Reading

Dear Parents/Carers,

Reading is an important part of everyday life. The more our children read, the better readers they will be and the better writers they will become.

Here are some quick tips to encourage your child’s love for reading.

• READ! READ! READ! Make reading important. Be a role-model for reading. Let your child see you reading throughout the day and use daily routines as reading opportunities. Cooking, reading TV listings, looking for information on-line, reading directions, or following a map all provide authentic reading experiences.
• Give your child the power of choice. Having reading materials available, such as: books, magazines, comics, etc… is key to helping children love to read, and the reading materials they choose themselves are best. Help your child find texts that appeal to his or her interests, yet are age appropriate and ‘just right’ in difficulty.
• Find opportunities to read aloud to your child. Read your favourite childhood book aloud, read signs while driving in the car, read at stores, and read while you’re on holiday!
• Take frequent trips to the library.
• Read a great story over and over again to help your child with fluency and reading with expression.
• Talk it up. Talking about books during and after reading helps improve comprehension. Encourage your child to share their ideas and opinions by asking open-ended questions. Talk about what you read to let them know that reading is an important part of your life. Tell them why you liked a book, what you learned from it, or how it helped you— soon they might start doing the same.

I have attached a reading list of books for your convenience. I don’t expect your child to read all of the books on the list but you may find some useful suggestions here to help when you are choosing books together.

Traditional Tales – Legends

Sir Galwain and the Loathly Lady - Selina Hastings

Don Quixote - Marcia Williams

Arthur: The Seeing Stone, Kevin Crossley-Holland

Beowulf – K. Crossley-Holland

The Story of Robin Hood – R. Leeson

Athur, High King of Britain – Michael Morpurgo

The Tale of Tales – Tony Mitton

Myths and Legends – Anthony Horrowitz

Arion and the Dolphin – Vikram Seth

Fantasy

Skellig – David Almond

The Various – Steve Augarde

Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer

The Bag of Bones – Vivian French

Inkheart trilogy – Cornelia Funke

Coraline – Neil Gaiman

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen – Alan Garner

Pure Dead Magic – Debi Gliori

Wolf Brother – Michelle Paver

Truckers – Terry Pratchett

The Spiderwick Chronicles – Lynne Reid Banks

Goblins series – Philip Reeve

Wonderstruck – Brian Selznick

The Amulet of Samarkand – Jonathon Stroud

The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making – Catherynne M. Valente

Tanglewreck – Jeanette Winterson

Chilling Stories

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror – Chris Priestley

Horowitz Horror – Anthony Horowitz

Breathe – Cliff McNish

At the Firefly Gate – Linda Newberry

Chill – Alex Nye

Tales from the Tunnel’s Mouth – Chris Priestley

Tales of Terror From the Black Ship – Chris Priestley

Marianne Dreams – Catherine Storr

Science Fiction

Supernaturalist – Eoin Colfer

Grinny: Grinny and You Remember Me – Nicholas Fisk

Among the Hidden – Margaret Peterson Haddix

Double Identity – Margaret Peterson Haddix

Real Life

Pig Heart Boy – Malorie Blackman (science/ethics)

Tangerine – Edward Bloor (blindness)

The Eighteenth Emergency – Betsy Byars (bullying)

The 10PM Question – Kate De Gold (worry/anxiety)

Running on Cracks – Julia Donaldson (running from home – mature themes)

Step By Wicked Step – Anne Fine (step parenting)

Dead End in Norvelt – Jack Gantos (boredom, friendship)

Suspense and Mystery

Snow horse and other stories – Joan Aiken

Snaggletooth’s mystery – Gene Kemp

Shock forest and other stories – Margaret Mahy

Room 13 – Robert Swindells

The London Eye Mystery – Siobhan Dowd

No Such Thing as Dragons - Written and illustrated by Philip Reeve

Cosmic - Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Flood Child - Written by Emily Diamand

Fiction from our Literary Heritage

Narnia Stories – CS Lewis

Harry Potter series – JK Rowling

Billy the Kid – Michael Morpurgo

Why the Whales Came – Michael Morpurgo

Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

Kensuke’s Kingdom – Michael Morpurgo

A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

Stig of the Dump – Clive King

Snow Spider – Jenny Nimmo

Macbeth for Kids, Louis Burdett

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Joan Aiken

Peter Pan – J. M. Barrie

A Christmas Carol (Eyewitness classics) – Charles Dickens

The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (adapted by Chris Mould)