In the Vine Trust, we want to promote a love of reading in all of our pupils no matter what their age, gender or reading ability. Exposing children to a wide variety of good quality stories and texts helps to improve their vocabulary and comprehension skills whilst also introducing them to a whole host of experiences, both imaginary and real, that they might otherwise never experience.

At the Vine, we feel that parents and carers play a vital role in supporting pupils with their reading. Research into reading supports this belief and one finding in 2006 states that:

Parents and the home environment are essential to the early teaching of reading and fostering a love of reading; children are more likely to continue to be readers in homes where books and reading are valued (Clark and Rumbold, 2006).

We understand that it can be difficult to motivate children to read, especially now that technology is so appealing and accessible. It can also be challenging to get children to read different types of books. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Tom Gates, Harry Potter and books written by David Walliams are extremely popular and are great pieces of literature. However, it is important that children read a range of stories and books to support them in developing their own imagination and writing skills.

In light of this, we have produced a selection of lists to aid you at home in guiding and encouraging children to read a range of books. Each list contains good-quality, age relevant books that have stood the test of time and proven to be very popular with pupils that staff have taught over the years.

How to use the lists:

• The book lists are split into EYFS, KS1, lower KS2 and upper KS2. If your child is in Year 5 or 6 but is a reluctant reader, why not have a look at the lower KS2 list. Likewise, if you have a very able reader in KS1 who is in need of a challenge, explore the lower KS2 list.
• Share the list with your child. Put a mark against which books they think sound interesting. Then, visit your local library or book shop and see which books you can find.
• Encourage your child to look for these books in the school or class library.
• Reading to your child is vitally important, even in Year 6. So why not choose a more challenging book that you can share and read together.
• Each list starts off with easier to read suggestions then the books grow in complexity as the list continues. Some of the content of the books towards the end of the upper KS2 list is a little more mature and sensitive (war, refugees, loss etc) but are all age-relevant. As the parent/carer, you will need to decide on whether these are suitable for your child.

These lists are extensive but not exhaustive. There are so many wonderful options and choices for children to read today; we just need to make sure that we are encouraging them to do so.

Upper KS2 Reading List