Recommended English Books

[The Alternative Story]

Brenda10:

Hi TAS


Would you recommend “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket for upper primary child?

Thanks and have a nice day.

Hi Brenda10,

If the child likes it, it is fine especially if he is a reluctant reader. If we try to force him or her to read more difficult books, he might stop reading altogether. However, if your child is a reader, then I would encourage you to expose him to other books as well. This series 'A series of Unfortunate Events' is a little simple in terms of the words used and the sentence structure. Has he tried books by Anthony Horowitz yet?

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

purple05:

Hi TAS,


thanks for the reccomendations, the Young Reading series seems more for boys, dun think my daughter is interested in robots, dinos... the Puzzle series sound interesting. Will look out for Usbourne books in the bookshops.

My gal doesnt seem to like reading stories, she like to flip the pages & look at the pics.. of those info books. How to let her pick up the reading habit? Is it necessary for parents to read together with the kid?

Where will the bookfair be held?

Hi purple05,

The Usbourne Young Reading series is for girls as well. They have books like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that we have in stock as well.

Their range is very wide, you can find anything for both boys and girls

Another good book that is related to fairy tales that is good is:

'The True Story of the Three Little Pigs' by Jon Scieszka

- It is a very interesting story of the 3 little pigs, except this time,
it is told from the perspective of the big bad wolf. In his version,
all he was trying to do was to borrow some sugar and he had a
cold so he sneezed, and the whole house came crashing down
on the pig and since the pig was dead, he ate the pig up. He did
not want the food to go to waste.

The story can also be used to teach your child about relative truths
and to teach him or her how things seem different when we hear
different sides of the story and how we should always hear everyone
out till we decide who is really right and who is wrong.


How to make reading interesting:

1) Do activities related to the book:

a) If the story is about a fairy, perhaps you can do some
research and find out about fairies and tell her about the
tooth fairy and get her excited about fairies and then get her
to read the book.

2) If the story is about a castle and there is a moat,
you can show her pictures of the moat on the internet and
even help her to build a moat using her pillows and bolster.
And later, tell her that you read a very interesting story of how
the moat was used to save the princess and tell her if she wants
to find out more, she can read the book.

3) You could also read the book to her and leave it off at
the most exciting moment and tell her to read on if she wants
to know more.

4) You can do a storybook challenge with her.
Tell her if she can finish 2 books in 4 days and tell you the story,
she will get a certain treat (like extra tv time or an ice-cream etc).
In this way, you start off by making books like a challenge and
hopefully, she will get so hooked on the story that after a while,
she does not need the 'carrot' to read.

- The bookfair will be held at the Singapore Expo.

TAS

[sleepy]

Hi TAS


I bought books by award winning authors. Would such a book collection be useful for creative writing?

[Brenda10]

The Alternative Story:

Hi Brenda10,


If the child likes it, it is fine especially if he is a reluctant reader. If we try to force him or her to read more difficult books, he might stop reading altogether. However, if your child is a reader, then I would encourage you to expose him to other books as well. This series 'A series of Unfortunate Events' is a little simple in terms of the words used and the sentence structure. Has he tried books by Anthony Horowitz yet?

TAS

Hi TAS

Thank you for the advice and wonderful recommendation.

My dd has also read others story books written by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the lighting thief etc), Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book, Cynthia Kadohata - Kira Kira, Robert C.O.Brien – The Silver Crown etc.

However, her most favourable books till today still are “Geronimo Stilton”.
:oops:

[The Alternative Story]

sleepy:

Hi TAS


I bought books by award winning authors. Would such a book collection be useful for creative writing?

Hi sleepy,

Award-winning books are chosen for different reasons.
Some are chosen based on educational value, some on
literary merit. If you want the books to be used to help in
creative writing, then it is best to look through the book first.
Some award-winning books may not be very descriptive but the
book could be chosen for the award because it helps
shed light on a certain subject matter.

For example, the book 'A single shard' by Linda Sue Park is
the winner of the 2002 Newberry medal.

In this book, it charts the journey of 2 characters in the mid
to late 12 century Korea. It is a story about peserverance.

The learning point is a good one but the writing can seem a
little hard to digest for most Singaporean kids.

Extract:

\"Eh, Tree-ear, have you hungered well today? Crane man
called out as Tree-ear drew near the bridge. The well-fed of
the village greeted each other politely by saying, 'Have you
eaten well today'

While children who read the book will gain a lot from a
historical point of view in understanding how life was in
12th century Korea, this book may not help kids to pick out
creative writing techniques.

Hence, award-winning books must be read through to see
if they have the writing 'ingredients' to help a child write well.
These ingredients are namely:

1) Varied Sentence Structure

2) Good vocabulary (personification, similes, metaphors, phrases that SHOW the scene rather than just TELL it)

3) Good build-up of tension

We will follow up on this by showing you extracts of some storybooks
that we feel can help in creative writing.

TAS

[jesschan]

Hi TAS


My boy is in P1 and he reads the Magic Treehouse series as well as Zac Power series. What other series would you recommend?

BTW, what do you think the Tin Tin comic series?

[The Alternative Story]

Hi sleepy,


(A continuation from the award-winning book topic)

These are some of the books that we feel are very good
for picking up creative writing techniques:

1) Hunger by Michael Grant (sequel of Gone)

- Suitable for primary 4- 6

Extract (Adapted):

The air screamed past her ears. (Personification)
Her short hair blew straight back. Her cheeks vibrated,
her eyes stung. (SHOW, don't TELL).
Breathing was a struggle as she gasped at hurricane winds
(different sentence structure, starting with a gerund rather
than a pronoun like I or You)

The world around her became a smear of colour, objects flying
past her as she ran with all her might. (SHOW, don't TELL)

- Suitable to describe a chase scene

2) The Deadly Dungeon by Ron Roy
(part of the A to Z mysteries series)

- Suitable for primary 2 - 4

Extract (adapted):

Dink gulped and felt goosepimples climbing his legs. Could it be
a ghost? (SHOW, don't TELL)

Waves slapped against the hull as they chugged through the
black water. Dink watched the glow of morning colour the
horizon pale yellow. The boat's gentle rocking made Dink feel
sleepy. He closed his eyes.
(SHOW, don't TELL)

- Suitable to describe a blackout/day at the beach

3) Viking Ships at Sunrise (Magic Treehouse series)

- Suitable for primary 1-3

The treehouse started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still. Absolutely still
(Different sentence structure, use of repetition to emphasize a point)

- suitable to describe a child fainting because
of the heat or a sickness.

4) Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

- Suitable for primary 4 - 6

(He uses many descriptive phrases as well as varied sentence
structure)

There was absolutely no sound in the mine apart from his own
rasping breath, the crunch of his footsteps, and the quickening thud of
his heart. (SHOW, don't tell)
It was as if blackness was wiping out sound as well as vision. (simile)

- Can be adapted to describe a scene in a stalled lift

The cold was ferocious, a hammer blow that nearly forced the air out
of his lungs. (metaphor) The water pounded at his head, swirling
around his nose and eyes. His fingers were instantly numb.

Pull, kick. Pull, kick. (abbreviated sentence to emphasize action)
Alex had been underwater for less than a minute,
but already his lungs were feeling the strain.

- Can be adapted to use for drowning at sea

5) Survival by Chris Ryan

- Suitable for primary 4-6

(His books have many descriptive phrases and also good sentence structure and good tension build-up)

Extract:

The smell was stronger nearer the bush and Li wrinkled her nose.
There was definitely something there, behind the branches, but the
rustling leaves were good camouflage and, at first, Li could not
make sense of what she was seeing. Then, a single, reptilian eye
jumped into focus.
It was looking right at her. (Building of tension, not revealing what
the 'enemy' was, thus making the reader eager to read more)

- Can be used to describe an animal attack scene

These are some of the books we feel are very good to help your
child learn the writing techniques. Chris Ryan and Anthony Horowitz
have a series of books and most of their books make good use of
these techniques.

Where to get them:

- At most bookstores/libraries/bookfairs. There is an upcoming
MPH bookfair on the 25 June that is held at the Singapore Expo.
- However, Hunger and Chris Ryan books are not available at most bkstores.

We do carry some of the books as well,
namely some A-Z mysteries, Magic Treehouse, Anthony Horowitz
and Chris Ryan books. We do carry Hunger as well.
(Our books are mostly cheaper than those sold at bkstores and
they come with the creative writing phrases that are extracted out
from the books, you can email us your order, you can also go to
our facebook account- The Alternative Story- to view some of
the books)

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Brenda10:

Hi TAS

Thank you for the advice and wonderful recommendation.

My dd has also read others story books written by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the lighting thief etc), Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book, Cynthia Kadohata - Kira Kira, Robert C.O.Brien – The Silver Crown etc.

However, her most favourable books till today still are “Geronimo Stilton”.
:oops:

Hi Brenda10,

She seems to have read quite a fair bit of good books.
She probably has no problem with words and her reading
ability should be quite good if she can read all the other books
you mentioned.
Why does she like \"Geronimo Stilton\"? Not that the series is
not good but it is not so apt for upper primary kids.
(Just trying to find out the reason as she also seems to be able
to read more difficult books like The Graveyard book)

Maybe you could excite her about books that have more
exciting plots. Geronimo Stilton plots are quite simple.

How about books like Gone, Among the hidden?

There is another book that has a interesting plot:

1) Lifegame by Alison Allen Gray

In this book, Fella and his best friend Gebe want to escape from the
sinister island in which they are born in. In the island, their parents do
not seem to care for them and they are not allowed to read.

One day, they do manage to escape and find that the people outside the
Island do not know they are normal, they think that all the people on
the Island have been contaminated with some disease and thus have to
be segregated. Later on, they find out that they have been chosen to be
on the Island for a very sinister reason- they are clones of actual people
and they exist to serve as ready-made organ transplants when the
people they are cloned after began to suffer in health.
(it is very much like the movie 'The Island')

The story is intriguing. Maybe if you daughter were to read plots like that,
she would not go back to Geronimo Stilton?

Where to get the books:

Among the Hidden can be gotten from most bkstores and libraries.

Gone and Lifegame is not available in Singapore, not that we know of
anway. Gone might be available at the libraries. We do carry both
Gone and Lifegame.

Hope your daughter gets 'lost' in all these books

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

jesschan:

Hi TAS


My boy is in P1 and he reads the Magic Treehouse series as well as Zac Power series. What other series would you recommend?

BTW, what do you think the Tin Tin comic series?

Hi jesschan,

He seems to be quite an avid reader, to be able to read both Magic
Treehouse and Zac Power series. (especially Zac Power is quite
wordy for a primary 1 kid)

Have you tried 1) Stepping Stones series?
(It is from the same bookline as Magic Treehouse series)

Stepping Stones series has many genres: Mystery, History,
Humor, Classic etc.

Examples of a Stepping Stone Mystery:

- The Case of the Elevator Duck

The main character has to find out why there is a duck
in the elevator and think of ways to help the duck get back to
where it belongs.

- The Blue Ghost

The main character goes to her grandmother's house to stay
and awakes one day to find that there is a blue ghost in her
room. What does the blue ghost want and how can she help
it find its rest? (Not too scary, more intriguing)

2) Andrew Lost series.
In this series, the main character, Andrew gets lost in a
person's intestines, stomach etc and from there the child
will also get to learn about the digestive system.

Andrew Lost gets lost in many different situations, like at the Great
Barrier Reef, in the skin of a person (after he shrinks to microscopic
size), in the kitchen etc.

This book combines both English and Science learning together.

How about 3) A-Z mysteries? 4) Charlie Small
is also another series that has quite good vocabulary, however
Charlie Small is mostly on pirates and the setting is in the past which I know, not many kids may like.

Where to get these bks:

- Most of them are available at bkstores and libraries.
A-Z mysteries are available at Second-hand bkstores and
at bkfairs as well.

We carry A-Z mysteries, Charlie Small and a few
Stepping Stone books.

Tin Tin books are really fun to read. Just like Asterix. They may
not have much value in terms of creative writing. But they make
reading very fun and it is good to let children read such books
at times so that children do not view books as simply tools to
good writing Basically, children need to have both-books with
fabulous vocabulary and books that are just there for pure enjoyment!

TAS

[jesschan]

Hi TAS


Thanks for your prompt reply. Yes, he does read the Stepping Stone series ocassionally. In fact, he just finished reading The Jungle Book.

The Andrew Lost series sounds interesting. And maybe he will like Charlie Small as well as he also likes pirates and history stuff. Will see if we can find them in the library.

Many thanks!