Recommended English Books
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Hi mum2b,
Have you tried Homecoming by Michael Morpurgo? He wrote the book βWarhorseβ which has been made into a movie. He writes very beautiful and heartfelt stories
on animals and war. But he also has a range of books for younger kids like Homecoming.
You can also try Shel Silverstein books, he has a lot of compilations on poems that
are interesting and humorous.
TAS -
Hi TAS,
I need your help, personally I am not a book lover, hence unable to intro good books to my P3 gal. She likes the Pellinor series (The gift, the singing etc) by Alison Groggon. Is this series good? she picked it out from her cousin's \"library\".
She has read most of the thriller books reco by you for all levels, I am running out of titles for her.
i find that she does not like books like oliver twist, great expectations, little women, kind of books...any cause for concern? I thought such books will give her more depth ... or are these books boring? she loves all books by cynthia kadohata, I like them too (unlike thrillers), they are \"light\" yet meaningful? what do you think of her books? any reco for such genre books (sorry how do you categorise them?), i hope my gal will read a wide genre of books and not just go for thriller.Thank you!
Btw i have a P1 who is not as avid reader as her sister, for now she reads enid blyton, mr gum, mr majeika, kate dicamillo (the kiddy ones), R Dahl, judy blume and other funny/ animals stories and she likes non-fiction too. She refuses to read anything fairies (like rainbow magic) or girlish. she has a bad habit of starting 2 books concurrently! what are some of the titles i shld intro to her base on her interest? She is kind of childish but \"reads well\". I hope she can read as much as her sister :).
I have a K1 too :p, what are the books suitable for him? He has read many Dr seuss, Ursbone readers and other single titles. is it too early to intro R Dahl? thank you so much! -
Hi TAS
Any recommendation for P5 gal and p1 boy both love reading
Thanks in advance -
porcupine12trade:
Hi porcupine12trade,Hi TAS,
I need your help, personally I am not a book lover, hence unable to intro good books to my P3 gal. She likes the Pellinor series (The gift, the singing etc) by Alison Groggon. Is this series good? she picked it out from her cousin's \"library\".
She has read most of the thriller books reco by you for all levels, I am running out of titles for her.
i find that she does not like books like oliver twist, great expectations, little women, kind of books...any cause for concern? I thought such books will give her more depth ... or are these books boring? she loves all books by cynthia kadohata, I like them too (unlike thrillers), they are \"light\" yet meaningful? what do you think of her books? any reco for such genre books (sorry how do you categorise them?), i hope my gal will read a wide genre of books and not just go for thriller.Thank you!
Btw i have a P1 who is not as avid reader as her sister, for now she reads enid blyton, mr gum, mr majeika, kate dicamillo (the kiddy ones), R Dahl, judy blume and other funny/ animals stories and she likes non-fiction too. She refuses to read anything fairies (like rainbow magic) or girlish. she has a bad habit of starting 2 books concurrently! what are some of the titles i shld intro to her base on her interest? She is kind of childish but \"reads well\". I hope she can read as much as her sister :).
I have a K1 too :p, what are the books suitable for him? He has read many Dr seuss, Ursbone readers and other single titles. is it too early to intro R Dahl? thank you so much!
It is great that your older child loves to read. Alison Groggon's books are mainly the fantasy type of books. They are a little like Lord of the Rings. They are not too bad but only if you like books on magic and war between the old kingdoms and all that.
I understand what you mean when you said you would like your child to read the classics. However, most children at this age would not appreciate them as they tend to find it boring. You can still try to introduce other books to them so that they could have a greater variety of books to read.
One possible genre would be books that revolve their stories around historical events:
1) Hero on a Bicycle by Shirley Hughes
This story is set in Italy during World War 2. Paulo and his sister, Constanza, only have a bicycle but they want to do something for their country. They are desperate to fight the occupation of their city by the Nazi German forces. It seems an impossible feat, but they try and the story follows them on this adventure of standing up against oppression. In some editions of the book, there are photographs, interviews and videos to help the child to envision what had happened during this period of time.
Reading such books would also help a child to have greater empathy.
2) A place called Heartbreak: A story of Vietnam by Steck Vaughn
This book is placed under the non-fiction section usually but it reads like a fiction book as it is written in a narrative format. It is a very engrossing read about a Black American pilot who was shot down and detained in North Vietnam. It tells of his struggles to overcome racism and how he managed to finally become a pilot and then it talks about what he went through in North Vietnam.
Before introducing this book. it would be good if you could google the Vietnam War and show your child pictures of the Viet Cong and the tunnels they used to escape the Americans. These tunnels still exist today and it is very hard for a normal Singaporean to go through them as the tunnels are very tiny. That was how the Viet Cong managed to escape and it took a special breed of American soldiers to go into these tunnels. These soldiers were called tunnel rats.
I think with books that revolve around events that took place in history, it is good to whet the child's appetite with some stories on the actual event and to show pictures of it.
For your P1 child, you could introduce the Wildly Weird series by Kaye Umansky to them. In this family, the father is a scientist who has a habit of blowing things up, the mother is a stunt woman, the grandmother is a little magical and the kids get into a lot of strange situations with their family.
I am not sure if your P1 girl would like books on princesses but there is one book that is very interesting- A Palace full of Princesses by Sally Gardner. This books combines Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and The Frog Prince and weaves their stories into one.
For your K2, you could try introducing Roald Dahl or Enid Blyton. If they are too much for your child, then you could stick to the Usborne series.
TAS -
Pinky Piglet:
Hi Pinky Piglet,Hi TAS
Any recommendation for P5 gal and p1 boy both love reading
Thanks in advance
For P1:
Holly Webb's books are not bad. There is one book, 'The Snow Bear' that is interesting.
1) The Snow Bear by Holly Webb
In this story, a little girl wakes up and finds herself in a strange place with only a polar bear for company, together they need to find their way out and Holly desperately wants to find her way back for Christmas. Would she be able to make it? What caused her to be stuck in that strange land?
2) You're a bad man, Mr Gum by Andy Stanton
Mr Gum is not really a bad man, he is a very funny man. The humour throughout the book brings to mind the style of Roald Dahl.
For P5
1) Eleven Eleven by Paul Doswell
In this story, three teenagers, one from American, one from England and one from Germany are placed together in this story. It is the year 1918 and they are at war. Somehow the story leads up to the eleventh day of the eleventh month at 11 am. They must find a way back to their homelands by then but to do so, they would also need to rely on one another. Can they trust one another? What will happen to them if they do not make it back by then?
2) Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead
In this story, a boy moves into an apartment and he befriends Safer, a boy who lives on another floor. Safer introduces him to the game of spying and he soon spends his time doing that and staying with Safer's family as his own family is going through certain problems. However, as time goes by, this boy discovers all is not what it seems to be at first and he realizes that all this while, he has been lying to himself. What is this lie? What is the truth about this boy and his family?
It is an intriguing read.
TAS -
Hi TAS
Thank you very much for your reply. Very helpful! -
Let her read the books of chetan bhagat stories.
She ll love vampire series of twilight saga. Its interesting. -
Any good English book set recommendation for K1 boy? He has the Step into Reading series as it feature his favorite characters eg. Cars, Thomas. Any other good series that anyone can reco?
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Any good books to recommend for a K2 preferrably relating to cars - 4 wheels? It can be in science, magazine style.
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Anyone can share review on Cam Jansen Series? Is it appealing for a 6yo boy?
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lovinglife:
Anyone can share review on Cam Jansen Series? Is it appealing for a 6yo boy?
Yes, my boys read almost the whole series of cam jasen books when he was ard 6 yrs old. It is about a boy and his classmates, a girl who has a photogenic mind and how they solved simple mystery. Hope I did not remember wrongly. It has been so long ago. -
PiggyLalala:
Correct me if I am wrong. I thought it is a Girl's series? Cam Jansen is a girl, no? Can you also share about series that your boys read when they were younger? My 6yo is currently reading the The New Adventures of the Wishing-Chair by Enid Blyton, 5-6 books in total. I need to start looking around for another series for him. Not too wordy. :roll:lovinglife:
Anyone can share review on Cam Jansen Series? Is it appealing for a 6yo boy?
Yes, my boys read almost the whole series of cam jasen books when he was ard 6 yrs old. It is about a boy and his classmates, a girl who has a photogenic mind and how they solved simple mystery. Hope I did not remember wrongly. It has been so long ago.
I shall go library to borrow some Cam Jansen to let him try.
:thankyou: -
lovinglife:
Correct me if I am wrong. I thought it is a Girl's series? Cam Jansen is a girl, no? Can you also share about series that your boys read when they were younger? My 6yo is currently reading the The New Adventures of the Wishing-Chair by Enid Blyton, 5-6 books in total. I need to start looking around for another series for him. Not too wordy. :roll:PiggyLalala:
[quote=\"lovinglife\"]Anyone can share review on Cam Jansen Series? Is it appealing for a 6yo boy?
Yes, my boys read almost the whole series of cam jasen books when he was ard 6 yrs old. It is about a boy and his classmates, a girl who has a photogenic mind and how they solved simple mystery. Hope I did not remember wrongly. It has been so long ago.
I shall go library to borrow some Cam Jansen to let him try.
:thankyou:[/quote]Yup, Cam Jansen is a girl who likes to solve mystery and she has a photogenic mind. There is another boy called Eric, in the book. They solved simple mystery together. This is one of the first chapters books that my son read on his own independently.
Other mystery series include encyclopedia brown and Marc Brown Arthur Chapter books. Other series like the berenstain bears, horrid henry and the Little Mr and Miss series are also my son's favourite. There are many more others that I have forgotten the titles. I need to visit the library to recall the titles of these books.
Then they progressed to read the magic tree series (mystery story) in p1 and P2. -
Oh, lovinglife, your question on Cam Jansen brought back so much fond memories for me. I used to bring my boys to the library every week and we have borrowed many books from the library. I have done a google search - Another 2 series that I can remember are Babar the elephant and madeline story book. For Babar and Madeline, I read to my elder son, when he was around 5 years old.
When they were younger, I remembered reading George, the monkey series (3 to 5 year old ) and eric carl books - good night, moon; from head to toe; Little clouds; (1-3 years old) to them.
There is one thick compilation of the classical stories that I borrowed many times from the library. We love all the stories in it and we would read them again and again -
PiggyLalala:
I hardly see Eric being illustrated in the book cover, thought he is just carefare thanks for recalled so many titles for me! Little Mr and Miss is my DS most hateful series so far. He always gotten this series as weekly read from his enrichment teacher. As for magic tree house series, I let him read when he was slightly over 5yo but he was reluctant and not keen. So I kept the books away. Maybe can try again soon
Yup, Cam Jansen is a girl who likes to solve mystery and she has a photogenic mind. There is another boy called Eric, in the book. They solved simple mystery together. This is one of the first chapters books that my son read on his own independently.
Other mystery series include encyclopedia brown and Marc Brown Arthur Chapter books. Other series like the berenstain bears and the Little Mr and Miss series are also my son's favourite. There are many more others that I have forgotten the titles. I need to visit the library to recall the titles of these books.
Then they progressed to read the magic tree series (mystery story) in p1 and P2. -
PiggyLalala:
Hehe.. Time flies isn't it? :evil:Oh, lovinglife, your question on Cam Jansen brought back so much fond memories for me. I used to bring my boys to the library every week and we have borrowed many books from the library. I have done a google search - Another 2 series that I can remember are Babar the elephant and madeline story book. For Babar and Madeline, I read to my elder son, when he was around 5 years old.
When they were younger, I remembered reading George, the monkey series (3 to 5 year old ) and eric carl books - good night, moon; from head to toe; Little clouds; (1-3 years old) to them.
There is one thick compilation of the classical stories that I borrowed many times from the library. We love all the stories in it and we would read them again and again
We visit library every alternate weeks. My son is complaining he has to rush for so many books before returning. Well, he picked the books, not me. On the other hand, my 3.5yo is reading lightning fast, she reads day and night, I am running out titles for her though we have hundreds of books at home, and it is increasing every month. She is in love with Madeline and Curious George currently. The Madeline that you mentioned here are those short story books from Penguin Young Reader right? If not, can you advise which Madeline you read to your sons? My girl likes her very much.
Did your sons read My Father's Dragon?
I will check out the other titles that you have mentioned. Excited! -
The westling game.
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sleepy:
The westling game.
Wow sleepy, this book is too chim for my 6-years-old to be He is in the transition to chapters, not used to no picture in some pages and mostly black and white :roll: -
lovinglife:
Flat Stanley series of bookssleepy:
The westling game.
Wow sleepy, this book is too chim for my 6-years-old to be He is in the transition to chapters, not used to no picture in some pages and mostly black and white :roll:
Mercy Watson (the pig is very cute)
Famous Five series by Enid Blyton
Books by Roald Dahl
A to Z Mysteries series of books by Ron Roy (a lot in the libraries)
Magic Schoolbus chapter books
Horrible Science -
lovinglife:
Paisei, paisei how about these books then? I remember my dd2 read books by these authors over & over again when she was 6 years oldsleepy:
The westling game.
Wow sleepy, this book is too chim for my 6-years-old to be He is in the transition to chapters, not used to no picture in some pages and mostly black and white :roll:
E.B.White (all 3 books)
Roald Dahl (entire bookset)
Kate DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn-Dixie, The magician's elephant, The miraculous journey of Edward Tulane)