Recommended reading books - Dickens etc? What others?

Eleven Plus (11+) in Essex

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
butterfly36
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:26 pm

Recommended reading books - Dickens etc? What others?

Post by butterfly36 »

Hi - a couple of times I have seen references to 'the list' (in terms of recommended books eg Dickens etc) - would someone kindly point me in the right direction of where to find this 'list'? or indeed could someone tell me their suggestions for recommended reading ? Thanks ever so much !
moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Re: Recommended reading books - Dickens etc? What others?

Post by moved »

Actually, I would only recommend "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens. The reason to read the classics is to improve vocab and familiarity with more complex texts. I would suggest old-fashioned children's books, such as E Nesbit.

This link will help. About 4th/5th down I have put my "tutoring" list.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =1&t=17436" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Thingsbehindthesun
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:25 pm

Re: Recommended reading books - Dickens etc? What others?

Post by Thingsbehindthesun »

You have to be carefull as some of texts from books used in the English past papers aren't necessarily suitable for young children.I guess that's the same for most books.We were previously reading Stardust but I wasn't aware of it's s****l content within the first 20 pages. :shock:
Last edited by Thingsbehindthesun on Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
;D
menagerie
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu May 26, 2011 9:37 pm

Re: Recommended reading books - Dickens etc? What others?

Post by menagerie »

Hampton school has a great reading list for year 5 boys, if that helps. I also introduce my children and tutees to child-friendly classics.

Poems to read aloud with them:
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - TS Eliot
The Pied Piper of Hamlyn - Robert Browning
A Child's Garden of Verses - Robert Louis Stephenson
Songs of Innocence and Experience - William Blake
The witches' spell - Macbeth - Shakespeare
Some of John Clare's animal poems are good

Classics:
The Hobbit
Narnia
Christmas Carol
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
Wind in the Willows
Just William
Five Children and It
The Railway Children
Blackhearts in Battersea
The Silver Sword (most unsung children's novel of our time IMO. It's just brilliant!)
Passages (choose carefully) from Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, Frankenstein, any Jules Verne story, Gulliver's Travels

You could look through Lamb's Tales of Shakespeare and Lamb's Essays of Elia too.

All of these are more old fashioned prose but accessible with a bit of patience. To warm up to them, definitely read Morpurgo. To warm up to Morpurgo read Philip Pullman, Eoan Colfer and Cornelia Funke.
Louis Sachar and Anthony Horowitz are superb to introduce reluctant readers to the joys of fiction (I am very biased here towards boys' reading.)
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: Recommended reading books - Dickens etc? What others?

Post by Manana »

menagerie wrote:Hampton school has a great reading list for year 5 boys, if that helps. I also introduce my children and tutees to child-friendly classics.

Poems to read aloud with them:
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - TS Eliot
The Pied Piper of Hamlyn - Robert Browning
A Child's Garden of Verses - Robert Louis Stephenson
Songs of Innocence and Experience - William Blake
The witches' spell - Macbeth - Shakespeare
Some of John Clare's animal poems are good

Classics:
The Hobbit
Narnia
Christmas Carol
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
Wind in the Willows
Just William
Five Children and It
The Railway Children
Blackhearts in Battersea
The Silver Sword (most unsung children's novel of our time IMO. It's just brilliant!)
Passages (choose carefully) from Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, Frankenstein, any Jules Verne story, Gulliver's Travels

You could look through Lamb's Tales of Shakespeare and Lamb's Essays of Elia too.

All of these are more old fashioned prose but accessible with a bit of patience. To warm up to them, definitely read Morpurgo. To warm up to Morpurgo read Philip Pullman, Eoan Colfer and Cornelia Funke.
Louis Sachar and Anthony Horowitz are superb to introduce reluctant readers to the joys of fiction (I am very biased here towards boys' reading.)
Which Philip Pullman would you recommend as a good starting point? I've only read the Dark Materials trilogy and would have thought that was a bit 'dark' (no pun intended!)?
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Recommended reading books - Dickens etc? What others?

Post by fatbananas »

My Pullman faves are 'The Firework Makers Daughter' and 'I was a Rat'.
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now