Upper Key Stage 2

We recognise the key role that children’s literature plays across the curriculum in supporting children’s progress as readers and writers. That’s why we selected these diverse and inclusive books for children in Upper Key Stage 2, which feature characters that are traditionally under-represented. 

This list will be updated as more books are released. If you have any suggestions to add to this list, please email SST.education@southwark.gov.uk. 

You can find more diverse and inclusive lists for other primary year groups here.

The Literacy Tree has also developed a Representation of Race and Culture Booklist, which you can download here. ^{(pdf, 138kb)}

Cultural Diversity 

Fiction

1. Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths by Maisie Chan 

Danny Chung loves art. Unfortunately, everyone else thinks he should love maths. His parents want him to live up to their dreams, and his classmates think everyone who is Chinese is naturally good at maths. Then his grandmother arrives from China, and she and Danny have to share a bedroom. It feels like a catastrophe, but could funny, intelligent Nai Nai turn out to be his best friend?

2. Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom by Sangu Mandanna

Kiki Kallira has always been a worrier. Did she lock the front door? Is there a terrible reason her mom is late? Recently her anxiety has been getting out of control, but one thing that has always soothed her is drawing. Kiki's sketchbook is full of fanciful doodles of the rich Indian myths and legends her mother has told her over the years. One day, her sketchbook's calming effect is broken when her mythological characters begin springing to life and Kiki is pulled into the mystical world she drew.

3. Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties by Humza Arshad and Henry White 

Humza (aka Little Badman) great ambition is to be a super cool rapper and he devotes most of his time and energy on pursuing this goal. Something weird is happening at school though: teachers are disappearing and being replaced by food-obsessed Aunties intent on fattening everyone up! When his music teacher vanishes, putting a halt to Humza’s rapper dreams, he’s determined to figure out what’s going on. 

4. Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Mia Tang has a lot of secrets: 1. She lives in a motel, not a big house. 2. Her parents hide immigrants. 3. She wants to be a writer. It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, and go for her dreams? 

5. Agent Zaiba Investigates: The Missing Diamonds by Annabelle Sami 

At her cousin’s Mehndi party, Zaiba gets her first challenge: to discover the identity of the VIP staying at the same hotel. With the help of her best friend Poppy and brother Ali, Zaiba puts her sleuthing skills to the test. And when the celebrity’s precious dog disappears, along with its priceless diamond collar, it’s up to the trio to save the day!

6. What Lexie Did by Emma Shevah

Lexie lives in London with her colourful Greek-Cypriot family and she's devoted to her cousin of the same age, Eleni, who has a heart condition. But after the death of their grandmother, Lexie tells a terrible, instinctive, jealous lie about an heirloom necklace, a lie that splits the family apart. It's up to her to bring the family back together but after such a lie, can she find a way to tell the truth?

7. Dara Palmer's Major Drama by Emma Shevah

Dara Palmer loves dancing and dreams of being a world famous actress - which means she has to get the main part in the school play. When she doesn't get any part at all, Dara begins to wonder whether it's because of her looks rather than her acting skills. But Dara has big ideas - and is determined not to let prejudice stop her from being in the spotlight.

Non-Fiction

8. Goddess: 50 Goddesses, Spirits, Saints and Other Female Figures Who Have Shaped Belief  by Dr Janina Ramirez 

Separated into five sections: Ruling and Guiding, New Life, War and Death, Love and Wisdom and Animals and Nature, this stunningly illustrated hardback is a complete delight, and a well overdue study for children of the divine feminine across the world.

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Main Characters

1. High-Rise Mystery by Sharna Jackson

After finding their community art teacher murdered on their tower block estate (‘The Tri’), sisters Nik and Norva are determined to solve this terrible crime. Swinging into action even before the police have arrived, the whip-smart detective duo develop a list of suspects and a plan to identify motives and methods. But over the following days, the evidence starts to point in a confusing direction, one that they really don’t want to contemplate.

2. Jaz Santos vs. the World by Priscilla Mante

Jaz loves football but it seems that only boys get to play. Jaz’s mum, from Angola, and her father, from Scotland, no longer get on – and when her mum nearly burns the house down, her parents decide it is time for Mum to move out. It leaves Jaz desperate to get her back. Maybe if she scores enough goals and wins the football tournament? But first she has to get together a team of girls.

3. Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms by Jamar J. Perry

The Book of Chidani is a special thing in Cameron Battle’s life: a magical storybook of queens, monsters and gods. His parents read it to him until, one awful day, they vanish. When Cameron and his two best friends find themselves whirled into Chidani, they discover that this magical kingdom was locked away in the book and carried to America on slavers’ ships by the descendants of their royal family. Cameron learns he must defend Chidani – even if he does not feel ready.

4. Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tolá Okogwu 

Onyeka has a lot of hair – the kind that makes strangers stop in the street. She’s always felt insecure about her vibrant curls, until she makes an important discovery: she can control her hair with her mind! Her mother quickly whisks her off to the Academy of the Sun, a school in Nigeria where Solari – children with superpowers – are trained. But Onyeka and her new friends at the Academy soon have to put their powers to the test as they find themselves caught up in an epic battle one that puts the future of all Solari at risk.

5. Dragon Mountain by Katie and Kevin Tsang

When 12-year-old Billy Chan finds out his parents are sending him to a summer camp in middle-of-nowhere China he doesn’t know what to expect. There he meets fellow campers Dylan, Charlotte and Ling-Fei and together they stumble upon an age-old secret: four powerful warrior dragons, hidden deep within the mountain behind the camp. They have been trapped since an epic battle with the Dragon of Death and need the children’s help to set them free before terrible evil is unleashed on the earth.

6. The Breakfast Club Adventures: The Beast Beyond the Fence by Marcus Rashford

When twelve-year-old Marcus kicks his favourite football over the school fence, he knows he's never getting it back. Nothing that goes over that wall ever comes back. But when Marcus gets a mysterious note inviting him to join the Breakfast Club Investigators, he is soon pulled into an exciting adventure with his new mates Stacey, Lise and Asim to solve the mystery and get his football back!

7. Llama Out Loud! by Annabelle Sami

Yasmin Shah is a quiet girl in a really loud East London Pakistani family. It seems like no-one's ever listening to her - so one day, Yasmin decides to stop talking. She retreats into silence and playing checkers with the people at the elderly day care centre. Then Levi, a talking, shouting, joking, laughing prankster of a toy llama, bursts into her life at full volume. It’s just a pity that all his pranks are blamed on Yasmin.