Books for the Kids at Christmas

Here we are to help you choose the best book gifts for the middle-school kids in your life. We’ve got the latest books in some of the biggest series out there, as well as a couple of new departures from beloved authors. Every one of them is packed with imagination, amazement and yes, embarrassment à la dork and wimpy kid.

Take a look.

Wrath of the Triple Goddess (Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 7) by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson – everyone’s favourite half-god teenager – has prevented the world’s demise a good handful of times. But now it’s time for his greatest challenge of all: finishing high school. And it should be a simple matter. All he has to do is get two more recommendations from the Mount Olympus gods. And first he’s going to Hecate – three-headed goddess of magic, necromancy and the night. Should be a breeze.

In exchange for the letter, Hecate needs Percy, and friends Annabeth and Gover, to look after her pets while she’s away for Halloween. There are just three rules:

Look after the pets like their lives depend on it (because they do)
Don’t touch anything – especially Hecate’s magic potions!
See points 1 and 2

But when you find yourself in the home of a goddess with incredible and intriguing powers, curiosity is a tough thing to keep in check. It is for Grover, at least. One wrong move and suddenly the three friends find themselves trying to wrangle a giant goat through the ruins of Hecate’s demolished house while her other pets – all of them dangerous and terrifying – pour out into New York City.

They’ve got just one day to restore order before Hecate… and the full fury of a goddess with three irate heads is not something they’re keen to see.

DOAWK 19: Hot Mess by Jeff Kinney

Poor Greg. Will his life ever not be an embarrassing mess?

Fresh off his campaign to save his crumbling school, Greg and the rest of the Heffley family – in fact, way too much of the Heffley family – are off for a bit of a summer holiday. The heat is sweltering, the beach house is tiny and the family is… all here. Ah yes, the magic of summer. Like a vacation in a pressure cooker.

With everyone so packed in and so hot, it’s only a matter of time before tempers flare and those family secrets come rushing out into the blazing light. And, crucially, it might just be the secret ingredient in Gramma’s famous meatballs that tips everyone over the edge. Families, right?

Dork Diaries 16: Sister Showdown

More hilarious meltdowns and disasters from the world of our favourite dork diarist.

Nikki’s got bigger problems than her sister this summer. It’s not that wacky Brianna isn’t being a total pain, she absolutely is, but the bigger problem is that she only 3 days left before she starts at Westchester Prep, and she’s not about to attend a new school as this version of herself. Oh no. She’s going to need to be a new version of Nikki. A Nikki who is cute and cool and smart and more intriguing than any other girl. Shouldn’t be too difficult.

And then disaster strikes. A disaster named Brianna. Brianna somehow manages to get her hands on Nikki’s phone and her diary and turns her whole world upside down. And now it’s not just her fabulous reinvention that’s at stake. Her friendships with Chloe and Zoey might not survive this… and then there’s her crush Brandon. This is going to be tough!

Supersleuth by David Walliams

It’s Walliams’ first murder mystery! But don’t worry, it’s not the nasty kind of murder mystery. It’s the kind with all the laughs and thrills.

Murder mystery superfan Dilly loves some good detective work. And she loves a good detective. Her favourite is Sherlock Holmes, naturally. And she’s managed to train her dog Watson to sniff out his own share of the clues.

So far the duo have managed to find a lost cat here and there, and then there was the case of the missing biscuits, which perhaps would have better been called the case of the eaten biscuits.

But now Dilly and Watson find themselves on an impressive cruise ship bound for London. And one thing Dilly is quickly learning about ocean liners is that, with thousands of passengers and miles and miles to go before land, they’re an excellent place for a murder. And more than just one…

Adventures Unlimited: The Land of Lost Things by Andy Griffiths

The author of the inimitable 13 Storey Treehouse series returns with a brand new series. And it is every bit as imaginative and zany and terrific as all the things the treehouse dreamed up.

You and Me, dressed in the best adventuring suits that boxes can build, are about to journey to the Land of Lost Things – a wacky place filled with strange characters and curious inventions. We just needed to find my lucky rabbits food and suddenly, there we were… and we met a flying watch who’d lost his flock, a talking book, more snapping turtles than could ever be called comfortable, a couple of villains called Jimmy and Johnny Knucklehead and a bull trying to learn to control his temper.

…And that’s only the ones that I can remember. Of course you were there too, so you can probably remember more than I can. But if you need a reminder, just read the book!

The Land of Lost Things has all the unstoppable, outrageous humour and boundless imagination that we’ve come to expect from Andy Griffiths.

Guinness Book of World Records 2025

And finally, what would Christmas even be without a bumper crop of intriguing and peculiar facts and accomplishments? All these unexpected feats and fascinations really are entertainment for the whole family.

This year we’ve got an extra big section on sports stars and sporting greatness, one on world-changing icons, one on pop culture and social media superstars… there’s even a dedicated kids section all about how you could become a record breaker, an opening chapter that celebrates 70 years of the world’s most famous fact book, and a section on the history of record breaking that includes amazing retro flashbacks.