Books

It is 1948 and Preston is about to set sail on a journey that will change his life forever. He and his parents will travel on The Empire Windrush from Jamaica to start a new life in Britain. Join Preston on board and discover ... who was on this famous...

Art is all around us! It's in the streets, on walls, in parks and sometimes even floating above our heads! In this book you will discover ... A car that looks like it has crashed through a wall! Huge faces that appear magically on trees ... A street...

Have you ever wondered how spies do their job? How they gather information and why people choose such dangerous and secretive work? Discover the answers to these questions and more in this top- secret guide to spies and spying. Learn all about secret...

Regular exercise is good for your body and your brain ... It's time to get moving! Maybe you love dancing to your favourite song or kicking a football around in the park ... Or perhaps you haven't found an activity you really enjoy - or you're looking...

Computers are super-smart and super-fast. Computers never get bored, distracted or tired. However, a computer can't do anything unless a human bosses it around! With the help of this book, you could be that human! Learn how to think like a computer and...

Game Changers have the skills, courage and power to change the world! Read about five inspiring leaders, whose bravery, determination and sacrifice changed the world and gave us many of the freedoms we enjoy today. From Emmeline Pankhurst, who worked to...

Step back in time to Ancient Rome and meet Marcus - a young servant who lives in the house of an important family. There is going to be a banquet, so Marcus has a busy day ahead! Find out what jobs he has to do and learn more about everyday life in Roman...

Hello there! My name's Oak, and I'm ten summers old. I live with my family, including my irritating brother Flint and my little sister Nettle - she goes wandering off ALL the time! My mum is always giving me jobs, including looking after our very stupid...

Just about everyone in the world likes cake, but do you know where cake ingredients come from? In this book, you can follow the journeys that butter, sugar, flour and eggs have made from the farm to your kitchen. You can find out what cakes were like in...

From boiling hot deserts to icy plains, plants and humans have adapted to survive in almost every environment on our planet. In this book, you'll find out what plants and people need to survive and how they have adapted to life in extreme conditions...

Open this book if you dare! In it you will find the biggest and most scary animals alive today ... And some even bigger and even scarier creatures from the past! If you are brave enough, you will meet ... A snake as long as a bus A crocodile that weighed...

Animals may not be able to talk, but they have their own special ways of communicating with us. For example, did you know that: A happy rabbit clicks its teeth. Dogs often lick their lips when they're hungry. And cats can understand around 35 commands!...

Some animals can make amazing structures to keep cool, find food or make their homes. Find out about some of the best animal engineers on the planet - and how they've given human engineers some ideas, too. Animal Engineers is part of the Reading Planet...

Fancy setting sail with Blackbeard the pirate, or would you prefer joining Captain Cook on a voyage? Do you want gold, or glory? Be careful - you could end up eating walrus, and going to bed early! Pirate v. Explorer is part of the Reading Planet range...

You have probably never seen a goblin, troll or fairy, but you've probably read about their adventures in some of your favourite stories. This book is a guide to the magical creatures that appear in myths, legends, fairytales and other fantasy stories .....

Get ready to go on an unforgettable journey through the world's most incredible and unusual natural places. Prepare to be astounded by stepping stones fit for a giant, rocks that leave mysterious tracks along the ground, hills that look like enormous...

Get ready to explore the world of William Shakespeare! Your guide is Kit, one of Shakespeare's oldest friends. He will show you around the famous Globe Theatre in London, and tell you the story of the man behind the plays, from his early childhood and...

The ground shudders and a huge crack rips open the earth. A towering wave races towards the coastline and slams into a city. These aren't scenes from a film but just two of the many natural disasters that affect our planet. They can strike suddenly,...

Pack your bag and get ready to visit some of the most amazing landmarks in the UK. From rock-formations and waterfalls, to ancient monuments and modern sky-scrapers, there is so much to explore! On the way you will learn ... the stories behind famous...

"A biome is all the living things in a particular environment, such as a forest or a desert." This is the diary of an explorer as she visits the most interesting biomes on our planet. Join her as she travels through the icy polar regions and high...

What do a weaver from France, a trumpet player from Africa, a writer from the Caribbean and a refugee from Germany have in common? Over the last 1,000 years, along with many others, they all migrated from their own countries and settled in Britain. In...

Many of our everyday things didn't exist a short time ago! Discover the hidden histories behind gadgets and ingredients we use every day, from knives and forks to salt and pepper. Maybe they're not so ordinary after all! Not So Ordinary? - The Secret...

From pharaohs and mummies, to gods and pyramids, Ancient Egypt has mesmerised and mystified people for centuries. Join your guides Yousef and the Great Sphinx on a trip back through the history of Ancient Egypt. Discover fascinating facts, such as: - Who...

Leap into the fascinating world of Artificial Intelligence, in which cars drive themselves, robots become footballing champions, and tiny nanobots track down and kill diseases within the body! Learn what 'artificial intelligence' actually is and how it...

Monkeys and apes are clever animals that belong to a family called primates. (Did you know that you are a primate too?). In this book you will ... find out about different types of monkeys and apes, and how they live and communicate; discover how...

Get ready to blast off! Find out about some real-life astronauts and their true space adventures, including Neil Armstrong and the first Moon landing. On the way you'll discover what were the first living things in space, why it is so easy to jump on the...

What do an elephant called Ning Nong and a gorilla called Jambo have in common? They are both animal heroes! In this book you'll read about devoted dogs, courageous cats, a brave beluga whale, and a parrot who saved a young girl's life. All of these...

Game Changers have the skills, courage and power to change the world! Read about eight game-changing scientists who all shared the same motto in life: 'nullius in verba' - 'take no one's word for it'. They asked the questions and gathered the evidence...

Game Changers have the skills, courage and power to change the world! Read about eight amazing people whose achievements in computing have transformed our lives. Learn about these incredible Game Changers, from early computer programmers like Grace...

Game Changers have the skills, courage and power to change the world! Join us on a journey with some game-changing explorers! You will travel with Christopher Columbus, who set out on a voyage and accidentally arrived in the Americas, Amelia Earhart, the...

Game Changers have the skills, courage and power to change the world! Read about twelve amazing hidden heroes! From scientists and inventors to war heroes and explorers, all these people achieved incredible things - but they never got the praise and...

Game Changers have the skills, courage and power to change the world! Read about six amazing musical Game Changers, from Nina Simone, whose protest songs helped overcome racism, to guitar genius Jimi Hendrix, and Elvis Presley, King of Rock and Roll...

Game Changers have the skills, courage and power to change the world! The heroes in this book are not just sports stars, they've also used their fame and talents to inspire people around the world! Read about these awesome athletes, from Roger Bannister...

Galaxy Teachers Guide F accompanies selected books from the Rising Stars Reading Planet Galaxy range. Galaxy provides captivating fiction and non-fiction for Pink A to White band. The rich collection of highly decodable books immerses children in a range...

For generations, men in the Baskerville family have met with untimely deaths. One by one, they have fallen foul of the curse of the Hound of Baskervilles. So when the last of the Baskervilles inherits Baskerville Hall - the remote stately home where so...

Once there was a time, when ten gleaming hot suns stood high in the sky. These burning spheres of gas and dust were the sons of the Jade Emperor, over whom he had lost all control ... Mulan and Other Legendary Chinese Tales brings together four inspiring...

Alice and Rose are sisters growing up in the early years of the 20th century. As far as sixteen-year-old Alice is concerned, there is no more important issue to campaign for than ensuring women get the right to vote. By contrast, her sister Rose is...

The Titan children are Greek gods and goddesses in training - and they're on the last stage of their mission to stop their evil Grandfather Cronos from taking over the world! It's time for each Titan to use their special set of skills to prevent Cronos...

Over more years than you or I can count, people have smiled as they were told tales of drowned cities and shapeshifting creatures. These Welsh legends are just stories, they say. They couldn't possibly be true ... could they? Dion and Cariad are...

Rachel is utterly fed up of being invisible to everyone around her. Her best friend barely listens to a word she says, her teachers overlook her in class and even her family never seem to notice she's there. If only she could do something to attract...

Life has not been kind to orphaned Jane Eyre. Treated harshly by her Aunt Reed and bullied by her spoiled cousins, Jane is glad to be sent to Lowood School to receive an education. Finally, she can be free of her uncaring family and learn how to make her...

To the outside world, the Smedleys look like any other family: Mum, Dad, son, daughter, hamster ... and a grandpa dozing in the corner. Looks can be deceiving, however, because the Smedleys have a secret ... a very BIG secret. They are actually a...

July 1969: Clare tucks a letter into the time capsule being buried at her school in honour of the Apollo 11 Moon landings. A letter containing information about space exploration which nobody could possibly know ... July 2019: Space-geek Ryan is given a...

To the outside world, the Smedleys look like any other family: Mum, Dad, son, daughter, hamster ... and a grandpa dozing in the corner. Looks can be deceiving, however, because the Smedleys have a secret ... a very BIG secret. They are actually a...

The Titan children are Greek gods and goddesses in training - and they're on a mission to stop their evil Grandfather Cronos from taking over the world! Cronos' latest attempt to overthrow Zeus involves unleashing Typhon: a fire-breathing monster who...

Eva has signed up for loads of after school activities. She wants to be brilliant at all of them, but the pressure of keeping on top of practising, training and reading for everything is a huge challenge. If only she could time travel, she'd easily be...

Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert have arranged to take in an orphan boy to help work on their farm. Imagine their surprise when Anne Shirley - an imaginative, talkative girl - is sent to them in error! For plain-speaking Marilla, having a chatterbox like...

To the outside world, the Smedleys look like any other family: Mum, Dad, son, daughter, hamster ... and a grandpa dozing in the corner. Looks can be deceiving, however, because the Smedleys have a secret ... a very BIG secret. They are actually a...