Creative writing

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focus11plus
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2018 11:20 am

Creative writing

Post by focus11plus »

Hello,

Can anyone suggest good reading books for a year 3 boy. Just looking to build up his reading for his age and then eventually eleven plus! Also is there anyone who can mark his creative writing and comprehensions online?

Thx
ToadMum
Posts: 11945
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Creative writing

Post by ToadMum »

focus11plus wrote:Hello,

Can anyone suggest good reading books for a year 3 boy. Just looking to build up his reading for his age and then eventually eleven plus! Also is there anyone who can mark his creative writing and comprehensions online?

Thx
Take him to a library and let him loose in the stacks? Our libraries have 'S' and 'S+' categories as the two below the Young Adult classification; I'm fairly sure all our DC were getting books out from 'S' by year 3 - DS1 definitely read Muddle Earth when he was eight, not sure which classification that was.

Essentially, he will do better with books that interest him, be that Dragonology or whatever, or What Katy Did. (What I am trying to say is, at this age he needs to be reading for pleasure, at least at home, not only having just another version of the ghastly Biff and Chip to look forward to at the end of the day :lol: ).
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
piggys
Posts: 1636
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:29 am

Re: Creative writing

Post by piggys »

As usual I agree with Toadmum - let him have free rein of the library and encourage him to read loads for pleasure (although I have to say I was always rather partial to Biff and Chip) . WRT marking his creative writing - year 3 is far too young to be looking at his writing critically. IMO.
grgygirl
Posts: 382
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:09 am

Re: Creative writing

Post by grgygirl »

I also think it's too early to be thinking about creative writing in Year 3. My ds really enjoyed the Mr Gum series and other silly/funny books. I think he read some of the Roald Dahl books then too but also enjoyed the Beano and other annuals and factual (particularly Dinosaur! encyclopaedia's).
AdamV
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2018 10:41 am

Re: Creative writing

Post by AdamV »

Reading age can of course be very different between boys across year 3, based on actual age range of a year and personal ability/experience.

Try series such as: Dinosaur Cove (there's loads of these), Meerkat Madness, My Funny Family, and possibly Hooey Higgins (last might be too advanced, all depends on the individual).
We found that series work well because if they like them they don't just keep re-reading the exact same book, but move onto to the next while already knowing some characters and having that overall comfort factor of knowing and expecting that they will like the next one too. (I find sometimes the challenge with a new author is getting them to at least try it for a chapter or two, then they are away).
Just a familiar author's name is a good start, even if not a series. Roal Dahl and Dick King Smith would be obvious options to cater for younger readers and then on through into their teens as their books have a wide range of target ages - compare The Twits with Danny Champion of the World or Going Solo, or even Tales of the Unexpected; or The Hodgeheg against Foxbusters.

Don't overlook poetry as a source of quick, fun reading too - anything by Michael Rosen or Alan Ahlberg is usually a good bet (ideally with illustrations)
piggys
Posts: 1636
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:29 am

Re: Creative writing

Post by piggys »

Tales of the Unexpected is completely age inappropriate to anyone but adult readers. Please do not make recommendations which are unsuitable for children and young people. :!:
AdamV
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2018 10:41 am

Re: Creative writing

Post by AdamV »

piggys wrote:Tales of the Unexpected is completely age inappropriate to anyone but adult readers. Please do not make recommendations which are unsuitable for children and young people. :!:
Sorry, if my meaning was unclear, but I guess that was part of my point - the same author might write a range of books that are suitable for the very young, through to young adult (teens means 13 to 19 in my mind), and that someone might in effect grow up reading the same author across a number of years. I would not expect most year 3's to read Danny Champion of the World, but they would likely enjoy much of Roald Dahl's other work.
For us this has been an effective technique when suggesting new books - "why not try this <more advanced> one - it's by that author you like".

It might also mean that if you hear of a recommended author you should check out several of their books before deciding they are all inappropriate / not yet appropriate / too young. As an example, our DD loves Jacqueline Wilson books, but there are loads of them, with very different ages being appropriate, many several years above the age of our daughter at the moment, yet there are many others which are just fine.

We had issues with some of the Biff and Chip style books issued by primary school for our son. Because his reading was already pretty advanced in reception, he was reading a new one every couple of days, and was simply handed the next one in the series without any thought as to content. As an animal lover he was quite upset by a book in which the dog is tied to a table and is clearly being prepared for a meal (by a dragon I seem to recall) - there were recipe books and a sharp knife etc clearly illustrated. We had a word with the teacher who realised the problem of judging reading ability and suitability of content as being the same thing and the problem did not recur.
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