Best Junior Fiction in 2021

We’ve seen a number of wonderful stories for early readers this year. Below are ten of our favourites, which can be read by independent readers or enjoyed as a read-aloud by a parent or carer. So many delightful books for young people beginning their reading journey!


Mim and the Baffling Bully by Katrina Nannestad

Mim Cohen roams the world in a travelling bookshop, with her dad and brother and a horse called Flossy. Flossy leads them where she will, to the place where they’re needed most … the place where the perfect book will find its way home.

Now Mim has arrived in a pretty Dutch village where she meets Willemina, a kind and gentle child, who is being bullied by a girl named Gerda. Mim knows they’re here to help Willemina. To change her life. To make her strong and brave and happy. If only Dad would find her the right book. If only he would stop giving everyone else the wrong book!

For readers aged 7 and up.


School of Monsters series by Sally Rippin

Welcome to the School of Monsters: the funniest, silliest and most accessible series for first readers! Start by reading only the last word on every line and work your way up to reading the whole story. With tumbling rhymes and an infectious sense of humour, the weird and wonderful students at the School of Monsters are guaranteed to spark a love of reading!

For early readers aged 5 and up.


Barkly Mansion and the Weirdest Guest by Melissa Keil

There is absolutely NOTHING weird about Cookie, Kyle, Fizzy and Lady Delilah. Except that they live in a mansion - and they’re dogs. There’s NOTHING weird about their home on Sullivan Street either - until the day a gorilla named Edmund comes to live with them. Then things do start to get a little weird …

Packed full of mischief, mayhem and wordplay, Barkly Mansion features three fish-out-of-water stories about this loveable canine crew - and their new friend, Edmund.

For readers aged 6 and up.


Egg Marks the Spot by Amy Timberlake

Together unlikely friends, Skunk and Badger, set off on an agate-finding expedition at Badger’s favourite spot on Endless Lake. But all is not as it seems at Campsite #5. Badger’s crafty cousin, Fisher, appears unexpectedly. Then a chicken arrives who seems intent on staying. Something is up! Indeed!

This volume of Skunk and Badger can be read as a stand-alone but you can also find the first adventure of these unusual friends here.

For readers aged 7 and up.


Hattie and Olaf by Frida Nillson

Hattie wants a horse more than anything. Her friend Ellen has three ponies. When Hattie’s father finally comes home with a horse float, Hattie is ecstatic. But instead of a horse, out stomps Olaf - a donkey. Now Hattie not only has horse fever, she suddenly catches lying sickness as well.

This Hattie adventure can be read as a stand-alone, but you can check out Hattie’s first tale of mischief here.

For readers aged 7 and up.


Dulcinea in the Forbidden Forest by Ole Koennecke

Dulcinea has known since she was small not to enter the dangerous magic forest where the witch has her castle. But her father hasn’t come home from collecting blueberries for her birthday pancakes. Did the witch cast a spell on him?

Dulcinea must brave the dark forest and sneak into the witch’s castle to steal the spell book and free him. Her father would hardly have named her after the brave Dulcinea if she couldn’t break a witch’s spell to celebrate her birthday with him!

For readers aged 6 and up.


The 143-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton

Andy and Terry’s treehouse now has 13 new storeys, including a word-o-matic (it knows every word in the whole world!); a recycling depot; a wrecking ball; a complaining room; a spooky graveyard (where it’s always midnight, even in the middle of the day); a toffee apple orchard guarded by a kind scarecrow; and a camping ground where you can have a nice, relaxing camping holiday - unless you get caught by hobyahs, put in a bag and poked with a stick, that is …

Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up!

For readers aged 5 and up.


Wandi by Favel Parrett

A young cub is snatched from his family and home by a giant eagle, then dropped, injured and alone, in a suburban garden. This is where he meets his first Human, and begins his long journey to becoming the most famous dingo in the world.

He will never see his mountain home again, or his family. But it is his destiny to save alpine dingoes from extinction, and he dreams of a time when all cubs like him can live in the wild in safety, instead of facing poison and bullets and hatred.

For readers aged 8 and up.


Marcie Gill and the Caravan Cat by Monica McInerney

Marcie Gill hasn’t had a great start to the Christmas holidays. Her parents aren’t talking to each other and the family business - the Snorkel Bay Caravan Park - is in financial trouble. Her younger brother will only talk about his 23 goldfish and her sister is obsessed with tennis. To make matters worse her gran is in the hospital after a bad fall and won’t be home for ages.

But then something magical happens. Something that involves a Christmas competition, a black cat called George and a wishing stone. Marcie is about to discover that if you wish hard enough, dreams can come true.

Suitable for readers aged 7 and up.


Aven Green Sleuthing Machine by Dusti Bowling

Third-grader Aven Green has been solving mysteries for a whole month, cracking such cases as The Mystery of the Cranky Mom. But can this perceptive detective solve two cases at the same time?

First her teacher’s lunch bag disappears. Then Aven’s great-grandma’s dog goes missing. Fortunately, since Aven was born without arms, all the “arm” cells went to her super-powered brain instead. (That’s her theory.) This hilarious chapter book is a about a smart, witty, disabled protagonist.

Suitable for readers aged 6 and up.

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Cover image for Mim and the Baffling Bully (The Travelling Bookshop, Book 1)

Mim and the Baffling Bully (The Travelling Bookshop, Book 1)

Katrina Nannestad, Cheryl Orsini (illus.)

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops