KS1 Recommended Read

A classic that’ll make you love animals for life and want to adopt a chubby piglet. No one is immune to this charming heartwarmer. Wilbur the piglet is simply adorable. He has a wrinkly little snout that snuffles the air all day long. But what usually happens to chubby little piglets? Yuck. It’s enough to turn you vegetarian. Wilbur doesn’t want to die – and his human friend Fern doesn’t want him to either. How can she save his bacon? Thank goodness for Charlotte – a clever spider with a talent for writing. When friends work together, miracles can happen and lives can be saved. Hurrah.

KS2 Recommended Read

“Give me a dollar or I’ll spit on you.” That’s Bradley Chalkers for you. He’s the biggest, nastiest kid in school: the liar, the one who picks fights, the one with “behaviour problems.” No one likes him – except Carla, the new school counsellor. She thinks Bradley is sensitive and generous, and that he could change – if he dared try. Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is believing in yourself… A heartwarming story of courage and second chances, from the bestselling author of Holes.

KS1 Recommended Read

‘A Bear Called Paddington’ by Michael Bond.

About the book:
Paddington, the brown bear from darkest Peru, is found by the Brown family on Paddington Station with his hat, duffel coat and marmalade sandwiches. Paddington is a decidedly loveable eccentric and his various sticky scrapes will strike chords of recognition with any child. Whilst his intentions are always honourable, his over-literal interpretation of situations means that ‘things’ inevitably happen, whether at birthday parties or on visits to the theatre or seaside.

With a blend of humour, theatricality and clear prose style, each chapter forms a stand-alone story, perfect for newly confident readers. First published in 1958, this is a truly British classic.

KS2 Recommended Read

‘The Borrowers’ by Mary Norton

About the book:
The Borrowers are tiny people who live in the secret places of old houses – behind the mantlepiece, inside the harpsichord, under the kitchen clock. They borrow everything from humans, existing on the scraps they collect from the homes they live in.

The Genius Aged 8 1/4 by Jeremy Strong

About the book:
Sometimes adults need a helping hand. Luckily, Mr and Mrs Poppleton give birth to Alfie (real name: Squeaky Squawky Redface Slurp-bottom). The Poppletons are utterly hopeless, and so Alfie has little choice but to take responsibility for the family. When he arrives at school it transpires the teachers are little better. Alfie can’t help but think that there’s a simple solution to some problems …A celebration of precocious children and silly adults everywhere.

The Midnight Gang by David Walliams

About the book:
When the clock strikes midnight most children are fast asleep, but for The Midnight Gang the journey is just beginning. This extraordinary story of five children in a wonderfully inventive and eccentric hospital setting promises to take fans from around the globe on an unmissable midnight adventure. A story of friendship, theatre and magic – and of making dreams come true.

David Walliams said “It’s by far my most ambitious book, dealing with some serious themes in what I hope is an entertaining and amusing way. It tells the story of five children trapped in a hospital ward, who are all longing for adventure.”

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

About the book:

Sometimes, when you love someone very, very much, you want to find a way of describing how much you treasure them. But, as Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare discover, love is not always an easy thing to measure. The story of Little and Big Nutbrown Hares’ efforts to express their love for each other has become a publishing phenomenon.

This month’s recommended read is ‘A Tadpole’s Promise, by Jeanne Willis. This book has been recommended by Timi Oladimeji in Year 2. Year 2 used this book to help them understand the life cycle of a frog. Timi wrote a summary about the text and what she has learned from it. Here is a sample:

This book is about a tadpole who meets a beautiful caterpillar and they fall in love with each other. The shiny black tadpole promised the rainbow caterpillar that he would never change but that was not a promise he could keep.
Soon the tadpole changed. He grew two legs and then he developed two arms. His tail vanished and he became a frog. The butterfly could not recognise him. She cried herself to sleep because she was so upset. Surprisingly, she changed too… into a magnificent butterfly! Then something you would never expect happened…
 

There are three lessons that we learned from this book:

• About the life cycle of a frog
• About the life cycle of a butterfly
• Don’t make promises you can’t keep!

Read it to find out what happens!

This month’s recommended read is ‘The Hobbit’, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book has been recommended by one of our students, Carter Johnson, who is reading the book at the age of 7! Carter is an avid reader and says ‘the book isn’t what I expected it to be like… It’s even better!’. He chose the books because it is adventurous so if you like adventure stories, then this is the one for you!

Here is a blurb for our recommended read:

Bilbo, a Hobbit (who doesn’t like adventures), is visited by a wizard called Gandalf and thirteen dwarves who seek a fourteenth member (to avoid the unlucky number) for their journey to steal the treasure from the dragon Smaug. Though reluctant at first, Bilbo is convinced in part by the trickery of Gandalf to join the unexpected party. He is taken, literally from his comfort zone, off to discover things he knew of only from old tales.