Welcome to Hand-picked Books

"Books put your child at the center of the world of imagination"
Regina Higgins - Magic Kingdoms

We all know that kids love to read and we all want them to read.

But how do you get them to even notice books with all the other attractions and distractions around? And choosing from the bewildering array in bookstores is a daunting prospect.

All children love to read – if they have the right books...

...and now the right books will come to them.

(And just in case our books aren’t enough we asked kids to help design a cool competition that appeals to them as an added incentive to get them reading!)


How it works

Our customers say:

"Thank-you for a wonderful experience — we will certainly follow up on another experience with you"

D Johnstone — Librarian, St Davids Marist Inanda

Handpicked Books puts together a range of books that is exciting and appealing to children aged 6 to 13. The books are expertly selected, not only to grab children’s attention, but also to encourage them to develop their own literary taste and to build a solid foundation for a lifelong love of reading. We present our range of books and reading programme at schools so that we can work closely together with the media and English teachers.

We select our books from suppliers worldwide and continuously update them. We have books for strong readers, those needing encouragement, reluctant readers, those moving from picture to proper books and even dyslexic readers. We include fantasy, adventure, mystery, historical, biographical, non-fiction, special interest as well as books that address youth issues, promote confidence and transition and even audio books to strengthen imagination and vocabulary and kick-start reading.

Our customers say:

"Such a lovely idea to bring quality books to schools"

A Simpson — Librarian, Crawford Fourways

  • Handpicked books works with the school media centre to explain and promote awareness of book week and choose appropriate books
  • Learners browse samples of the carefully constructed 'book jackets' at school
  • Learners take order forms home and return them with payment
  • Handpicked Books collects orders and delivers books as soon as possible, but in some cases where stocks are limited this may take up to 8 weeks
  • Handpicked Books donates samples of many books in the chosen range to the school’s library so that any children from homes that cannot afford to buy books can also participate in the programme
  • Readers are encouraged to complete an online book review for every book read – every completed review grants entry into exciting competitions.
Research over many years all over the world shows children who read a lot:
  • Write, spell, speak and concentrate better
  • do better academically, and
  • process new information more easily
Research also shows that they:
  • have wider interests
  • do better in more subjects
  • can process unrelated facts
  • understand how people think and feel
  • are more open to new ideas
  • deal better with growing up