Simon Pollard's books for Challenging Times

Simon Pollard is a head teacher at Carclaze Community Primary School, who last year founded the St Austell Festival of Children’s Literature.
He was recently awarded the Community Reading Champion in the Harper Collins Reading for Pleasure Teacher Awards 2024. He is passionate about the importance of developing a lifelong love of reading and the importance of reading for pleasure in improving outcomes for pupils. He is a regional rep for UKLA and has led an OU -UKLA Teachers’ Reading Group. We asked him to give us a list of books for times of change and challenge, that might be useful for one child going through a tough time, or for a whole class, to increase empathy and understanding.
Thank you to Simon Pollard for these great recommendations- a very useful list indeed, so please do download it and save it for future reference- and make sure you’re signed up to our Teachers’ Reading Challenge newsletter for book recommendations and other great RfP resources.