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.

 

Read a selection of books from the recommended book list attached:

 

Parents and family members play an important role in building successful readers. Hearing your child read is vital to your child retaining and building on the skills he or she has learned in school. But most importantly, this is a time for children to engage their imaginations, find amusement in books, and to learn to love reading. We ask that your child read for at least 15 minutes a day. Books can be of any genre or on any subject that is of interest to your child.

 

I have attached a reading list of books for your convenience which have been recommended by the Herts County Literacy Advisors, based on the literacy units of work that your child may be learning in Year 5. 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.

 

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.

 

We hope you and your family will read many stories and reap all of the wonderful benefits that reading has to offer!

 

I look forward to hearing all about the exciting books you have read.

 

Happy reading!

Kind Regards

Miss Claridge

 

 

Recommended Crackingly Good Reads

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

Just So Stories – Rudyard Kipling

 

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)

The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

Mary Poppins – P.L. Travers

Stories from Dickens (ed Blishen)

Stories from Shakespeare (ed. Geraldine McCaughrean)

Tom’s Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce

 

Fiction Genres

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

 

Science Fiction

Supernaturalist – Eoin Colfer

Grinny: Grinny and You Remember Me – Nicholas Fisk

Among the Hidden – Margaret Peterson Haddix

Double Identity – Margaret Peterson Haddix

Maphead – Lesley Howarth

The Giver – Lois Lowry

Other Worlds: 10 Amazing Sci Fi Stories – Rick Riordan ed.

Timesnatch – Robert Swindells

Hydra – Robert Swindells

 

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

 

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)

Love, Aubrey – Suzanne LaFleur (family)

Hangman - Julia Jarman (bullying)

The View from Saturday – E.L. Konisburg (friendship)

The Other Side of Truth – Bevery Naidoo (refugee)

Wonder – R.J. Palacio (appearance)

 

Adventure

Noah Barleywater Runs Away – John Boyne

Ruby Holler – Sharon Creech

Danny: the champion of the world – Roald Dahl

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo

Stormbreaker – Anthony Horowitz

The Devil and his Boy – Anthony Horowitz

Journey to the River Sea – Eva Ibbotson

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – E. L. Konigsburg

Outlaw: the Legend of Robin Hood – Tony Lee

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe – Penelope Lively

Mortal Engines – Phillip Reeves

Varjak Paw – S. F. Said

The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick

Wonderstruck – Brian Selznick

War

Warboy – Michael Foreman

Once/Now/Then/After – Morris Gleitzman

Goodnight, Mr Tom – Michelle Magorian

War Horse – Michael Morpurgo

At the Firefly Gate – Linda Newberry

Johnny and the bomb – Terry Pratchett

My Friend the Enemy – Dan Smith

The Machine Gunners – Robert Westall

Carrie’s War – Nina Bawden

Doodlebug Summer – Alison Price

Soldier Dog – Sam Angus

 

Mysteries

Chasing Vermeer – Blue Bailliett

The Crossroads – Chris Grabenstein

Silver Fin – Charlie Higson

The Case of the London Dragonfish – Joan Lennon

The Sign of the Black Dagger – Joan Lingard

Magnus Finn and the Selkie Secret – Janis Mackay

Out of the Depths – Cathy MacPhail

Flood and Fang – Marcus Sedgwick

 

Humour

How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell

How to speak dragonese - Cressida Cowell

The Meanwhile Adventures – Roddy Doyle

Boom! – Mark Haddon

Ribblestrop – Andy Mulligan

Goblins series – Philip Reeve

Holes – Louis Sachar

There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom – Loius Sachar

A Boy and a Bear in a Boat – Dave Shelton

Gangsta Granny – David Walliams

Ratburger – David Walliams

 

 

Animals

The Midnight Fox – Betsy Byars

The Tale of Despereaux – Kate DiCamillo

Charlotte’s Web – E.B.White

Flush – Carl Hiaasen

One Boy and His Dog – Eva Ibbotson

A Coyote in the House – Elmore Leonard

The Call of the Wild – Jack London

Going Home –Cliff McNish

Why the Whales Came – Michael Morpurgo

The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips – Michael Morpurgo

War Horse – Michael Morpurgo

Catscape – Mike Nicholson

Wolf Brother – Michelle Paver

The Outlaw Varjack Paw – S.F. Said

Black Beauty – Anna Sewell