Suggestions of texts to read and how to encourage your child to read

It is important for children to read widely but also for them to have the best opportunity to enjoy reading. If this means that most of the material they read is about topics that interest them, that is completely fine. It should also be noted that children do not need to be reading books for them to be reading. They may choose to read the newspaper, First News. Other great sources include leaflets, comics, graphic novels, articles online, encyclopaedias, instruction manuals, cook books or rules to games. All reading counts!

Not all story books have words, but this does not mean that the stories contained in them are any less rich. Picture books are excellent and do wonders for the imagination.

It can be useful for children to hear stories. Books on CD/MP3 can help your child to enjoy stories when they otherwise may find the rhythm more difficult to grasp.

To encourage your child to read:

• Give them texts about topics in which they are already interested
• Read to them
• Read with your child, possibly taking it in turns to read one paragraph or one page at a time
• If you have time, read the same book as your child so that you can talk about it with them
• Talk about what you are reading
• Make it obvious that you are reading
• Maximise opportunities to read by, for example, having books, magazines etc. available in every room. Put subtitles on when watching television/film. Make it harder to not find written words than to find them.
• Go to the library and choose books together 
• If your child finds an author or book genre that they like, encourage them to read other books by the same author and help them to find books of the same genre.

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Ages 8 plus

The newspaper: First News

National Geographic Kids: A fun publication about the world, plants and animals.

Mr Gum (series) by A Stanton (For weaker readers not older than 8)

Age 8-9

Beegu by Alexis Deacon

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Esio Trot by Roald Dahl

Boy by Roald Dahl

The Twits by Roald Dahl

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Georges Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl

Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl

The BFG by Roald Dahl

Fantastic Mister Fox by Roald Dahl

Famous Five (series) by Enid Blyton

Jacqueline Wilson books

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series) - For ages not older than 8. Watch out for American spellings. 

Age 9-10

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Horrible Histories (series) by Terry Deary 

The Railway Children by E. Nesbit

Face by Benjamin Zephaniah

Farm Boy by Michael Morpurgo

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

The Asterix Series by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Artemis Fowl (series) by Eoin Coifer

The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Age 10-11

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

The Chronicles of Narnia (series) by C.S. Lewis

Street Child by Berlie Doherty

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodson Burnett

Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce

Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian

Carrie's War by Nina Bawden

Pig Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stephenson

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling