Warm

Neil Gaiman (Author)

  Various Illustrators

Bloomsbury Children’s Books

When I Feel Surprised

Paula Bowles (Illustrator)

Child's Play


Where the River Takes Us

Lesley Parr

Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Secondary for 11-16 year olds

All the Pieces of Me

Libby Scott & Rebecca Westcott

Scholastic

Away With Words

Sophie Cameron

Stripes

Boy Like Me

Simon James Green

Scholastic


Choose Love

Nicola Davies & Petr Horáček Graffeg

Crossing the Line

Tia Fisher

Hot Key Books

Different For Boys

Patrick Ness (Author)

Tea Bendix (Illustrator)

Walker Books

Global

Eoin Colfer (Author)

Andrew Donkin (Author)

Giovanni Rigano (Illustrator)

Hodder Children’s Books


Hazel Hill is Gonna

Win This One

Maggie Horne

Firefly Press

Kicked Out!

A. M. Dassu

Old Barn Books

One More Mountain

Deborah Ellis (Author)

Shamsia Hassani (Illustrator)

Oxford University Press

Oxygen Mask

Jason Reynolds (Author)

Jason Griffin (Illustrator)

Faber

Promise Boys

Nick Brooks

Macmillan

Quiet Storm

Kimberly Whittam

Usborne

Safiyyah's War

Hiba Noor Khan

Andersen Press

Sing If You Can't Dance

Alexia Casale

Faber


SOLD: What Will It Take to Find Freedom?

Sue Barrow

Cadence Publishing

Stand Up Ferran Burke

Steven Camden

Macmillan

Swimming on the Moon

Brian Conaghan

Bloomsbury Children’s Books

The Climbers

Keith Gray

Barrington Stoke

The First Move

Jenny Ireland

Penguin

The Piano at the Station

Helen Rutter (Author)

Elisa Paganelli (Illustrator)

Barrington Stoke

What the World Doesn't See

Mel Darbon

Usborne

Wild Song

Candy Gourlay

David Fickling Books

You Are Not Alone

Shauna Darling Robertson

Troika Books

You Think You Know Me

Ayaan Mohamud

Usborne

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