Reading Tips: Ask them to predict what might happen next: o What do you think will happen? Why?

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1 Reading Tips: Before reading: Ask your child to tell you about the story so far. o What has happened? o What have they enjoyed most so far? o Who is their favourite character? Why? Ask them to predict what might happen next: o What do you think will happen? Why? During reading: Allow children to read out loud independently. If they have difficulty with an unfamiliar word ask them how they might work it out: o Sounds o Pictures o Within the context of the sentence o Read on and see if they can work it out. Check that the child understands complicated words. After reading: Talk about the book your child has read. Ask some questions about the text would they recommend it? Ask them to make predictions about what might happen next if the story was to continue Ask what book they will you read next and why?

2 Wider Reading Activities: Pick a descriptive word from the text, write it down and use a thesaurus to write down five synonyms and antonyms for that word. Re-read a chapter - pick out 10 words that you feel are powerful words and that you could use in your own writing. Choose a descriptive passage and make a list of examples of vivid imagery similes, metaphors, alliteration, powerful verbs, adjectives and adverbs. List the words and phrases used to create an atmosphere, such as scary or spookiness tension relaxed etc Re-write a chapter as a playscript. Think of 5 questions you would like to ask one of the characters. Then write their answers as if you were that character. Design a cover for a book you have read. Draw a cartoon strip of the main events from the book. Dear author write a letter to the author of your book. Tell them your opinion of their book and ask them any questions that you would want answering about the book or about what it is like to be an author. Go to the author or publisher website as there are often competitions to enter and you can submit a review of the book. To develop and extend understanding: Reading Strategies: How does the story hook you in at the beginning? Make a list of words or phrases that you feel are effective in making you want to read on. Construct a time line to fit your story. Include all the main events. Draw and label a character or a setting from a description in the book. Find new vocabulary (words) that you do not really know the meaning of and write them in your book with the meaning next to them. Use a dictionary to find out the definition of the words. To develop inference and deduction: Predict what might happen when you are part way through a book. Write your prediction in the form of a story plan in boxes. Make a list of questions you ask yourself as you read. Before you finish the book, write down your predictions for the ending. After you finish, look back and check the accuracy of your prediction. To develop empathy: Which character/s in your book are you most like? Explain your answer. Which character/s in your book are you least like? Explain your answer. Which character in your book would you most like to be? Explain your answer. Re-write a part of your book from a different character s point of view. How did the book make you feel? Explain.

3 Stuck for what to read? Philip Pullman Recommends: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Indispensable. The great classic beginning of English children's literature. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. What effortless invention looks like. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner. A great political story: democracy in action. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. As clear and pure as Mozart. Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken. If Ransome was Mozart, Aiken was Rossini. Unforced effervescence. The Owl Service by Alan Garner. Showed how children's literature could sound dark and troubling chords. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Superb wit and vigorous invention. Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson. Any of the Moomin books would supply the same strange light Nordic magic. A Hundred Million Francs by Paul Berna. A particular favourite of mine, as much for Richard Kennedy's delicate illustrations (in the English edition) as for the story. The Castafiore Emerald by Hergé. Three generations of this family have loved Tintin. Perfect timing, perfect narrative tact and command, blissfully funny. Michael Morpurgo recommends: The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson. The heroine is blessed with such wonderful friends who help her through the twists and turns of this incredible journey. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The first few pages were so engaging, Marley's ghostly face on the knocker of Scrooge's door still gives me the shivers. Just William books by Richmal Crompton. These are a must for every child. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. This was the first story, I think, that ever made me cry and it still has the power to make me cry. The Elephant's Child From The Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. The story my mother used to read me most often, because I asked for it again and again. I loved the sheer fun of it, the music and the rhythm of the words. It was subversive too. Still my favourite story. Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson This was the first real book I read for myself. I lived this book as I read it. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. A classic tale of man versus nature. I wish I'd written this. The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono. A book for children from 8 to 80. I love the humanity of this story and how one man's efforts can change the future for so many. The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy The story of two children who go to find their father who has been listed missing in the trenches of the First World War. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson-Burnett. I love this story of a girl's life being changed by nature.

4 STILL NOTHING TO READ! Without a doubt the guardian website is a fantastic starting point: You will be spoilt for choice with the countless reviews, recommendations, podcasts, author interviews, teen written reviews, chapter extracts, competitions. in fact you could spend hours simply reading this website! Below is a selection from the BBC 100 books you should read. Apparently the average person will only ever read six from this list! What are you waiting for! How many can you read before the end of Year 8? Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte Harry Potter series - JK Rowling To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman Great Expectations - Charles Dickens Little Women - Louisa M Alcott The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald Bleak House - Charles Dickens War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy Moby Dick - Herman Melville Midnight s Children - Salman Rushdie The Hitch Hiker s Guide to the Galaxy -Douglas Adams Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis Emma - Jane Austen Persuasion Jane Austen Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne Animal Farm - George Orwell The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery Lord of the Flies - William Golding Life of Pi - Yann Martel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens Dracula - Bram Stoker The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray Possession - AS Byatt Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell Charlotte s Web - EB White The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton The Little Prince Antoine De Saint-Exupery Watership Down - Richard Adams The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

5 TOP TIP: Try picking a book that is also a film or a show, that way you can compare the two when you have finished reading.