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Sophie Roell's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Sophie Roell recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Sophie Roell's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

The Beast of Buckingham Palace

Fly into a fiery and fantastical future with No. 1 bestselling author David Walliams, in an epic adventure of myth and legend, good and evil, and one small boy who must save the world…

Illustrated by the artistic genius Tony Ross!

It is 2120 and London is in ruins.

The young Prince Alfred has never known a life outside Buckingham Palace – but when strange goings-on breach its walls and stalk the corridors in the dead of night, he is thrust into a world of mystery, adventure and monsters.

And when his mother, the Queen, is...

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Recommended by Sophie Roell, and 1 others.

Sophie RoellThe Beast of Buckingham Palace is the latest and I was a bit reluctant to buy it, thinking that the formula might be wearing thin. But in this book the formula is, according to my kids, different. All Walliams’s other books are about daily life (in some sense). This one is set in the future, in 2120. There’s a king in power but anarchy and revolution rule. And yet, the characters are still funny.... (Source)

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2

The Good Thieves

“A dazzling tale of wild hope, lingering grief, admirable self-sufficiency, and intergenerational adoration.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Vita tests her own limits, and readers will thrill at her cleverness, tenacity, and close escapes.” —Booklist
“A satisfying adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews


From award-winning author Katherine Rundell comes a fast-paced and utterly thrilling adventure driven by the loyalty and love between a grandfather and his granddaughter.

When Vita’s grandfather’s mansion is taken from him by a...
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Recommended by Sophie Roell, and 1 others.

Sophie RoellThe Good Thieves is by Katherine Rundell which, according to my kids, is already enough of a recommendation: the book needs no further introduction. But if you need a bit more detail, it’s an adventure story and a lot happens in it. It’s about a girl who goes to New York to look after her grandfather. She tries to put together a band of kid robbers (including two from the circus) to help steal an... (Source)

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3

Winter in Wartime

THE AWARD-WINNING CLASSIC

'A book we should all read' - Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse


As the Second World War approaches its end, the Netherlands is still under Nazi control and any acts of resistance are punishable by death.

But when fifteen-year-old Michiel is asked to take care of a wounded British Spitfire pilot he doesn't think twice. He joins the secret struggle against the Nazis, working every day to end the occupation and protect those in danger from it, knowing all the time that spies are everywhere and one loose word could cost...
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Recommended by Sophie Roell, and 1 others.

Sophie RoellSet in the Netherlands during World War II, it’s about a young boy and the things he gets up to during the German occupation. Jan Terlouw, now in his 80s, based it partly on his own experiences, but the book has all the nice plot twists you expect from fiction. Also, as a children’s book written nearly half a century ago about a period of Dutch history that the country still struggles to come to... (Source)

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4
A brand-new mystery for fans of Harry Potter and Murder Most Unladylike children’s books, The Last Secret is the sixth and final book in the Scarlet and Ivy series.


When Scarlet and Ivy return to school after the holidays, they quickly realise that the school is in danger. The twins will need to confront enemies from their past and present if they are to have any chance of it surviving. Could the last secret at Rookwood be the one that brings it down? Or will Scarlet and Ivy be able to untangle the trails of clues and red herrings in time to save it?

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Recommended by Sophie Roell, and 1 others.

Sophie RoellIt’s about twins called Scarlet and Ivy who go to a school called Rookwood and solve mysteries. The plots are always really good, it’s well written and if you read one book you’ll always want to read the next. (Source)

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5
It is twenty years since the events of La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One unfolded and saw the baby Lyra Belacqua begin her life-changing journey.

It is seven years since readers left Lyra and the love of her young life, Will Parry, on a park bench in Oxford's Botanic Gardens at the end of the ground-breaking, bestselling His Dark Materials sequence.

Now, in The Secret Commonwealth, we meet Lyra Silvertongue. And she is no longer a child . . .

The second volume of Sir Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust sees Lyra, now twenty years old,...
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Alison Moyet.@PhilipPullman Hardcore fan-woman here. Am hitting The Book Of Dust part two #thesecretcommonwealth like it was Christmas. ‘His Dark Materials’ starting soon on the BBC is making me wish away days. I love your work. Seriously. (Source)

Joe BurridgeFinished "The Secret Commonwealth" by @PhilipPullman over the weekend. What a book! I'm so in love with that universe and the His Dark Materials TV series is an amazing visual representation of the novels. It's a great time to be a fan. (Source)

Sophie RoellThere’s some discussion in our family about whether The Secret Commonwealth is as good as the previous ones. Philip Pullman is a born storyteller and he can make almost any scene interesting (Source)

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