Sometimes I find myself reading children's or YA books that don't really fit with 'magic fantasy' but are nevertheless well worth recommending.
SUPERB:
A Boy and a Bear in a Boat, Dave Shelton [see my NATE article]
The Marvels, Brian Selznick [post Sept '15]
Kaleidoscope, Brian Selznick [post Dec ‘21]
The Doldrums, Nicholas Gannon [post Nov '15]
Thornhill, Pam Smy [post Aug '17]
Where the World Ends, Geraldine McCaughrean [posts Sept '17]
The Murderer's Ape, The False Rose, Jakob Wegelius [post Sept '17, Oct ‘21]
Illegal, Eoin Colfer & Andrew Donkin, Illus Giovanni Rigano [post Oct '17]
Morning Girl, Michael Dorris [post Oct '17]
The Doldrums, Nicholas Gannon [post Nov '15]
Thornhill, Pam Smy [post Aug '17]
Where the World Ends, Geraldine McCaughrean [posts Sept '17]
The Murderer's Ape, The False Rose, Jakob Wegelius [post Sept '17, Oct ‘21]
Illegal, Eoin Colfer & Andrew Donkin, Illus Giovanni Rigano [post Oct '17]
Morning Girl, Michael Dorris [post Oct '17]
The Goat, Anne Fleming [post May '17]
The Blue Cat, The Red Shoe, Ursula Dubosarsky [post Sept '18]
The Skylarks' War, Hilary McKay [post Nov '18]
The Midnight Zoo, Sonya Hartnett [post Jan ‘19]
Lenny’s Book of Everything, Karen Foxlee [post Jan ‘19]
Orphan Island, Laurel Snyder [post February ‘19]
Fish Boy, Chloe Daykin [post July ‘19]
The Colour of the Sun, David Almond [post August ‘19]
Bone Music, David Almond [post Dec ‘21]
When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead [post June ‘20]
Wolf Hollow, Echo Mountain, Lauren Wolk [post July ‘20]
Here in the Real World, Sara Pennypacker [post Aug ‘20]
Many and various titles by Sharon Creech [post Sept ‘20]
October, October, Katya Balen [post Oct ‘20]
The Blue Book of Nebo, Manon Steffan Ros (Older Readers) [post Jan ‘22]
Always (and full series), Morris Gleitzman [post Dec ‘21]
Julia and the Shark, Kiran Millwood Hargrave [post Dec ‘21]
The Light in Everything, Katya Balen [post April ‘22]
A Game of Fox and Squirrels, Jenn Reese [post May ‘22]
My Own Lightning, Lauren Wolk [post May ‘22]
The Asparagus Bunch, Jessica Scott-Whyte [post July ‘22]
Paper Boat, Paper Bird, David Almond [post Aug ‘22]
Running With Horses, Jason Cockcroft [post Aug ‘22]
Attack of the Black Rectangles, Amy Sarig King [post Sept ‘22]
Stone, Finbar Hawkins [post Sept ‘22]
The Haunted Hills, Berlie Doherty [post Nov ‘22]
Song Walker, Zillah Bethell [post Dec ‘22]
Wild Song, Candy Gourlay [post Dec ‘22]
Pony, R.J.Palacio [post Feb ‘23]
Promise Boys, Nick Brooks (YA) [post March ‘23]
Ravencave, Marcus Sedgwick [post March ‘23]
Global, Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, Giovanni Rigano (graphic novel) [post June ‘23]
Foxlight, Katya Balen [post July 23]
Skellig (Illustrated), David Almond, Tom de Freston [post Aug ‘23]
Nowhere Island, Tania Unsworth [post Aug ‘23]
Play, Luke Palmer [post Aug ‘23]
The Final Year, Matt Goodfellow [post Sept ‘23]
Treacle Town, Brian Conaghan [post Oct ‘23]
Runner Hawk, Michael Egan [post Nov ‘23]
Crossing the Line, Tia Fisher [post Dec ‘23]
GREAT:
The Inventions of Hugo Cabret, Wonderstruck, Brian Selznick [post Sept '15]
Rooftoppers , Katherine Rundell [post June'14]
The Wolf Wilder, Katherine Rundell [post Oct '15]
No True Echo, Gareth P Jones [post Feb '16]
Death or Ice Cream?, Gareth P Jones [post Feb '16]
The Boundless, Kenneth Oppel [post March '16]
The Nest, Kenneth Oppel [post March '16]
Letters from the Lighthouse, Emma Carroll [post June '17]
The Explorer, Katherine Rundell [post Sept '17]
The Poet's Dog, Patricia MacLaughlan [post Oct '17]
The White Hare, Michael Fishwick [post Nov '17]
The Ravenmaster Trilogy, John Owen Theobald [post Nov '17]
Doldrums 2: The Helmsley Curse, Nicholas Gannon [post Dec '17]
Bob, Wendy Mass & Rebecca Stead [original post May '18, reposted July ‘20]
Orphan Monster Spy, Matt Killeen (OLDER READERS) [post May '18]
The Game of the Goose, The Golden Day, Abyssinia, Ursula Dubosarsky [post Jan ‘19]
The Children of the King, Sonya Hartnett [post Jan ‘19]
Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson [post March ‘19]
To the Edge of the World, Julia Green [post April ‘19]
Ghost, Jason Reynolds [post April ‘19]
Hurricane Season, Nicole Melleby [post June ‘19]
The House of Light, Julia Green [post June ‘19]
The Good Thieves, Katherine Rundell [post June ‘19]
Fire Girl, Forest Boy, Chloe Daykin [post August ‘19]
The Somerset Tsunami, Emma Carroll [post Nov ‘19]
Liar and Spy, The List of Things That Will Not Change, Rebecca Stead [post July ‘20]
Beyond the Bright Sea, Lauren Wolk [post July ‘20]
The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates, Jenny Pearson [post July 20]
Hello, Universe, Erin Entrada Kelly [post Aug ‘20]
The Wolf Road, Richard Lambert (OLDER READERS) [post Nov ‘20]
When the Sky Falls, Phil Earle [post Oct ‘21]
When the War Came Home, Lesley Parr [Post Jan ‘22]
Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep, Philip Reeve [post Dec ‘21]
Nisha’s War, Dan Smith [post Feb ‘22]
The Sky Over Rebecca, Matthew Fox [post April ‘22]
Dragon Skin, Karen Foxlee [post May ‘22]
The Good Turn, Sharna Jackson [post May ‘22]
The Chestnut Roaster, Eve McDonnell [post Oct ‘2
Midwinter Burning, Tanya Landman [post Nov ‘22]
My Friend the Octopus, Lindsay Galvin [post Jan ‘23]
Nightjar, Katya Balen [post June ‘23]
Jodie, Hilary McKay [post June ‘23]
Island, the illustrated edition, David Almond, David Litchfield [post June ‘23]
The Lovely Dark, Matthew Fox [post July ‘23]
The Den, Keith Gray [post July ‘23]
All The Way Down, Stewart Foster [post Aug ‘23]
Simon Sort Of Says, Erin Bow [post Sept’23]
Finn Jones Was Here, Simon James Green [post Oct ‘23]
The Puppets of Spelhorst, Kate DiCamillo [post Nov ‘23]
VERY GOOD:
The Dogs of Winter, Bobbie Pyron [post June '14]
Sun Thief, Jamie Buxton [post Oct '15]
The Thornthwaite Betrayal, Gareth P Jones [post Oct '16]
The Adventures of John Blake, Philip Pullman [post June '17]
Maudlin Towers: Curse of the Werewolf Boy, Chris Priestley [post Oct '17]
The Book Case, Dave Shelton [post April '18]
The Legend of Sally Jones, Jakob Wegelius [post Oct '18]
The First Book of Samuel, Ursula Dubosarsky [post Jan ‘19]
High Rise Mystery, Sharna Jackson [post April ‘19]
Anna at War, Helen Peters [post May ‘19]
In the Shadow of Heroes, Nicholas Bowling [post May ‘19]
Call Me Alastair, Cory Leonardo [post June ‘19]
The Unexpected Find, Toby Ibbotson [post July ‘19]
The Boy Who Pressed Play, Chloe Daykin [post August ‘19]
The Ghouls of Howlfair, Nick Tomlinson [post Nov ‘19]
Pictures of Hollis Woods, Eleven, Patricia Reilly Giff [post Aug ‘20]
The Ghost of Gosswater Hall, Lucy Strange [post Nov ‘19]
The Ash House, Angharad Walker [post Nov ‘21]
Sisters of the Lost Marsh, Lucy Strange [post Nov ‘21]
Fake, Ele Fountain [post June ‘22]
While the Storm Rages, Phil Earl [post June ‘22]
The Midnighters, Hana Tooke [post July ‘22]
The Misunderstandings of Charity Brown, Elizabeth Laird [post Aug ‘22]
A Glasshouse of Stars, Shirley Marr [post Sept ‘22]
The Little Match Girl Strikes Back [post Sept ‘22]
Resist, Tom Palmer [post Nov ,22]
The Storm and the Minotaur, Lucy Strange [post July ‘23]
Finding Bear, Hannah Gold [post July ‘23]
The Smugglers’ Fox, Susanna Bailey [post July ‘23]
The Piano at the Station, Helen Rutter [post Aug ‘23]
Sweet Skies, Robin Scott-Elliot [post Aug ‘23]
The Undying of Obedience Wellrest, Nicholas Bowling [post Nov ‘23]
POETRY:
The Lost Words (Nature through poetry and art), Robert Macfarlane & Jackie Morris [post Oct '17]
The Moon Spun Round: W. B. Yeats for Children, Edited by Noreen Doody, Illustrated by Shona Shirley Macdonald [post Dec '17]
The Moon Spun Round: W. B. Yeats for Children, Edited by Noreen Doody, Illustrated by Shona Shirley Macdonald [post Dec '17]
Zombierella, Joseph Coelho [post Sept ‘20]
The Girl Who Became a Tree, Joseph Coelho [post Sept ‘20]
The Lost Spells (Nature through poetry and art), Robert Macfarlane & Jackie Morris [post Oct '20]
The Way of Dog, Zana Fraillon [post March ‘23]
Let’s Chase Stars Together, Matt Goodfellow [post June ‘23]
Welcome to Wild Town, AF Harrold & Dom Conlon [post Aug ‘23]
The Final Year, Matt Goodfellow [post Sept ‘23]
And I Climbed And I Climbed, Stephen Lightbrown [post Oct ‘23]
TRADITIONAL TALES:
The Mab: Eleven Epic Stories from the Mabinogi, Edited Matt Brown & Eloise Williams [post June ‘22]
Storyland (Children’s version), Amy Jeffs [post Sept ‘23]
The Wolf-Girl, The Greeks and The Gods, Tom Holland [post Nov ‘23]
Gods Don’t Cry, Ellen Ryan [post Nov ‘23]
NON FICTION:
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls (1&2), Francesca Cavallo & Elena Favilli [post Dec '17]
Stories for Boys who Dare to be Different, Ben Brooks, Illus. Quinton Winter [post April '19]
Stories for Boys who Dare to be Different 2, Stories for Kids who Dare to be Different, Ben Brooks, Illus. Quinton Winter [post Nov ‘19]
Where Are You Really From, Adam Rutherford [post August’23]
PICTURE BOOKS (Older Children)
The Dam, David Almond, Levi Pinfold [post Sept '18]
I Go Quiet, David Ouimet [post Sept ‘19]
Annie Lumsden: The Girl from the Sea, David Almond [post Aug ‘20]
The Skull, Jon Klassen [post July ‘23]
Island of Whispers, Frances Hardinge [post Sept ‘23]
The Panda’s Child, Jackie Morris, Cathy Fisher [post Oct ‘23]