The Canterbury Tales are a medieval collection of 24 different short stories written in verse and prose. Frame action is a storytelling contest between a couple of pilgrims on their way from London to Canterbury. The characters such as the Knight, the Nun, the Cook, the Pardoner and the Wife of Bath represent different estates […]

This heart-warming picture book explores family relations, gender-nonconformity, identity construction, and understanding. Young Julian is out with his grandma called ‘Nana’ in town when he spots three women in spectacular mermaid costumes. Their colourful dresses let him daydream and rise his desire to dress as the most exotic mermaid ever seen. He gets home and […]

This award-winning children’s book is narrated from the perspective of a young Ojibwe girl, who speaks up to defend her people’s land from the black snake (representing oil pipelines). Threatening to pollute and destroy planet earth, the black snake must be stopped, before it eventually poisons the life-giving water. Will the voice of the young […]

This inspiring picture book illustrates the real-life story of Jadav Payeng, who grew 1,300 acres of forest to protect the environment. “In India, on a large river island, among farms and families hard at work, there lived a boy who loved trees.” Jadav becomes alerted when he finds out that animals are dying around his […]

This empowering picture book calls the readers attention to environmental pollution and eco-activism. In the second volume of the series, Rocket, a young girl, who loves science and astronomy, visits her grandparents who live on a Caribbean island. When she stumbles upon a baby turtle, who is trapped in a plastic bag, she discovers that […]

This eco-critical picture book tells the story of climate activist Greta Thunberg for young readers. Once upon a time, the greedy giants, who built large cities and factories, threaten the forest’s biodiversity. They started to log down the trees, as they need more wood for their business. First, Greta is the only one, who stands […]

This award-winning young adult fantasy novel about murder, coming of age, friendship and belonging follows baby-boy ‘Nobody’ who, after his family is murdered, is adopted by the supernatural inhabitants of a nearby graveyard. ‘Nobody’ also called ‘Bod’ grows up with ghosts, ghouls, vampires, witches and werewolves, who become family and friends to him. In and […]

This eco-critical fable in rhymes explores industrial, economic and environmental issues. The Lorax is a creature that speaks for the trees and is the opponent of the Once-ler who cuts down the trees destroying the habitat of many animals and polluting the environment. The beautifully illustrated children’s book and its movie adaptation (2012) are well-suited […]

This funny picture book follows Bertie, a misbehaved boy, who has lots of horrible hobbies. He loves collecting slugs and worms, eating dog food and weeing in the flowerbed. People tell him: “No, Bertie! That’s Dirty Bertie!” But when will he understand? This version is suitable for the youngest learners of English. It gave way […]

This lovely picture book tells the empowering story of a library visit and a bear who escapes from its book. One day, when the children visit the library to listen to the wonderful storytelling of Miss Merryweather, the librarian is missing. Looking for her, they find a rather hairy but friendly liBEARian who tells them […]

This beautifully illustrated picture book tells the empowering story of a boy and a penguin, abilities and disabilities, flying and friendship. Everyone knows that penguins can’t fly but it is the penguin’s greatest wish to do so. Will the boy let his friend’s dream come true? The story is the sequel of Oliver Jeffer’s award-winning […]

This rhyming picture book adaptation of Grimm’s famous fairy tale follows Little Red Reading Hood, who loves to come up with new endings for the stories she reads. She reminds the wolf and the readers of this beautifully illustrated book, that stories can end any way we want them to if we use our creative […]

The beautifully illustrated picture book follows a white snow hare and other animals preparing for the winter season. Until spring, “[…]when the snow has melted and the trees are in bloom, everything changes[…]” again. Due to its easy language, shortness and supportive imagery, this piece of fiction is suitable for the youngest learners of English. […]

This heart-warming, illustrated story follows a lion who visits a library for the first time. Indeed, “there are rules about shouting. And rules about running. But there aren’t any rules about lions!” After struggling with proper behaviour in the library, the lion soon makes friends and perfectly adapts to the new surroundings – he even uses his […]

This beautifully illustrated collection of simple and also more complex Irish poetry for children and young adults explores multiple topics – from animals, seasons, celebrations and daily incidents to myth and legends. Offering a poetic variety from more than 100 Irish poets, this collection takes its readers to an enchanted world. “The Great Blue Whale” […]

As the title suggests, this illustrated picture book lets children discover their love for reading and its positive side effects. Following a young boy called Henry and his appetite for written words, the readers experience what it means to develop a deep passion for long and short stories, poems and other kinds of literature – […]

This picture book by Jim Arnosky beautifully illustrates Bob Dylan’s song “Man Gave Names To All Animals” (1979) and makes the reader aware of the diversity of animals living on our planet. Its vivid images invite us to learn the names of about 100 animals – from B for ‘baby crane’ to Z for ‘zebra’. […]

This beautifully illustrated picture book of Langston Hughes’s “Dream Variations” (a poem published in 1926) explores the speaker’s vision of a society without racism, discrimination, segregation, and racial prejudice. Dancing through the ‘white day‘, representing dominant white society, and ‘flinging his arms widely‘ the speaker, a young African-American boy dreaming of equality, freedom and ease, […]