MY SIX BEST BOOKS FRANK COTTRELL-BOYCE

Frank, 60, is a bestselling children’s fiction author, screenwriter and a judge for the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show’s 500 Words children’s writing competition. The live final is from 6-9.30am next Friday. THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE

Charles Darwin (Penguin Classics, £9.99) A corking read. My mum and dad had a Reader’s Digest version which I read in my mid-teens. Darwin wasn’t a scientist on the boat, he wrote his journal from the point of view of a young man having fun.

SO YOU’VE BEEN PUBLICLY SHAMED

Jon Ronson (Picador, £9.99)

A great book about victims of the Twitter mob, people whose jokes have been misinterpreted and so on.

It’s powerful and funny, and also a call for people to have good manners.

THE RAILWAY CHILDREN

E Nesbit (Faber & Faber, £6.99)

Just perfect.A book with serious elements that feels like a giddy picnic. I don’t think anyone can read

Bobby crying, “Daddy, oh my Daddy,” without choking up at the underlying sadness.

SEEING THINGS

Oliver Postgate (Canongate, £12.99) The Clangers, Bagpuss, Noggin The Nog... they’re all here.

He’s one of the great artists and always imagining a better world. A proper genius and very punk rock.

AKENFIELD

Ronald Blythe (Penguin Classics, £9.99) The antidote to Downton Abbey. It’s a detailed picture of an idyllic Suffolk village as it changes into the modern world.

My dad and his mates went looking for it but it’s not a real place.

THE RESTLESS CLOCK

Jessica Riskin (Out of print)

A fantastic history of robots from medieval times on, including a magnetic Jesus walking on the water, and a Mary giving birth.

My book Runaway Robot is heavily indebted to it.