Skip to the content
Essex Library Service Home
  • Home
  • Libraries
  • Events
  • News
    • Contact Us
    • Join
    • Login
Loading

Join Essex Library Service

Join
Can't find an item you are looking for?

 

If the item you want to reserve is not available, you can fill in a library request form

 

Lost something in one of our libraries?

 

Think you may have left something at a library? Please fill out our lost property form. The library will contact you within 5 working days. 

 

Our terms and policies

 

Accessibility

Privacy and data protection

Terms and conditions

Site Privacy Policy

Connect with us

 

  X Logo  

 

 

  Newsletter Icon

Receive library news and updates straight to your inbox

 

Sign up for Essex Library Service e-newsletters

 

 

Download our App
  Download on the Apple App Store

Get it on the Play Store

 
Contact us

Livechat

 

Web chat

Staff monitor Livechat between 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

 

To contact your local library directly, please fill out our enquiry form.

 

 

 

Enquiry form

 

You can complete the library enquiry form if you want to contact a library, have any questions, or if you want to pass on comments or suggestions about the library service. We aim to respond to your enquiries within 5 business days.   

 

Phone

 

 

You can call our Contact Centre on

0345 603 7628 

Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm, to speak to an advisor, or use the 24-hour automated service (option 1) to renew your items (also at weekends).

 

 

 

© 2026 LUCi by SOLUS - v 1.7.2.1

Children's Fiction and Non-Fiction | LGBT+ History Month | Our Reading Suggestions | Libraries | Essex Library Service

    A-Z of Library Services

    Our library locations and opening times

    Summer Reading Challenge

    Join the library

    Reserve, renew or return an item

    Our Online Library

    Using our libraries

    Our mobile and home library services

    South Asian Heritage Month

    Empathy Day

    Pride Month

    Refugee Week

    Women's History Month

    International Mother Language Day

    Reading Well for Dementia

    LGBT+ History Month

    Adult's Fiction and Non-Fiction

    Children's Fiction and Non-Fiction

(Compiled 2026)

 

Fiction 

 

 

The Secret Sunshine Project

Benjamin Dean

Bea's family are really happy. When they visit London Pride together and have the ultimate day out, Bea doesn't think her family could possibly get any happier. But a year later, a grey cloud is following Bea's family around. Dad has passed away, and without him, they have no choice but to  move to the countryside to live with Gran. With Bea's big sister, Riley, taking the news hard, Bea will do anything to cheer her up. So with the help of new friends, The Secret Sunshine Project is formed - Bea's plan is to bring Pride to the countryside and a smile back to Riley's face.

 

Proud of Me

Sarah Hagger-Holt

Becky and Josh are almost-twins, with two mums and the same anonymous donor dad. Josh can't wait until he's eighteen, the legal age when he can finally contact his father, and he'll do anything to find out more - even if it involves lying. Becky can't stop thinking about her new friend, Carli. Could her feelings for Carli be a sign of something more. Becky and Josh both want their parents to be proud of them - but right now, they're struggling to even accept themselves.

Jamie

LD Lapinski

Jamie is a happy 11-year-old non-binary kid who likes nothing better than hanging out with best friends Daisy and Ash. But when the trio find out that they will be separated into one school for boys and another for girls, their friendship suddenly seems at risk. Deciding to take matters into their own hands, the friends' efforts to raise awareness eventually becomes a rooftop protest against the binary rules for the local schools. Jamie soon realises that, if they don't figure out a way forwards, they might be at risk of losing both their friends forever.

 

Boy Like Me

Simon James Green

It's 1994 and thanks to Section 28, there can be no mention of gay relationships in schools. When a school librarian leads Jamie to a disguised novel in the library that reflects his own confused feelings towards boys, he sees he's not the only one who has checked the book out. In the margins of the pages, Jamie learns that he's not alone.

 

Pirate Mums 

Jodie Lancet- Grant 

Billy has two pirates for mums. He wishes his family could be more like everyone else's. Until a swashbuckling adventure changes everything!

 

 

Heartstopper 

Alice Oseman 

Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they've never met ... until one day when they're made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance.

But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realised.

 

Uncle Bobby's Wedding 

Sarah Brannen 

Chloe loves, loves, LOVES her special uncle Bobby. So when she learns that Uncle Bobby is going to be getting married to his boyfriend Jamie she's not at all pleased. What if Uncle Bobby doesn't have time to play with Chloe anymore? But after spending a fun-filled day with Bobby and Jamie, she soon realises she's not losing an uncle, but gaining a whole new one!

 

Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor 

Rick Riordan 

Thor's hammer is missing again. The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon - the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds. But this time the hammer isn't just lost, it has fallen into enemy hands. If Magnus Chase and his friends can't retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants

 

We are the Beaker Girls 

Jacqueline Wilson 

Jess and Tracy Beaker have found happiness in The Dumping Ground. Not that Dumping Ground- the children's home that Tracy grew up in- but a seaside antique shop full of treasures, along with Flo, the owner, and Alfie, their dog.

 

The Spectacular Suit 

Kate Patrick 

It’s almost Frankie’s birthday and everything is ready ― except for something to wear. All of her party dresses feel wrong. Her family tries to help, but it’s no good.

What Frankie longs for is a suit. A spectacular suit …

Can Frankie find the outfit of her dreams?