Days are getting cooler but the break is perfect for hot new titles

With the Easter Holidays upon us, it’s the perfect time to find a cozy place to curl up with a great a book!

If you need some recommendations, book publishers HarperCollins have you covered. Here are their top recommendations:

IF YOU LOVE TO LAUGH

Sometimes there’s nothing better than laughing out loud! These books will make you chuckle, giggle and guffaw:

Mega Rich Guinea Pigs, by Kate and Jol Temple

The world’s richest man, Magnus McAloon, has tragically died in a rocket experiment gone wrong.

The sole heirs to his estate are his four beloved pet guinea pigs: Hot Head, Lunk, G-Chip and Big Pig (who is actually a capybara, but don’t tell him that).

Not everyone is happy – especially the members of the McAloon family, who are determined to get back the fortune that they feel belongs to them, and not the newly mega rich guinea pigs.

Frances Bloom, by Katrina Nannestad and Marina Zlatanova

Frances Bloom lives all alone in a cottage by the sea. She’s having a marvellous time until her nasty teacher, Ms Thistle, learns there is no-one looking after her.

Frances needs to find a family, quick smart, or she’ll be sent away to Bleak Island Home for Unwanted Children and Dogs.

As hard as Frances looks, nobody meets her high standards … until she stumbles across a large, honey-coloured bear raiding the rubbish bins … and a garden gnome fishing in the flowerbed. Welcome, Grandma Maude and Grandpa Harold!

Together, this strange trio creates a new family, writing their own rules with each misadventure!

IF YOU LOVE SPORTS

Do you love to watch or play sport? These books will get your pulse racing:

Funny Kid: Seriously Soccer, by Matt Stanton

Every kid wants to laugh, but Max is the boy who can make it happen. When Max discovers that everyone is more interested in watching soccer than his stand-up routine, he needs to come up with a plan fast. How can he compete with the world’s favourite game?

Max is the funny kid, but can he score his comedy goal?

Half-time shows, terrible coaches and little kids who pee on the goal posts are just some of the things in store for Max and his friends in this brand-new Funny Kid adventure.

Tennis Camp Diaries: Doubles Disaster, by Ash Barty, Jasmin McGaughey and Jade Goodwin

TOP SECRET! This is the PRIVATE diary of Ash Barty, future tennis SUPERSTAR! So don’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you … Okay?!

Ash’s dreams have come true – she’s going to TENNIS CAMP for TWO WHOLE WEEKS! It will be so much FUN. On the first day, Ash meets her friend Zia, the coaches are great, and she’s having the BEST time UNTIL the end-of-camp competition is announced. It’s a DOUBLES tournament. Who will Ash get paired with? But that’s not her only worry: there’s a mean kid, plus a talent show to deal with!

Will Ash’s tennis camp DREAM turn into a DISASTER?

FOR ADVENTURE LOVERS

If the idea of discovering new people and places makes you happy, these books are sure to carry you away:

The Travelling Bookshop: Mim and the Frazzled Fruit Farmer, by Katrina Nannestad and Cheryl Orsini

Mim Cohen roams the world in a travelling bookshop, with her dad and brother and a horse called Flossy.

Flossy leads them where she will, to the place where they’re needed most … the place where the perfect book will find its way home.

Now Mim has arrived in thrilling Norway – the land of mountains and fjords, Vikings and trolls, friendly folk and cuddly sheep, and one super-greedy apple thief. Norbert the fruit farmer is desperate. If the thief is not stopped, his farming days will end.

Mim knows they’re here to help Norbert. To solve the mystery of the vanishing apples. To save the farm.

If only Mim could find Norbert the right book. If only Dad would stop giving everyone the wrong book.

The Marvellous Submarine,by Clayton Zane Comber and Conor McCammon

Readers, be warned!

This book is set on Monkey Island and contains a super-smart gorilla called Harold, two regular kids called Poppy and Billy, and the world’s greatest inventor, who happens to be their mum.

BUT it also features a villainous kidnapping, a secret volcano, pirates on yachts, a hungry blue whale, exploding basketballs – and a whole lot of water. Plus, there’s Mum’s greatest invention yet: a Marvellous Submarine.

FOR THE HISTORY BUFFS

Are you obsessed with learning about the world as it was long ago? These books will help you time travel:

The Mushroom in the Sky, by Jackie French

It’s 1942.

Japan has bombed Sydney Harbour. Sixteen-year-old Ossie lies about his age to protect his country, even though it means abandoning his only family, a one-eyed dog named Lucky.

Kind-hearted Mrs Plum is already looking after forty-six dogs belonging to soldiers who’ve gone to war. She can’t possibly care for another. But just when she’s becoming desperate to find a way to feed them, help arrives: thirteen-year-old Kat Murphy volunteers to take Lucky and persuades the girls at school to help, too.

As Kat and Lucky grow closer, Kat realises he can still see Ossie, the master he loves. And somehow, Kat and Ossie catch glimpses into each other’s lives, too.

This extraordinary connection helps Ossie survive when he is taken as a prisoner of war to Japan. There, he witnesses a strange mushroom cloud rise above Nagasaki – the result of a bomb that will take, save and change lives, and forever leave the question: was it worth it?

Taken from first-hand Japanese accounts of that momentous but often misunderstood time, this is a story of quiet heroism and endurance in the face of an unimaginable horror that continues to resound to this day.

Ludicrous Legends: Myths with a Twist, by Jol Temple and David Conley

Hector and his best friend, a centaur named Hylo, are about to be tested on Greek mythology by their teacher Mr Socrates. Join them as they come to grips with the mighty Minotaur, the famous Trojan Horse/Cow, and the terrifying Medusa whose snake-hair is definitely not keen on a haircut.

A ludicrous, lighthearted and very loose retelling of three classical legends.

FOR THE ANIMAL LOVERS

Do you love spending your time with your favourite furry friend? These books will make you squeak with happiness:

Guinea Wigs: Fur Power!, by Rebecca McRitchie and Shiloh Gordon

What happens when five guinea pigs find a box of weird wigs? Best friends Jet, Minnie, Meatball, Bud and Tofu become the GUINEA WIGS – guinea pigs but with SUPERPOWERS!

And it’s just in time, too, because somebody in town is kidnapping all the chickens. Can the GUINEA WIGS work out how to use their new powers AND find the chickens

before it’s too late? Or will the superheroes have to wig it – I mean – wing it …?

Princess and Unicorn: Mikka’s Magical Surprise, by Kyla May and Zanni Louise

Princess Mikka has a palace, a dress for every occasion and even her own water slide, but there’s one thing she wants more than anything else: a pet.

So when her parents surprise her with her very own unicorn called Marshmallow, all her dreams come true. That is, until Marshmallow’s magical horn ZAPs everything in sight!

Can Mikka help Marshmallow manage her magic, or will the kingdom be covered in orange juice, floating sheep and dancing teapots forever?

FOR THE MYSTERY SOLVERS

If you think there’s nothing better than finding the solution to a puzzle, you’re sure to find these books captivating:

R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins, by Lucie Stevens

When Nanny Tobbins fell off a horse and broke her neck, the grown-ups told nine-year-old Albertine she’d never see her beloved governess again. But it simply isn’t true. For every night, when the clock strikes twelve, Nanny returns to the nursery.

Yet in her new ghostly state, Nanny Tobbins quickly causes chaos in the household — and the timing couldn’t be more inconvenient. Albertine’s stepmother is struggling to settle in, and Papa is much occupied working with Prince Albert on the Great Exhibition.

To make matters worse, the grown-ups don’t believe in ghosts at all, leaving Albertine to take the blame for Nanny’s unruly antics. How will Albertine restore peace to her home before the unthinkable occurs?

Detective Galileo, by Peter Helliar and Andrew Joyner

A hilarious new series about Galileo – a horse with a talent for solving crimes. For as long as he can remember, it has been Galileo’s dream to become a police horse. But when his dream comes true, he soon realises he’s not there to solve crimes – he’s just a vehicle to carry around the “real” human detectives. When Galileo witnesses a crime, he decides to take matters into his own hands. He has a lot to learn, but each crime he solves is sure to take him one step closer to becoming a real detective …