Recommended Book Lists
Helping your child to read, infer and decode with confidence
As promised at Parents’ Coffee Morning, herewith some ideas for helping children of all ages with reading.
http://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com
Teach your Monster to Read: First Steps is a new, free game to practise the first steps of reading.
Combining top quality games design with essential learning, the game is built on the principles of synthetic phonics and follows the teaching sequence of the Letters and Sounds programme.
It has been assessed by reading experts at the University of Roehampton.
This website allows you to choose a booklist according to the type of reader your child is. There is also lots of advice for parents supporting readers with developing this skill.
Pupils can log into the site using the following details:
Early Years and Key Stage 1
Username: hcks1 Password: hcks1
Username: hclks2 Password: hclks2
Username: hcuks2 Password: hcuks2
- www.booksforkeeps.co.uk
This site has many book reviews with recommended reads. It is updated regularly to include new releases! - www.lovereading4kids.co.uk
This site provides list of ‘must reads’ for children according to their age range. It includes many newly published books and has topical booklists that vary according to current/recent events (eg.Olympics . - www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk
This site provides you with a list of popular children’s authors, illustrators and publishers. - www.wordsforlife.org.uk
This site has book lists and a range of reading related activities under each age group. - http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/children/booklists/
This site has themed booklists according to your child’s interests. It also has a new ‘monthly pick.
| Foundation Stage Suggested Books | ||
| Book Title | Author | |
| Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? | Bill Martin Jnr | |
| Where’s Spot? | Eric Hill | |
| Guess How Much I Love You | Sam McBratney and Garth Williams | |
| The Little Red Hen | Byron Barton | |
| The Very Hungry Caterpillar | Eric Carle | |
| Clifford the Big Red Dog | Norman Bridwell | |
| Owl Babies | Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson | |
| Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak | |
| Winnie the Pooh |
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| The Tale of Peter Rabbit | Beatrix Potter | |
| Stone Soup | Marcia Brown | |
| Not Now Bernard | David McKee | |
| There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly | Pam Adams | |
| Q Pootle 5 | Nick Butterworth | |
| The Gruffalo | Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler | |
| Room on the Broom | Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler | |
| Winnie the Witch | Valerie Thomas & Korky Paul | |
| The Elephant and the Bad Baby | Elfrida Vipont & Raymond Briggs | |
| We’re Going on a Bear Hunt | Helen Oxenbury | |
| Handa’s Surprise | Eileen Browne | |
| I Will Never Eat a Tomato | Lauren Child | |
| Rosie’s Walk | Pat and Laurence Hutchins | |
| One Snowy Night | Nick Butterworth | |
| Dear Zoo | Rod Campbell | |
| The Rainbow Fish | Marcus Pfister | |
| Dogger | Shirley Hughes | |
| Farmer Duck | Martin Waddell | |
| Once There Were Giants |
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| Here Comes the Aliens | Colin McNaughton | |
| Variety of Traditional Tales eg 3 Little Pigs; Red Riding Hood; Sleeping Beauty; Goldilocks and the 3 Bears; The Gingerbread Man; Rapunzel; | ||
Many of these are books for you to read to and with your child to develop their understanding of story and of vocabulary.
| Year 1 Suggested Books | |
| Book Title | Author |
| The Cat in the Hat | Dr Seuss |
| The Tiger Who Came to Tea | Judith Kerr |
| Hairy Maclary | Lynley Dodd |
| The Large Family Collection | Jill Murphy |
| Charlie and Lola | Lauren Child |
| The Smartest Giant in Town | Julia Donaldson |
| A Squash and a Squeeze | Julia Donaldson |
| The Gruffalo’s Child | Julia Donaldson |
| The Gigantic Turnip | Aleksei Tolstoy |
| The Whisperer | Nick Butterworth |
| Mrs Armitage on Wheels | Quentin Blake |
| The Trouble with Jack | Shirley Hughes |
| My Friend Bear | Jez Alborough |
| Avocado Baby | John Burningham |
| A Bear Called Paddington | Michael Bond |
| Funnybones | Allan Ahlberg |
| The Jolly Postman | Allan Ahlberg |
| Mister Magnolia | Quentin Blake |
| Katie Morag Series | Mairi Hedderwick |
| Frog and Toad are Friends | Arnold Lobel |
| The Princess and the Pea | Minnie Grey |
| Don’t Forget the Bacon | Pat Hutchins |
| Emperor of Absurdia | Chris Riddell |
| The True Story of the Three Little Pigs | Jon Scieszka |
Many of these are books for you to read to and with your child to develop their understanding of story and of vocabulary
| Year 2 Suggested Books | |
| Book Title | Author |
| The Cat Who Lost His Purr | Michelle Coxon |
| Frightened Fred | Peta Coplans |
| Friends | Kim Lewis |
| Mog Stories | Judith Kerr |
| Mr Wolf’s Pancakes | Jan Fearnley |
| Frog is Frog | Max Velthuijis |
| Cat and Mouse Story | Michael Rosen |
| The Snow Lady | Shirley Hughes |
| Grace and Family | Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch |
| The Adventures of Captain Underpants | Dav Pilkey |
| The Diary of a Killer Cat | Anne Fine |
| Little Wolf’s Book of Badness | Ian Whybrow |
| Mr Men Series | Roger Hargreaves |
| Mrs Wobble the Waitress | Allan Alhberg |
| Pirate School: Just a Bit of Wind | Jeremy Strong |
| George’s Marvellous Medicine | Roald Dahl |
| The Giraffe, Pelly and Me | Roald Dahl |
| The Guard Dog | Dick King-Smith |
| Emily’s Legs | Dick King-Smith |
| No Tights for George | Julia Crebbin |
| Princess Smarty-pants | Babette Cole |
| Prince Cinders | Babette Cole |
| Jolly Roger | Colin Mc Naughton |
| The Worst Witch | Jill Murphy |
| Horrid Henry Series | Francesca Simon |
Many of these are books for you to read to and with your child to develop their understanding of story and of vocabulary
| Year 3 | |
| Book Title | Author |
| Cool | Michael Morpurgo |
| The Butterfly Lion | Michael Morpurgo |
| Kensuke’s Kingdom | Michael Morpurgo |
| Billy the Kid | Michael Morpurgo |
| The Twits | Roald Dahl |
| Charlie and Chocolate Factory | Roald Dahl |
| The Magic Finger | Roald Dahl |
| Danny The Champion of the World | Roald Dahl |
| Fantastic Mr Fox | Roald Dahl |
| The BFG | Roald Dahl |
| The Sheep Pig | Dick King-Smith |
| Bill’s New Frock | Anne Fine |
| The Hundred Mile an Hour Dog | Jeremy Strong |
| Return of the Hundred Mile an Hour Dog | Jeremy Strong |
| The Naughtiest Girl in the School | Enid Blyton |
| Secret Seven series | Enid Blyton |
| Famous Five series | Enid Blyton |
| Animal Ark series | Lucy Daniels |
| Horrid Henry series | Francesca Henry’s |
| Charlotte’s Web | E B White |
| Flat Stanley | Jeff Brown |
| Fungus the Bogeyman | Raymond Briggs |
| Mystery Winklesea | Helen Cresswell |
| The Indian in the Cupboard | Lynne Reid Banks |
| Mr Majeika | Humphrey Carpenter |
| Please Mrs Butler | Allan Ahlberg |
| The Sam Pig Story Book | Alison Uttley |
| Railway Cat | Phyllis Arkle |
| The Hodgeheg | Dick King-Smith |
| Gregory Cool | Caroline Binch |
| Viking at School | Jeremy Strong |
| Awful Egyptians | Terry Deary |
| Stormin’ Normans | Terry Deary |
| Smashing Saxons | Terry Deary |
| Vicious Vikings | Terry Deary |
| Year 4 | |
| Book Title | Author |
| A Caribbean Dozen | John Agard & Grace Nicholls |
| Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll |
| Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters | John Steptoe |
| Beowolf | Kevin Crossley-Holland |
| The Firework-Maker’s Daughter | Philip Pullman |
| The Dragon’s Child | Jenny Nimmo |
| The Ghost Blades | Anthony Masters |
| Sara, Plain and Tall | Patricia MacLachlan |
| Smart Girls | Robert Leeson |
| Brother Eagle, Sister Sky | Susan Jeffers & Chief Seattle |
| Robi Dobi | Madhur Jaffrey |
| The Reluctant Dragon | Kenneth Grahame |
| Flow | Pippa Goodhart |
| Dragon Poems | John Foster & Korky Paul |
| The Crazy Shoe Shuffle | Gillian Cross |
| The Sea Piper | Helen Cresswell |
| The Chocolate Touch | Patrick Skene Catling |
| Spacebaby | Henrietta Branford |
| James and the Giant Peach | Roald Dahl |
| A Pot of Gold | Jill Bennett |
| Fog Hounds Wind Cat Sea Mice | Joan Aiken |
| The Clothes Horse | Allan Ahlberg |
| It Was A Dark and Stormy Night | Allan Ahlberg |
| The Dancing Bear | Michael Morpurgo |
| The Demon Headmaster | Gillian Cross |
| Dog So Small | Phillipa Pearce |
| Emil and the Detectives | Erich Kastner |
| The Iron Man | Ted Hughes |
| The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe | C S Lewis |
| Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh | Robert C O’Brien |
| Stig of the Dump | Clive King |
| Diary of a Whimpy Kid Series | Jeff Kinney |
| Groovy Greeks | Terry Deary |
| Angry Aztecs | Terry Deary |
| Greek Myths for Young Children | Marcia Williams |
| The Orchard Book of Creation Stories | Margaret Mayo & Louise Brierley |
| Year 5 | |
| Title | Author |
| Water Wings | Morris Gleitzman |
| Blabbermouth | Morris Gleitzman |
| Belly Flop | Morris Gleitzman |
| The Diddakoi | Rumer Godden |
| Stormbreaker | Anthony Horowitz |
| Walter and Me | Michael Morpurgo |
| Friend or Foe | Michael Morpurgo |
| Mister Monday | Garth Nix |
| Aquila | Andrew Norris |
| Harry and the Wrinklies | Alan Temperley |
| The Story of Tracy Beaker | Jacqueline Wilson |
| Double Act | Jacqueline Wilson |
| Northern Lights | Philip Pullman |
| A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens |
| Dragon Rider | Cornelia Funke |
| Journey To Jo’burg | Beverly Naidoo |
| Journey to the River Sea | Eva Ibbotson |
| The Owl Service | Alan Garner |
| Pig Heart Boy | Malorie Blackman |
| How to Train your Dragon Series | Cressida Cowell |
| Watership Down | Richard Adams |
| The Wizard of Earthsea | Ursula K Le Guin |
| Wolves of Willoughby Chase | Joan Aiken |
| Where the Red Fern Grows | Wilson Rawls |
| Little Women | Louisa May Alcott |
| All Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea | Michael Morpurgo |
| Artemis Fowl | Eoin Colfer |
| The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame |
| Anne of Green Gables | L M Montgomery |
| Black Beauty | Anna Sewell |
| Holes | Louis Sachar |
| There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom | Louis Sachar |
| Vicky Angel | Jacqueline Wilson |
| The Other Side of Truth | Beverley Naidoo |
| Harry Potter series | J K Rowling |
| Terrible Tudors | Terry Deary |
| Year 6 | |
| Book Title | Author |
| Carrie’s War | Nina Bawden |
| When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit | Judith Kerr |
| Forgotten Voices of the Second World War | Max Arthur |
| The Diamond of Drury Lane | Julia Golding |
| Framed | Frank Cottrell Boyce |
| Homecoming | Cynthia Voigt |
| Noughts and Crosses | Malorie Blackman |
| Knife Edge | Malorie Blackman |
| Private Peaceful | Michael Morpurgo |
| The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ | Sue Townsend |
| Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson |
| Mortal Engines | Philip Reeve |
| Clockwork | Philip Pullman |
| Dragon Keeper | Carole Wilkinson |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon |
| Peter Pan | J M Barrie |
| Wizard of Oz | F Baum |
| Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe |
| Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens |
| Jungle Book | Rudyard Kipling |
| The Railway Children | E Nesbit |
| The Borrowers | M Norton |
| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain |
| Alex Rider series | Anthony Horowitz |
| My Story series | Various authors |
| Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl | Ed. Otto H Frank |
| Boy Overboard | Morris Gleitzman |
| Sabriel | Garth Nix |
| A Bag of Marbles | Joseph Joffo |
| A Boy in Stripped Pyjamas | John Boyne |
| The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins |
| War horse | Michael Morpurgo |
| Lord Less and Denominator Series | Darren Shan |
| Alex Rider Series (Stormbreaker) | Anthony Horowitz |
| Artemis Fowl | Eoin Colfer |
| Skellig | David Almond |
| Holes | Louis Sacher |
| The Woeful Second World War | Terry Deary |
| Vile Victorians | Terry Deary |