Dyslexia Friendly Awareness
Dyslexic and reluctant readers are being catered to more than ever and since we, too, know that there should be no barriers when it comes to young folks reading for pleasure, we’ve put together this list of titles that will specifically appeal to those who might have trouble with less accessible formats.
The books chosen here to boast vibrant and easy to read styles that incorporate striking graphics and are careful not to overcrowd the page. Many of them also feature characters who themselves have trouble with reading, giving younger readers somebody to relate to and a friendly reminder that reading is fun… and that everyone has their challenges.
So take a look. We know we can help you find something that’ll get your budding reader reading. All of the following are ideal for readers of 8 years old and up.
The Lottie Brooks Series by Katie Kirby
The Lottie Brooks Series by Katie KirbyBFF dramas, hairstyle disasters, crazy crushes, awful school trips, friendship fails… the Lottie Brooks books have as many hilarious and awkward school-day mishaps as you could ever want.
There’s a new disaster-prone kid on the block, and her tribulations with school, boys, family, hair (both the kind that’s on your head and the kind that starts appearing elsewhere), friends, and just about every other catastrophe that life can throw at her are hysterically capturing the imaginations of kids everywhere.
With a large font, well-spaced text, simple illustrations and an extremely loveable hero, this is just the series to get your kid hooked on books.
Book 1: The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks
Her best friend has just emigrated (awful), puberty is waiting just round the bend (awful and gross) and now Lottie’s supposed to start a new school?! Impossible. People will want her to do things. People will want her to be things. How can she possibly fit in and be herself? It would all be so much easier if she could just snooze forever… like Sir Barnaby Squeakington and Fuzzball the Third – her two hamsters. Her life is DEFINITELY over. Except it’s not. Really, it’s just beginning.
Book 2: The Catastrophic Friendship Fails of Lottie Brooks
It’s Spring Term at Lottie’s new secondary school. And this time… nothing is going to ruin it for her. Plain sailing all the way. Absolutely. Nobody to try and impress, no horrific nicknames.
Lottie’s landed a coveted role in the Spring musical, and this is just the chance she needs to impress Daniel – her mega-crush. But she barely has a chance to start rehearsing before her friendship with her BFFs Jess and Molly somehow begin to crumble. Can she keep it all together AND absolutely nail her performance as the school’s most dazzling singing crab?
Book 3: The Mega-Complicated Crushes of Lottie Brooks
Lottie may have just landed her first proper romance. And nothing, absolutely nothing at all, is going to ruin it for her. The kiss she’s hoping for is at last within reach.
Summer has arrived at last… and that means a family holiday in France where all she has to do is sunbathe by the pool and fantasise about Daniel. It’s going to be perfect. And even more importantly, it’s going to be simple. …and then she meets Antoine. Antoine is utterly gorgeous. Who even cares that they can’t exactly have deep conversations?
Book 4: Lottie Brooks’s totally Disastrous School Trip
Lottie’s back from her French summer holiday, and somehow, she just can’t seem to go back to her normal colour (tomato-coloured is just not normal). She does have to admit though that the sun burn was absolutely worth it.
And now it’s back to ordinary, boring life with her parents. But not for long, because she’s off on a school camping trip. It does NOT go well. The other girls at the camp are just incredibly nasty… and someone has stolen her diary! Even worse, her BFF Jess is spending all her time with some new girl called Isha. Everyone knows that school trips are never straight forward… but not even Lottie had imagined that they could be this bad.
Book 5: The Completely Chaotic Christmas of Lottie Brooks
Lottie loves Christmas. And she’s not asking for a huge amount this year. Well, she doesn’t think so. All she wants is a huge romantic gesture from either Antoine or Daniel, for her baby sister to stop being such a brat, lots of chocolate (Kit-Kat Chunkies, of course) and plenty of cash! Not an outrageous wishlist.
But this Christmas could be a bit unusual… because the entire Brooks family is visiting for their winter break. And they’re bringing with them some surprises. Will they be good surprises? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Book 6: The Majorly Awkward BFF Dramas of Lottie Brooks
Lottie and Daniel are officially, properly, a real couple at last! And actually, everything is going quite well. Fingers crossed, touch wood and all that.
Her brother Toby has decided that he wants to get a dog. And, possibly for the first time ever, Lottie absolutely agrees with him. And so, the Brooks family gets itself a new member: a cockapoo called Pot Noodle. …it’s just a terrible shame that puppies don’t come already toilet-trained!
https://katiekirby.co.uk/books
Billy and the Giant Adventure, and Billy and the Epic Escape by Jamie Oliver
Designed specifically with a dyslexia friendly font and clear spacing the Billy duo bursts with adventure, friendship, incredible gadgets and a dose of magic. Short, punchy chapters and lively illustrations keep the pages turning from start to finish.
Billy and the Giant Adventure
Everybody knows that weird things happen in Waterfall Woods. And that’s why nobody goes in… and why nobody’s allowed to. Billy and his friends have never been beyond the village walls and into the woods, nobody has for decades.
But when Billy and his friends find a secret way into the woods, they know it is time to go exploring at last. They soon find that the woods are home to a host of strange and unusual magical creatures… and it turns out that some of them need the kids’ help.
Billy and the Epic Escape
Now that Billy and his friends have discovered Waterfall Woods and made relationships with the magical folk who live there, they are learning all sorts about the rhythmic forces that maintain harmony in both worlds.
When the woods come under attack from the mysterious red lady Billy, Anna, Jimmy and Andy must rush to the aid of the sprite brothers they’ve befriended… but what does the red lady really want, and how does she fit into this world they’ve come to love?
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/billy-and-the-giant-adventure/
Dog Man Series by Dav Pilkey
Creator of this series, Dav Pilkey, has ADHD himself and has written these books with first hand knowledge of keeping attention and making a story accessible. They are written in graphic novel format, they have large, spaced-out print and are filled with colour and pictures. They also have heavy paper with a gentle tint to reduce visual strain.
The stories also promote the importance of being true to yourself and consistently involve plots that encourage kindness, empathy and persistence. Oh, and they’re riotously funny!
Dog Man: The Supa Epic Collection
Here’s what you need to know about Dogman: he’s a half dog, half man crime-fighting superhero! But sometimes he just needs someone to throw him a bone.
The Supa Epic Collection combines the first six books in the series:
- Dog Man
- Dog Man Unleashed
- Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties
- Dog Man and Cat Kid
- Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas
- Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild
And in these books our canine protagonist deals out his own brand of justice, pitting his smarts against crooks, robbers and the occasional squirrel. But most importantly, with the occasional assistance of his trusty sidekick, Cat Kid, Dog Man battles the nefarious plans of his nemesis Lil Petey – The World’s Most Evil Cat.
The city continually needs his help. But it’s tough when Dog Man also has to prove himself to the police chief. There are just so many trails to sniff out.
The series has great jokes, super cool graphics and plenty of smarts. How could you not root for a hero who’s just as at home rooting through rubbish and scratching on the couch as he is foiling evil scientists. Oh, and this is important: Dog Man is so smart because of how much he reads.
https://pilkey.com/series/dog-man
You’re a Bad Man Mr Gum by Andy Stanton
The Mr Gum series is packed with pictures that explain what is happening throughout the series and is printed in a perfect, simple typeface. The books are funny, just the right amount of mad and more than zany enough to keep a reader riveted.
The first book, you’re a Bad Man Mr Gum, isn’t really about Mr Gum at all… even though he is truly awful. Like, utterly terrible. But Mr Gum is not the only character here. But he is the worst. He hates children, and animals, and just about anything that might be fun. There’s also an angry fairy who lives in a bathtub for some reason, a girl called Polly, a dog called Jake and an evil butcher who really badly needs a shower.
The Mr Gum books are raucous and revolting in all the right ways, and smart and funny in even more ways than that.
InvestiGators Series by John Patrick Green
Presented in intense colour and written in an engaging comic book style, the InvestiGators books are the perfect blend of slapstick comedy and delightful wordplay. They’re truly kid-friendly and are bound to get reluctant readers hooked.
Mango and Brash, our reptilian super-spy duo, will stop at nothing to prevent every kind of villainy. As agents of S.U.I.T, these undercover super-spies have a whole arsenal of very exciting technologies and tricks with which to crack every kind of case. Flushing themselves down the nearest toilet so they can race through the city’s sewers and unleashing their world-class bag of gadgets, there’s not a nemesis they can’t take down… which is especially encouraging as they frequently come up against a former agent known as Crackerdile, perhaps their truest nemesis of all. And they were waistcoats too – because what’s a spy without a bit of style? And on their very first case together, they have not one mystery to solve, but two.
Toilet humour, zany plot lines and more twists and turns than even the most complex plumbing set-ups, InvestiGators are absurd, hilarious and specifically written for creative and curious minds.
https://investigatorsbooks.com/
The 13-Storey Treehouse Series by Andy Denton and Terry Griffiths
The layout is simple, spacious and accessible, the books are filled with cartoon-style illustrations that give a clear idea of the action going down, and the stories are propelled by mad and creative inventions that keep a reader’s attention just as much as the action-packed plots.
We just can’t get enough of the 13-Storey Treehouse books! So, it’s just as well that they show no signs of slowing down.
Everybody’s favourite gravity-defying, expectation-confounding, mind-blowing treehouse just keeps on adding more and more absurd and marvellous levels. Is there no limit to the manic imagination of Andy and Terry? No. No is basically the answer.
This is a series of almost limitless imagination, and it’s hard to think of a single kid (or adult for that matter) who wouldn’t enjoy the relentless fun and ingenious madness delivered with every instalment. Pick up any book – and don’t worry if you skip a floor or two, after all, there are 169 at the moment – and you’ll be immediately transported to a world where nothing makes sense, and everything is powered by creativity. You might also encounter an intergalactic villain or two, any number of secret labs and zany inventions, and perhaps even a magical dragon’s lair.