My obsession with literature exploded in my early teens. Back then, my reading consisted mostly of whatever classics I could find, novels by Jules Verne, poetry by Mario Benedetti, and a lot of horror novels by Stephen King, Richard Laymon, and Bentley Little — all of which I was too young to read. When I heard John O’Connor’s The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster was coming, I knew I had to read it.

Fascinated by Bigfoot, he spent a year tracking Bigfoot in the untamed region of the Pacific Northwest. The Secret History of Bigfoot is a wonderfully immersive journey not only into the history of Bigfoot in North America and the culture around but also a deep look at the people who obsess about it. The result is one of the most attractive nonfiction books you’ll read this year.

There are two elements that make this is fantastic read. The first is O’Connor’s voice. Knowledgeable and funny, O’Connor quickly turns into the perfect narrator for this adventure. His pursuit for understanding is powerful, and he presents every person in this book with the same gravitas (庄严).

The second element is the scope of this book. This is about Bigfoot, about its history and the people trying to find him, but O’Connor somehow manages to take the discussion into unexpected places but still leave the creature at the core of the narrative. You’ll learn things reading this book, but you’ll never feel like he’s trying to teach you something or preaching about his own beliefs.

The Secret History of Bigfoot is a wonderful book about one of the most ubiquitous myths in the U.S. and around the world: a wild man, a hair y beast stalking the woods, a magic al creature that remains untouched by the mess we’ve made. It fully embraces the fact that we sometimes need to believe in something bigger and freer than us. Bigfoot is all of that and more. Bigfoot might be out there, but its presence is all over this book. I assure you it’s an amazing adventure you can start without leaving your house.

Dive into the world of money with these 4 books that aim to educate and empower young readers on the importance of financial knowledge and smart money management.

Why Money Matters by Deborah Meaden

You might recognize investor and business owner Deborah Meaden from TV’s Dragon’s Den. She shares her expert knowledge of how money works and shapes the world. Part of the Little Experts series, the book is easy-to-read with lots of lively drawings.

Cash by Rashmi Sirdeshpande

Subtitled “How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It”, this is an entertaining and informative guide to managing your money. It’s designed to help children make the right decisions with their cash. The author is currently exploring non-fiction books as Writer in Residence for the reading charity Book Trust.

Economics by Eduard Altarriba

Get the bigger picture and explore the wider world of economics and finance with this illustrated book. It explores some of the complicated ideas you may have heard about, such as inflation and the cost of living, and it’s an interesting introduction to the ways that money affects our lives and society.

Rebel Girls Money Matters by Alexa von Tobel

Whether your piggy bank is empty or overflowing, you’ll find plenty of useful information in this fun financial guide from the creative team behind the Rebel Girls books. With interactive quizzes, Q&As with experts and real-life examples, it explains how credit cards work and how to create a budget.

Liz Pichon, known for her bcstselling Tom Gates series for children, shares the books that shaped her.

The Bad Speller by William Steig

Reading this as a child was a life-changing moment. Although I loved reading, I found it quite difficult. My mum had an American friend who bought me this book because she knew how much I struggled with spelling, and she thought it would make me laugh. It really did. And it stuck in my memory a lot. Even now, it’s one of those books that never seems to age. I love the drawings—they planted a seed in my head somewhere that pictures and words go together and can be really funny.

Silly Verse for Kids by Spike Milligan

This book is so tiny and thin, but I loved that it had all these silly poems inside with rich attractive drawings—and it made me want to write rhymes, and to have a go at drawing. After buying this in a local bookshop, I started reading it. And after finishing reading it, I started writing my own poetry. I’m always including silly poems in my books and I think that’s definitely down to the influence of this book.

Jaws by Peter Benchley

This book has a particular meaning for me. In school, I had a teacher who didn’t have a television. It made me think when I had to come up with a story for my homework, I could just change the plot of Jaws a little and he’d never know. When he read it, he thought it was amazing. I tell that story to children now, because copying other people’s stories is a great way of learning how to do things—by seeing how other people do them.