Building Up Your Bookshelves

The UAE Year of Reading in 2016 has clearly had an impact! According to the 5 yearly PIRLS (Progress in International reading literacy) results the UAE was the top performing Arab country in the MENA region and the UAE Year 4 children are the best readers in their peer group across the GCC.  Not only were over 300,000 children assessed from countries across the world but parents were also asked to participate. They had to rate how much they liked to read and how many books they owned.   If you are looking to stock up your book shelves what books should you be buying for your children to encourage them to read?

From an early stage children love having stories read to them whether at bed time or any time of the day and from this they learn about storytelling, vocabulary, how pictures and words relate together, not to mention all the things they glean about the world around them, relationships and living life. This helps to set up a lifelong love of the written word and a good story. Pop up books are a good way of engaging your toddler such as ‘Bed Bugs’ by David A Carter or ones you can stick your fingers in such as the perennial favourite ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ or stories told with rhymes such as the classic ‘Each Peach Pear Plum’.

Once children are in a position to start reading to themselves, it is good to let them have a degree of free rein about what they want to read.  At this stage it is about enjoying reading and getting into the habit of it rather than the content.  Helping children to dig a bit deeper by discussing the book together is a good way of establishing if they have actually understood the text and also helps them to develop valuable critical thinking skills and learn how to express an opinion.  Annie Barrows’ ‘Ivy and Bean’ are a good starting point for newly independent readers, or Sid Fleichman ‘The Adventures of McBroom’. The ‘Horrid Henry’ books by Francesca Simon lead into a good series of books and, of course, anything by Dick King Smith is always a winner.

So what sort of books should children be reading before they are 10? School reading lists are a good source of inspiration; leading London independent school, St Paul’s, recommends books such as The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo, The Little Wolf series by Ian Whybrow; Roald Dahl and the Horrible Histories also make the list.  For reading aloud to children they recommend books familiar across the generations, with classics such as Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham or The Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.

Looking towards 11+ Gabbitas tutors often recommend books such as ‘The Secret Garden’ by Francis Burnet or ‘The Silver Sword’ by Ian Serrallier, more contemporary fiction includes ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night’ by Mark Haddon or Michelle Magorian’s very moving ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’.  It is often fascinating to see what authors themselves recommend, Philip Pullman of Dark Materials fame suggests that every child should have read ‘Pinocchio’ and ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.  Top of Michael Morpugo’s list would be the ‘Just William’ books and ‘The Man who Planted Trees’ by Jean Giono.

And as they grow older? Tony Little, the former Headmaster of Eton has published a comprehensive list of books that every bright 16 year old should have read covering Art, Science, History, Economics and Philosophy. From the canon of literature he recommends must reads such as ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ by Jonathan Swift, ‘Atonement’ by Ian McEwan and ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’ by Tom Wolfe.

Reading gives your child the opportunity to be fully immersed in another world, to capture their imagination, to be challenged to learn something new or think about things differently.  Being able to read is the key to opening new worlds, broadening horizons, learning, evaluating and communicating.  It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

1. Charlotte’s Webb by E B White – a childhood favourite about friendship set on a farm.
2. Holes by Louis Sacher – an award winning tale which is both mysterious and funny
3. Wonder by J R Palacio – the funny and frank story of Auggie, a normal boy with a birth defect
4. Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond – as an alternative to the better known Skellig,
5. Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman – set in a fictional dystopia where Africans have made Europeans their slaves
6. Stig of the Dump by Clive King – a young boy discovers a teenage caveman in the local rubbish
7. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend – written in diary style focusing on the worries and regrets of a teenager
8. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger – this coming of age story is a must for teenagers
9. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – a story of family and friendship during turbulent times
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflowerby Stephen Chbosky – a book that perfectly captures being a teenager