Empathy Day 2024

Sam the dog helps his best friend to find happiness in this uplifting story about learning to live in the moment. Bursting with positivity and curious dog energy, this heartfelt book encourages all of us to be a little less sad and a little more dog!

Azadeh is a budding violinist on a music scholarship at an expensive private school, dealing with all the usual trials of being sixteen: trying her best to fit in, keep up and have fun. Then her mum's mental health spirals out of control and Azadeh's world starts to unravel…
A beautifully packaged, highly important and unputdownable novel about mental health struggles and the solace we find in music and rhythm, friendship, family and honesty.

Geoffrey's got the jitters! It started last night when he was thinking about school - a funny, wiggly feeling in his tummy that grew and grew. But when Geoffrey's tummy jitters started talking to him - that's when he knew they were out of control. Geoffrey had to do something. Through a laugh-out-loud story and loveable character, Nadia Shireen shows how to understand and dispel anxieties, one jitter at a time.

Marcus uses the power of his voice to shine a light on the injustices that he cares passionately about, and now he wants to help YOU find the power in yours! From surrounding yourself with the right team, to showing kindness to those around you, to celebrating and championing difference, You Can Do It shows you that your voice really does matter and that you can do anything you put your mind to.
Packed with more inspiring stories from Marcus's own life, brilliant advice, and top-tips from social justice educator Shannon Weber, this book will show you how to use your voice and make a difference in this world.

Life can be tough in your last year of primary school. Tests to take, preparing for the change to high school. Nate is ready for it all, knowing his best friend PS is at his side - they've been inseparable since Nursery. But when they are put in two different classes and PS finds a new friend in Turner, the school bully, Nate's world turns upside-down. As he struggles to make sense of this and forge new friendships, he's dealt another blow when his youngest brother, Dylan is rushed into hospital. His new teacher, Mr Joshua, sees a spark inside of Nate that's lit by his love of reading and writing and shows him how to use this to process what's going on. But with so much working against him, and anger rising inside him, will this be enough?

Two very different boys, one new family, a shared struggle and a big secret. Tommy is talented, cool, a young offender, and dyslexic. Ryan is smart, uncool, well-behaved, and dyslexic. The two develop an unlikely friendship. As Ryan helps Tommy to read, a secret is revealed that will change their lives forever.

April Wood has returned home from her adventure on Bear Island, but over a year later, she can't stop thinking about Bear. When April hears that a polar bear has been shot and injured in Svalbard, she's convinced it's her friend and persuades her dad to travel with her to the northernmost reaches of the Arctic. So begins an unforgettable journey across frozen tundra and icy glaciers. But along the way, she discovers much more than she bargained for - a tiny polar bear cub, desperately in need of her help. In freezing temperatures, April must navigate the dangerous Arctic terrain and face her deepest fears if she's to save him.

Everyone needs somewhere to dream. Rex has gone to stay with his godfather, Sparky. Rex doesn't say much but that's OK because Sparky is always on hand with a cup of tea to enjoy on the sofa, set up outside like an outdoor living room. Rex has his sketchbook, and he draws how he feels even if he doesn't talk about it.
An evocative sketchbook novella revealing a boy's inner world, accessing his feelings through drawing and reconnecting with the people who love him, told through Laura Dockrill's vivid storytelling.

One morning, Stompysaurus wakes from a happy dream, feeling excited for the new day, until things start to go a bit wrong. His brother's being a tease, his breakfast isn't his usual favourite and nothing is going right. His stomps and roars start rising inside him, until they explode! But a tricky start doesn't have to mean a stompy finish. Can Stompysurus find a new way of looking at things and turn his day around?

Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people. In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance - and Papi's secrets - the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other. Papi's death uncovers all the painful truths he kept hidden, and the love he divided across an ocean. And now, Yahaira and Camino are both left to grapple with what this new sister means to them, and what it will now take to keep their dreams

The arrival of a mysterious stranger, a plague of violent storms and whispers of legendary sea people. Can Morwenna discover the connection between them in time to save her home?

Three friends. Two sides. One memory. Vienna. 1936. Three young friends - Leo, Elsa and Max - spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness, and that events soon mean that they will be cruelly ripped apart from each other. With their lives taking them across Europe - to Germany, England, Prague and Poland - will they ever find their way back to each other? Will they want to?   Inspired by a true story, WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heartbreaking, and shows how the bonds of love, family and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.