A sharp, energetic anthology that treats history as a lived adventure rather than a lecture. By mixing real moments like the UK suffrage movement with contemporary fiction, it gives kids ten distinct windows into what having a voice actually looks like.
Make More Noise
book
90%
WISE Score
4.6
Amazon
Ten British middle-grade authors team up for a short-story collection marking 100 years of women's suffrage, featuring suffragette protests, modern ghosts, and wartime resistance.
4.6
Where to Read
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Screenwise Verdict
Age Fit
Targeted directly at kids ages 8 to 12. Perfect for third through sixth graders who want varied, quick-moving stories or families reading a chapter together at night.
WISE Breakdown
Wholesome
88
Stories center on courage, historical resistance, and female agency with a positive, non-cynical tone.
Imaginative
82
Spans a wide range of genres, from historical fiction and the 1911 UK census boycott to modern ghost stories.
Safe
96
A traditional middle-grade print anthology with no digital friction, graphic content, or unexpected shocks.
Enriching
92
Exposes young readers to key suffrage history, varied prose styles, and top UK children's authors.
Parent Info
✓
Why It Might Be Great
- Bite-sized format makes it ideal for reluctant readers who get overwhelmed by thick, multi-hundred-page novels.
- Blends real history with genre fun, mixing actual historical events like the 1911 UK census boycott with contemporary ghost tales.
- Features stellar children's authors including Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Emma Carroll, giving kids a sampler platter of different writing voices.
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What to Watch For
- Historical politics require quick context: A few stories reference British suffrage tactics, anti-fascist organizing ('43 Group), and historical inequality that benefit from a brief 30-second parent setup.
- Mild tension: Includes ghost stories and historical arrests, though handled comfortably within middle-grade norms.
Conversation Starters
- "Why do you think hiding from the census in 1911 was such a clever way for suffragettes to protest?"
- "If you were writing a short story about making your voice heard today, what cause would you pick?"
- "Which story style did you like better—the historical fiction or the modern ghost story?"
Deep Dive
A short-story sampler that builds real background knowledge
Long-form middle-grade novels can sometimes feel like a commitment, especially for kids who haven't quite found their momentum as independent readers. Make More Noise solves that by offering ten tight, distinct fiction pieces tied together by a clear theme: female courage and self-determination.
Published by Nosy Crow to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in the UK, the book avoids the trap of feeling like assigned schoolwork. Instead of lecturing, authors like Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Emma Carroll drop readers directly into concrete situations—a girl involved in the 1911 census boycott, historical resistance groups, or a spooky modern encounter.
Literacy gains beyond decoding
When evaluating books for 8-to-12-year-olds, it helps to look at language comprehension alongside raw decoding. Short-story anthologies excel here because they introduce varied sentence structures, distinct narrator voices, and historical vocabulary in short bursts. A child can finish an entire arc in twenty minutes, building confidence while absorbing historical context that makes future history topics much easier to grasp.
If your kid enjoys Make More Noise, it serves as an easy bridge to full-length historical fiction from any of its ten featured contributors.
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