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Encouraging Reading | Oxford Help Join us Log in Search this website Enter keyword... Submit Quick book search Enter keyword... Submit Home Reading English Maths Primary school Bookshop Kids' activities Blog Expert help Encouraging reading Nikki Gamble's booklists an d advice on en cou r agin g r eadin g Nikki has been a teacher and worked with teachers for over 25 years. She is now a writer and education consultant with a particular interest in encouraging children to read for pleasure. Age 5-7> Racin g Ah ead Once children become fluent and independent, they may start racing ahead if they have found the books that hook them into reading. It's important at this stage that you continue to read aloud with your child too. When you read aloud, you can share books that offer a challenge in language and content to keep them excited and hungry for more. Choose older classic fiction with literary language as well as contemporary fiction written in a modern style. Choose books with interesting language and rich vocabulary. Short novels that can be serialised and read a chapter or two each night are perfect. Include the literary fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen or Oscar Wilde. 1. Michael Bond The Tales of Olga da Polga (Oxford University Press) 2. Frank Cottrell Boyce Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (Macmillan) 3. Roald Dahl The BFG (Puffin) 4. Berlie Doherty Fairy Tales (Walker Books) 5. A F Harrold Fizzlebert Stump: The Boy Who Ran Away From the Circus (Bloomsbury) 6. Tove Jansson Tales from Moominvalley (Puffin) 7. Edward Lear The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear (Faber and Faber) (poetry) 8. Astrid Lindgren Pippi Longstocking (Oxford University Press) 9. David Lucas The Lying Carpet (Andersen Press) 10. Angela McAllister Leon and The Place Between (Templar) (picture book) 11. Mick Manning & Brita Granström Roman Fort and other books in the Fly on the Wall series (Frances Lincoln) (non- fiction) 12. James Mayhew Katie and the Sunflowers and other books in the Katie series (Orchard Books) (non-fiction) 13. Jill Murphy The Worst Witch (Puffin) 14. Brian Patten Thawing Frozen Frogs (Frances Lincoln) (poetry) 15. Francesca Simon The Sleeping Army (Profile Books) 16. David J. Smith If the World Were a Village (A & C Black) (non-fiction) 17. Dodie Smith The Hundred and One Dalmatians (Egmont) 18. E B White Charlotte's Web (Puffin) 19. Oscar Wilde The Happy Prince and Other Stories (Penguin) 20. Ursula Moray Williams Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse (Macmillan) Pickin g u p Steam Early readers who are starting to read fluently will enjoy longer fiction read in instalments. Continue to include books with illustrations. These may be black and white line drawings rather than full colour. Picture books continue to be important and help to develop visual literacy. Choose more complex picture books with lots of hidden or multi-layered meanings that provide lots of opportunities for discussion with your child. Continue with great series to develop confidence and familiarity. Humour is important for most children. Puns, even bad ones, help to refine children's understanding of the © Copyright Oxford University Press 2021 different meanings that can be created with language. Include classic authors as well as more recently published writers to provide a rich and varied reading experience. Not all books read aloud well, so choose those that allow you to use a fun or lively storytelling voice and where characters' speech is distinctive. Your children will be developing individual preferences, so chat with them about the books that you share. 1. Allan Ahlberg It Was a Dark and Stormy Night (Puffin) 2. Laurence Anholt Cinderboy and other books in the Seriously Silly Stories series (Orchard Books) 3. Dominic Barker How to Catch a Criminal and other books in the Max and Molly's Guide to Trouble series (Orchard Books) 4. Emily Bearn Tumtum and Nutmeg series (Egmont) 5. Steven Butler The Wrong Pong (Puffin) 6. Lauren Child Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book? (Orchard Books) 7. Roald Dahl The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (Puffin) 8. Sally Gardner The Boy with the Lightning Feet and other stories from the Magical Children series (Orion) 9. John Grant Littlenose the Hunter (Simon & Schuster) 10. Emily Gravett Meerkat Mail (Macmillan) 11. Dick King-Smith Lady Lollipop (Walker Books) 12. Astrid Lindgren Lotta Makes a Mess! (Oxford University Press) 13. Karen McCombie You, Me and Thing series (Faber and Faber) 14. Roger McGough Dotty Inventions (Frances Lincoln) (non-fiction) 15. Laura Owen Winnie the Twit (Oxford University Press) 16. Alf Prøysen The Amazing Mrs Pepperpot (Random House) 17. Michael Rosen Quick, Let's Get Out of Here (Puffin) (poetry) 18. Jeremy Strong The Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Dog (Puffin) 19. Jill Tomlinson The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark (Egmont) 20. Geoff Waring Oscar and the Frog: A Book about Growing and other books in the Oscar series (Walker Books) Off to a Good Star t Early readers will enjoy having longer stories read to them. Episodic stories, where each chapter tells a different story in a longer book with an overarching story, are particularly suitable. Series are good as they allow children to develop familiarity with a cast of characters. Add more complex fairy tales to children's repertoire of well-known stories. You know your child best but most children will respond to stories with strong emotional themes. Continue to include plenty of rhyming stories and some poetry. Rhymes may be longer and more involved than books introduced when your child was younger. 1. Allan Ahlberg Mrs Plug the Plumber and other stories in the Happy Families series (Puffin) 2. Allan Ahlberg The Children Who Smelled A Rat and other Gaskitt Stories (Walker Books) 3. Michael Bond A Bear Called Paddington (HarperCollins) 4. Jeff Brown Flat Stanley (Egmont) 5. Nicola Davies Big Blue Whale (Walker Books) (non-fiction) 6. Berlie Doherty Aladdin and other books in the Illustrated Classics series (Walker Books) 7. John Foster Pet Poems (Oxford University Press) (poetry) 8. Sally Gardner Snow White (Orion) 9. Shirley Hughes Dogger (Random House) 10. Simon James Baby Brains (Walker Books) 11. Ursula Jones The Princess Who Had No Kingdom (Orchard Books) 12. Edward Lear The Owl and the Pussy-Cat with illustrations by Ian Beck (Random House) (poetry) 13. Arnold Lobel Frog and Toad are Friends (HarperCollins) 14. Margaret Mahy Down the Back of the Chair (Frances Lincoln) (poetry) 15. Ifeoma Onyefulu Chidi Only Likes Blue: An African Book of Colours and other photographic picture information books (Frances Lincoln) (non-fiction) 16. Philip Pullman Puss in Boots (Random House) 17. Kristina Stephenson Sir Charlie Stinky Socks series (Egmont) 18. Valerie Thomas Winnie the Witch and other picture books in the Winnie the Witch series (Oxford University Press) 19. Steve Voake Insect Detective (Walker Books) (non-fiction) 20. Brian Wildsmith Favourite Fables (Oxford University Press) Gettin g Goin g Children who are just beginning the reading journey will benefit from lots of exposure to patterned stories. Rhyming stories help to develop an awareness of the patterns of sounds and syllables in words, which forms the bedrock for good phonics teaching. Look for stories with a clear structure and repetitive language, traditional tales are especially good for developing knowledge of how stories work. Also look for stories which allow you to use a lively storytelling voice, where it sounds as though the writer is speaking to you direct from the page. Sound effects are great for encouraging children to interact with the story and take their part in reading along with you. Repeat reading of the same story, especially when your child asks for the book again and again, will develop familiarity and confidence about how language works. 1. Janet and Allan Ahlberg Each Peach Pear Plum (Puffin) © Copyright Oxford University Press 2021 2. Jez Alborough Duck in the Truck (HarperCollins) 3. Jill Bennett Tasty Poems (Oxford University Press) (poetry) 4. Quentin Blake Mister Magnolia (Random House) 5. June Crebbin Cows in the Kitchen (Walker Books) 6. Lynley Dodd Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy (Puffin) 7. Julia Donaldson Tiddler or Room on the Broom (Scholastic) 8. Suzi Eszterhas Lion and other books in the Eye on the Wild series (Frances Lincoln) (non-fiction) 9. Anthony Lewis Dinosaurs Around the World (Kingfisher) (non-fiction) 10. John Vernon Lord The Giant Jam Sandwich (Random House) 11. Layn Marlow Hurry Up and Slow Down (Oxford University Press) 12. Ifeoma Onyefulu Clothes and other books in the Look at This series (Frances Lincoln) (non-fiction) 13. Jan Ormerod Doing the Animal Bop (Oxford University Press) 14. Michael Rosen We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Walker Books) 15. Maurice Sendak Where the Wild Things Are (Random House) 16. Dr Seuss Ten Apples Up on Top! and other Dr Seuss Stories (HarperCollins) 17. Nick Sharratt Shark in the Park (Random House) 18. Susan Steggall On the Road (Frances Lincoln) (non-fiction) 19. Eve Sutton My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes (Puffin) 20. Aleksei Tolstoy and Niamh Sharkey The Gigantic Turnip (Barefoot Books) Age 7-11video > Nikki Gamble talks abou t h ow to keep ju n ior s r eadin g Watch the video Keen an d able r eader These suggestions include some longer novels that avid and able readers will appreciate. Along with some recently published books, we have included some classic and modern classic suggestions. Don't forget that picture books can continue to provide a challenge even for the most able reader, as well as introduce children to a wide range of artistic styles, and there are many non-fiction and poetry books that may inspire too.
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