In a year of closings and openings, postponements and pivoting to online, between online learning and zooming extracurriculars, some might say the appeal of escaping into a book is stronger than ever. At The Little Bookroom, our readers were hungry for stories. Here’s an overview of their favourites, our favourites and ones certain to be crowd-pleasers as we enter the final leg of the gift-giving season.

Sally Rippin’s latest series, School of Monsters (Hardie Grant), illustrated by Chris Kennett, has eight highly entertaining, funny, silly and accessible stories for early readers with predicable rhyme and sight words that pop out in a different colours. Similarly, Renee Treml’s early graphic novel series, Ollie and Bea (Allen & Unwin), offers two books full of friendship and puns.

Some series continue to grow in popularity with each addition. Andrew MacDonald and Ben Wood’s The Real Pigeons (HG) are back with their eighth mystery adventure in Spy High. The fandom is real. Likewise, Naughty Dragons Fire Up! (HG) is the third tale of those mischievous pint-sized pets that wreak havoc everywhere they go. Natalie Jane Prior and Simon Howe have captured hearts (and belly laughs) with their little rascals.

Other absolute winners include Little Gem (Penguin) by Anna Zobel – the story of a trainee witch out of her depth but able to make her mark with the right help and encouragement. Marcie Gill and the Caravan Park Cat (Penguin) is Monica McInerney’s first foray into children’s literature and is as heartwarming as the title suggests, and Skunk and Badger: Egg Marks the Spot (A&U) by Amy Timberlake and illustrated by Jon Klassen takes the mismatched friends trope to a delightful place with the cantankerous Badger and spritely Skunk.

In Dulcinea in the Forbidden Forest (Walker) by Ole Konnecke, Dulcinea has to find the courage to save her father when a witch turns him into a tree. For sports fans, Sam Kerr, captain of the Matildas, has written a series with Fiona Harris. Sam Kerr: Kicking Goals (Simon & Schuster) already has two instalments.

Older middle-grade readers are spoilt for choice. Dragon Skin (A&U) is the latest from multi-award winner Karen Foxlee. It’s a gorgeous tug-at-your-heartstrings story of a girl who finds an injured dragon and nurses it back to health. It overflows with friendship, grief and family drama set in rural Australia that readers 10-14 are sure to enjoy.

Seven Wherewithal Way (Affirm Press) by Samantha-Ellen Bound is this year’s must-have fantasy romp for fans of Nevermoor or Harry Potter. She has drawn on a smorgasbord of folklore to build the world. The Astonishing Chronicles of Oscar from Elsewhere (A&U) is the fourth book in the beautifully presented set of stand-alone titles in the Kingdoms and Empires series by Jaclyn Moriarty.