My teenage diary got read exactly once, by my mum, and I’ve still not fully recovered.
Which is probably why the Lottie Brooks books make me laugh so much. Katie Kirby gets that age exactly right. The friendship dramas that feel like the end of the world. The mortifying parents. The hamsters with aristocratic names.
For me it was Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging read under the covers. Lottie is that book for this generation, just younger and kinder.
So if you’re hunting for books like Lottie Brooks because your child has torn through the lot (twice) and the next one isn’t out yet, this list is for you.
Everything here is age-right and lives at the funny end of real life. For more in this age range, my books for 10 year olds page is a good browse too.
So who is this list for?
- The child who reads with one hand and points at the funny bit with the other, so you can laugh too.
- The one who narrates her own life like a diary entry (“worst. day. EVER”) and absolutely means it.
- The reader who wants friendship fallouts, crushes and embarrassing parents, but nothing that’s grown out of her reach.
That’s the 9 to 12 year old I had in mind here, and every book below fits.
What makes books like Lottie Brooks work
Katie Kirby’s trick is honesty plus jokes. Lottie worries about real things. Friends, fitting in, growing up too slowly and too fast at the same time. Then the comedy arrives before any of it gets heavy.
The books below all do their own version of that. Real worries, wrapped in enough funny that nobody feels lectured.
One honest note before we start. Only the first pick has Lottie-style doodles all the way through. The rest are prose, but the voice and the feelings are the match. Most Lottie fans don’t blink at the switch.
Five books for Lottie Brooks fans
Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not So Popular Party Girl by Rachel Renée Russell
Dork Diaries – Tales From a Not so Popular Party Girl
The closest match on this list, doodles and all. Nikki Maxwell is finally settling in at her new school. She’s made real friends, and her crush Brandon has asked to be her science partner.
Then she overhears mean girl MacKenzie bragging that she’s going to the Halloween dance with him, and Nikki gives up and agrees to go to her little sister’s party instead.
Except MacKenzie was lying.
Same diary format, same cringe, American accents instead of British ones. And there are LOADS of them, so a child who’s bereft between Lottie releases can live here for months. My full books like Dork Diaries list carries on down this exact road.
Jelly by Jo Cotterill
Jelly
Jelly is 11, popular, and brilliant at impressions. She’s the funny one in her class. She’s also overweight, and she’s worked out that if you make the joke first, nobody else gets to.
Her real worries go into a private notebook as poems. Then Lennon arrives, her mum’s new boyfriend, and he’s the first person to notice that Jelly is playing a part. He reads her poems and tells her they’re really good.
There’s a talent show. That’s all I’m saying.
This is the pick for the child who loves that Lottie is funny AND honest about the wobbly bits. Fair warning, it might put a lump in your throat if you sneak a read yourself.
Girl (In Real Life) by Tamsin Winter
Girl (In Real Life)
Eva’s parents run a hugely successful YouTube channel, and Eva is the star of the show whether she likes it or not. Every tantrum, every spot, even her first period, broadcast to hundreds of thousands of followers.
She is getting very sick of the matching mum-and-daughter outfits and the sponsored posts. The freebies stop being worth the teasing at school.
What Eva decides to do about it makes the book.
Best for the older end of the Lottie crowd, 10 plus. It’s funny on the surface and properly cross underneath, and it takes their world (phones, followers, being looked at) seriously.
Ella on the Outside by Cath Howe
Ella on the Outside
Ella is the new girl at school. She doesn’t know anyone, she doesn’t have any friends, and she’s carrying a secret she’d do anything to keep hidden.
Then Lydia, the most popular girl in school, picks Ella as her new best friend. It feels like winning the lottery. But what does Lydia actually want? And what does any of it have to do with Molly, the shy girl who won’t talk to anyone?
If the bits of Lottie your child rereads are the friendship politics, this is that, turned up. Less jokey than the others here, more of a playground thriller, and very hard to put down.
The Secret Cooking Club by Laurel Remington
The Secret Cooking Club
Scarlett has Eva’s problem on a smaller scale. Her mum writes a popular blog, and it runs on Scarlett’s most embarrassing moments. She’s learned to keep her head down and stay out of the spotlight.
Then she discovers the empty kitchen next door, and a special cookbook, and starts to bake. Word spreads, one careful friend at a time, and The Secret Cooking Club is born.
Warm, foodie and kind. The one to reach for when your child wants the friendship feels without the cringe factor cranked all the way up. Expect requests to bake.
Two more for the pile
Hi So Much by Laura Dockrill is the funniest voice after Lottie’s. Darcy Burdock moves up to big school, her best friend Will suddenly isn’t sure he should talk to girls any more, and her beloved pet Lamb-Beth goes missing.
And Forbidden Friends by Anne-Marie Conway is one for the older end. Lizzie and Bee meet on holiday and click instantly, then find themselves forbidden from seeing each other again, and the why of it is a genuine page-turner of a secret.
When she’s ready for the classic version of all this, Jacqueline Wilson is the road every reader walks down eventually. My books like Jacqueline Wilson list has the pick of those.
For the reader already counting down to the next Lottie
Little Reads is a hand-picked library of 3,000+ books for children aged 5 to 11.
A free account gives you 100+ free books.
Full access is £7.99 a month after a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
One thing worth knowing is that it’s a library, not a classroom. It’s built for children who already love reading, not for coaxing a reluctant one to the page.
And if your child somehow hasn’t met Lottie yet, start with The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks and thank me later.