Recommended English Books

[The Alternative Story]

Laurenwkids:

Hi TAS,


What do you think of Enid Blyton books, my younger one is now reading them, there seems to be a revival of her books..are they good to help in writing?

Hi Laurenwkids,

Enid Blyton books are very interesting. However, the vocabulary used
in her books are not very descriptive. Hence, a child would not be
able to really pick out good vocabulary phrases from her books.

TAS

[concern.027392mum]

Hi TAS,


Would your bookfair be in November or December? :lol:

[Blessedmum]

Hi TAS,


I’m sorry I do not have time to read thru the previous posts. Any recommendations for my 2 children? P3 this year, girl, no much reading interest, seldom finish the whole book. P1 this year, boy, enjoys reading.

Thanks!

[The Alternative Story]

concern.mum:

Hi TAS,


Would your bookfair be in November or December? :lol:

Hi concern.mum,

Our bookfair will be in December, we will be confirming the
date soon.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Blessedmum:

Hi TAS,


I'm sorry I do not have time to read thru the previous posts. Any recommendations for my 2 children? P3 this year, girl, no much reading interest, seldom finish the whole book. P1 this year, boy, enjoys reading.

Thanks!

Hi Blessedmum,

For a P3 who is a reluctant reader, perhaps you should try to let
her read thin books that have interesting plots first.

These are some recommendations:

1) Tremors series

This series has a number of titles. Each book has either a twist
in the story or has an interesting plot. For example, in
\"Time Flies\", a little girl finds an old wooden life size box in
a room. She and her brother are now staying in an old mansion
while her mother works as a housekeeper. She hides in the box
while playing hide and seek with her brother and finds herself
transported back in time to a time when the old Tudor mansion
was bustling with life and she has to help someone there
solve a problem before she can come back.

There are only about 20 over pages in the book and there are
also pictures. The words used are good- there is variety
in the sentence structure and the vocabulary is very
descriptive.

There are many other titles in this series as well.

Where to get them: This series is not available in Singapore,
as far as we know. We carry these titles and you can view our
booklist at this link:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7586&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

(Our books come with creative writing phrases that have
been extracted from the storybook that you purchase, these phrases
have been classified into different categories: Anger, drowning,
etc)

2) Usborne Puzzle series

There are also many titles in this series. The books in this series
are colourful and each page has a mystery to solve for the children
so your child would need to read through the text on the page
to solve the puzzle. Although there aren't many words on the page,
the words used are also rather descriptive.

Where to get them: We carry them in and you can also get
them from most bookstores.

For your primary 1 child who likes reading, you can try
the following books:

1) Andrew Lost series

In this series, you will get to follow the main character, Andrew, as he
gets lost in various situations: he shrinks and gets lost in the fur of a
dog and then you will also get to learn science facts about the dog,
or he shrinks and gets into the blood stream of a human being
and your child can also learn about the circulatory system.

Where to get them: We carry them in and you can also get
them from most bookstores.

2) Phonics Comics series

The books are colourful and the text is presented in a comic
book style but the stories are very interesting. For example,
in Twisted Tales, they retell the traditional fairytales but add
a twist in the story and at the end of the story, there are
words that they put in a list that you can teach your child
the meaning and pronunciation

Where to get them: We carry them in but we are not sure if
local bookstores sell these books.

TAS

[Blessedmum]

Thanks TAS!

[sunshinelove]

Hi TAS,


Can you recommend some books for a P4 kid who likes reading but is still reading quite basic level books like gerinimo stilton?

[Blessedmum]

Oh yes, since Sunshinelove mentioned, my son likes Geronimo Stilton Books too. He finds the books interesting and funny. And he reads Beast Quest… wonder if these are good books?

[The Alternative Story]

sunshinelove:

Hi TAS,


Can you recommend some books for a P4 kid who likes reading but is still reading quite basic level books like gerinimo stilton?

Hi sunshinelove,

These are some of our recommendations for P4 kids that
we have talked about before:

1) Charlie Bone series (there are 7 books in total with
the latest 8th book just released)

Charlie Bone can enter into people's photographs and hear and
see what the people in the photograph experience, through
this gift, he meets other gifted children and finds out that his father
who he thought was dead was actually hypnotized and held against
his will in the school Charlie Bone has been sent to. However, his
father does not recognize him and Charlie must do all he can to
help his father.

2) The touchstone by Andrew Norriss

A boy meets with an 'alien' from another planet that needs his help
urgently but in order to help her, he has to access something
called a touchstone that can answer any question of his but he
has to use it wisely. Through the touchstone, he tries to find
out how he can bring his parents back together, how he can help
his friend invent the best rocket etc but things are not as simple
as they appear to be and some things start to go very wrong.

3) Spiderwick Chronicles

A family moves into their aunty's house at the edge of a forest.
There at the house, one of the twin boys discovers a book that
unlocks the secrets of the forest and through a special spectacles,
he is able to see the creatures that occupy the forest and want to take
over the house. He has to read through the book, find out how
to protect his family and visit his 'mad' aunt to find out what
actually happened in the house years ago to save his family.

Where to get the books: We do sell them and you can visit our
link to find out more:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7586&start=20

These are some more recommendations:

1) Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is the award-winning author of 'The Graveyard
Book'. While 'The Graveyard Book' is meant more for
upper primary students, 'Odd and the Frost Giants' is meant
for Pri 2-4 students. While Percy Jackson borrows from Greek
mythology (Zeus, Poisedon etc), Odd and the Frost Giants borrows
from Norse mythology (the Vikings).

Percy Jackson fans will also like this book especially if they are
younger (8-10 yrs old).

In this rather touching story, Odd loses his father in an accident
and he injures his own leg badly when a tree falls over on him
and he becomes lame. His mother remarries and his step-father
dislikes him.

Odd runs away into the woods and then he finds 3 animals who need
his help to take back their kingdom from the Frost Giants. These 3
animals are actually gods who have been transformed by the Frost
Giants into animals. Together with the 3 animals, Odd must use his
wit and his cheerful nature to somehow outwit the Frost Giants.

Where to get it: Amazon.com

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Blessedmum:

Oh yes, since Sunshinelove mentioned, my son likes Geronimo Stilton Books too. He finds the books interesting and funny. And he reads Beast Quest.... wonder if these are good books?

Hi Blessedmum,

Beast Quest books are not too bad, the language used is rather
descriptive and it manages to capture the children's imagination.

However, it appeals to children and not us adults because the
plot changes a bit too fast and the flow of the story is rather
disjointed. I think children like it as they grow up in an
internet-savvy generation where everything is fast paced
and things they see on screen (tv, computer games) change
very quickly.

There is nothing wrong with a book like that as the author
probably understand the way this generation thinks.
However, when it comes to writing, the children may also
write in a similar way and not have a clear, logical
storyline.

Hence, it would be good for them to read other books as well.

TAS