BOOK OF THE WEEK
26 January 2026
Hello Bookworms!
We have more books for you to read this week!
Do take a look at our Lion Print magazine, under our Further Resources tab. Here are some of the stories our younger pupils have written at the beginning of the magazine and give you inspiration for your own writing. There is also some incredible art work from our pupils.
If you’d like some more ideas of great books to read, do check out our Reading List.
The Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird
Inspired by the true story of an African childhood lived on the edge of destitution, award-winning Elizabeth Laird’s The Garbage King takes readers on an unforgettable emotional journey.
When Mamo’s mother dies, he is abandoned in the shanties of Addis Ababa. Stolen by a child-trafficker and sold to a farmer, he is cruelly treated. Escaping back to the city, he meets another, very different runaway. Dani is rich, educated – and fleeing his tyrannical father. Together they join a gang of homeless street boys who survive only by mutual bonds of trust and total dependence on each other.
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
My Family and Other Animals is the bewitching account of a rare and magical childhood on the island of Corfu by treasured British conservationist Gerald Durrell.
Escaping the ills of the British climate, the Durrell family – acne-ridden Margo, gun-toting Leslie, bookworm Lawrence and budding naturalist Gerry, along with their long-suffering mother and Roger the dog – take off for the island of Corfu.
But the Durrells find that, reluctantly, they must share their various villas with a menagerie of local fauna – among them scorpions, geckos, toads, bats and butterflies.
Recounted with immense humour and charm My Family and Other Animals is a wonderful account of a rare, magical childhood.
‘Durrell has an uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentricities’ Sunday Telegraph
‘A bewitching book’ Sunday Times
