Reading list for empathy 2021

Empathy Lab's 2021 Read for Empathy collection features 50 books for 4-16 year olds, with each book chosen to do a specific job in building young people’s empathy. Many of these titles are available to borrow on our catalogue and can be found below.

• Hello, Friend! by Rebecca Cobb

• Umbrella by Elena Arevalo Melville

• The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

• Tibble and Grandpa by Wendy Meddour & Daniel Egnéus

• Felix After the Rain by Dunja Jogan, translator Olivia Hellewell

• Maia and What Matters by Tine Mortier & Kaatje Vermeire, translator David Colmer

• Clean Up! Nathan Bryon & Dapo Adeola

• Ride the Wind by Nicola Davies & Salvatore Rubbino

• Once Upon a Dragon’s Fire by Beatrice Blue

• The Lost Homework by Richard O’Neill & Kirsti Beautyman

• How to Change the World by Rashmi Sirdeshpande & Annabel Tempest

• Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Halls & David Litchfield

• The Boy in the Jam Jar by Joyce Dunbar, illustrator John Shelley

• Too Small Tola Atinuke, illustrator Onyinye Iwu

• Five Ways to Make a Friend by Gillian Cross, illustrator Sarah Horne

• Belonging Street by Mandy Coe

• Bright Bursts of Colour by Matt Goodfellow, illustrator Aleksei Bitskoff

• Poems Aloud by Joseph Coelho & Daniel Gray-Barnett

• This Rock, That Rock by Dom Conlon & Vivianne Schwarz

• Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Terciero & Bre Indigo

• The Space We’re In by Katya Balen, illustrator Laura Carlin

• The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay

• The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates by Jenny Pearson, illustrator Rob Biddulph

• Talking to the Moon by S. E. Durrant

• A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll

• Freedom by Catherine Johnson

• The Star Outside My Window by Onjali Q. Raúf

• The Faraway Truth by Janae Marks

• Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah

• The Taylor Turbochaser by David Baddiel

• Tin Boy by Steve Cole, illustrator Oriol Vidal

• The Last Paper Crane by Kerry Drewery, illustrator Natsko Seki

• Eight Pieces of Silva by Patrice Lawrence

• I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

• The Gone Book Helena Close

• And the Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando

• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

• A House Without Walls by Elizabeth Laird

• Chinglish by Sue Cheung

• Scavengers by Darren Simpson

• Boy, Everywhere by M. Dassu

• When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed

• Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds

• Clouds Cannot Cover Us: Poetry collection by Jay Hulme

• A Hurricane in my Head: Poems for when your phone dies by Matt Abbott

• The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander & Kadir Nelson

• The Missing by Michael Rosen

• Gloves Off by Louisa Reid

• Run, Rebel by Manjeet Mann

• Clap When You Land Elizabeth Acevedo