Recommended English Books

[The Alternative Story]

Working Mummy:

Hi Tas,


I have a son in P3 this year also a very reluctant reader. He only like to read Geromino Stilton and Secret Agent. Put him on Beast Quest he said is scary. Magic Tree he is not interested. Is there any books to recommend ?

Thanks !

Hi Working Mummy,

Have you tried the Charlie Bone series, this is the link where
you can go to for more information on Charlie Bone.

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11428&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=50

We also have recommended some books in the past for children
who fit the profile of your child :lol: Here is the
information:

These books are suitable for children between the ages of
7 - 10 years.
:7-8 yrs (good readers)
:9 - 10 yrs (reluctant- average readers)

1) The Stepsisters' Story by Kaye Umansky

The story of Cinderalla is told from the perspective of the stepsisters.
They are unashamed as they go about their greedy way trying to get
what they want. But of course Cinderalla has the last laugh. It is funny
and has a lot of visual clues that will keep younger readers interested.

2) Hostage: 4u2read
by Malorie Blackman

In this story, the main character has been kidnapped and she is
blindfolded. She has to find a way to escape on her own
and she manages to do so. The story is thrilling and the plot
well-paced.

3) Dead Man's Cove: Laura Marlin's Mysteries 1
by Lauren St John

In this story, Laura is rescued from an orphanage by a mysterious
uncle that she never really knew before. She enjoys her new life
at first but is puzzled when a new friend she makes does not want
to talk to her all of a sudden. She also is forbidden to go to
Dead Man's Cove. She starts to investigate and find out more
about the mysterious world her uncle lives in and find out why
all these things are happening.

4) Andrew Lost series*

This series is very interesting, it combines English and Science
together. In every book, Andrew and his friends become microscopic
size and they go into the body of a dog, or into the bloodstream
of a human and in their adventures, the children learn about
science concepts as well.

5) Beastly series by Andy Baxter*

In this series, Max, can turn into animals. In each series, he usually
saves some animals from being hunted or killed and his main
enemy is Professor Slynk. He needs to become part of the animal
kingdom to make the animals understand the danger they are in.
The books have quite good vocabulary and varied sentence
structure in them.

6) Race to Witch Mountain (Disney)*

This book is based on a recent Disney movie. A cab driver gives 2
teenagers a ride, he does not realize that they are actually aliens
who have crashed landed on earth. In order to save their own world
and earth, they must recover their spaceship but there are secret
agents who have taken over the ship and there is also an alien
assassin who is out to kill them. The cab driver must work together
with the 2 teenagers to outwit all their opponents and save both planets.

7) Aquila/Ctrl - Z by Andrew Norriss*

Aquila:

2 boys are on a field trip and they discover the skeleton of what
looks to be a Roman soldier. They also find a spacecraft next to him.
The word 'Aquila' is found on it. They then hide the spacecraft so
that they can come back on another day to take it back with them.

They then discover that the spacecraft has many functions, it can
become invisible and when they are inside, they also become invisible,
it can shoot out lazers, it can 'communicate' with them. As they
take the spacecraft out for adventures, their teachers in school
are trying to solve the mystery of how these 2 boys who are always
at the bottom of the class are now asking the teachers how to solve
speed-related questions, questions on history etc..They do not
understand how 2 boys who previously were struggling with their work
now so interested. They do not realize that the boys are asking all
these questions because they are related to solving problems regarding
Aquila.

In the end, the 2 boys discover the joy of learning and start to believe
that they can really do well in school.

A really wonderful book, very interesting, with lots of humour and also
with a message at the end.

Crtrl - Z:

Alex receives a present from his grandfather- a laptop that has this
mysterious function - control Z- and when Alex presses it, he realizes
that it can turn back time. And hence, Alex and his best friend now
think that they can make many mistakes and then simply turn back time
to erase them. However, later on, they discover the consequences of
doing so. As with most Andrew Norriss books, they books come with
a message.

Where to get them:

You can get them in libraries and most stores, if they are not available,
you could get them online from Amazon.

The books with a * beside them are books that we have. We will
post their prices at the Market Place thread. These books come
with creative writing phrases that have been extracted from the books
except for Andrew Lost where we extract out the science concepts.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

looneytunezz:

Hi TAS,


Do you bring in classics like Secret Garden?

Mum of LTunes

Hi Mum of LTunes,

No we do not do so.

TAS

[singapore45]

Hi TAS,


Will you be having your bookfair soon?

[Working Mummy]

Hi TAS,


Thanks for all the good books recommendation. Will try to get those books for him. Believe most of the books you recommended you do carry in your store.

Btw, I have also send email to you in regards to the English programme and school holiday programmes but no reply from you. I have tried to call but no one answer the phone. Can you please reply me on this? Or can call me at hp: 98383972 (Jessie)

Thank you!

[jeestan]

singapore45:

Hi TAS,


Will you be having your bookfair soon?

Hi,

I think they have already put up the bookfair information on their blog and also on their marketplace thread:

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7586&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=330

[The Alternative Story]

singapore45:

Hi TAS,


Will you be having your bookfair soon?

Hi singapore45,

We are having it on the 23 January 2011. The details can be found
on our blog: thealternativestory.blogspot.com

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Working Mummy:

Hi TAS,


Thanks for all the good books recommendation. Will try to get those books for him. Believe most of the books you recommended you do carry in your store.

Btw, I have also send email to you in regards to the English programme and school holiday programmes but no reply from you. I have tried to call but no one answer the phone. Can you please reply me on this? Or can call me at hp: 98383972 (Jessie)

Thank you!

Hi Jessie,

Sorry for the late reply but we asked a teacher to call you last week
when we saw this post.

TAS

[Jennifer]

I would like to feedback on the hols creative writing prog my boy attended recently at the BTSC branch.


From what I gathered from my boy, I know he has enjoyed the lessons (which focused on how to write abt a scene on fire and another on drowning).

He was able to remember the model sentences and phrases almost to the T as he has good memory skills. He also enjoyed the memory skills the teacher taught.

I think the way to award points for class behaviour is good. However, I believe it might be better to use smaller numbers since some children get confused in adding up bigger numbers. My competitive boy got into an argument with another boy who miscalculated his pts. Luckily I was in time to hold back my boy from getting into more trouble.

I understand from my boy that the students with the high score were awarded with a toy while the others got a pkt of titbits. Can I suggest a healthier choice of titbits? While I was waiting for the P3/P4 class to be dismissed, the other P1/P2 class was released and I saw a maid forbiding her employer’s daughter to eat the titbit. I also do not allow such titbits at home.

As the BTSC branch is small, there is not much walking space or waiting area in the centre itself. I think your staff should hv asked the children to wait inside the classroom for their parents or cargivers to fetch them, instead of the children either standing or sitting on the floor in front of the reception counter.

I would also recommend that the timings for two classes not to be start/dismiss concurrently, at least hv a 15 mins difference in order to more properly handle traffic in the space constrainted area.

[Advisepls]

Ｈｉ　ａｌｌ．　I ｎｅｅｄ　ｔｏ　ａｓｋ．　ｄｏ　ｙｏｕ　ｔｈｉｎｋ　ｔｈａｔ　Ｈａｒｒｙ　Ｐｏｔｔｅｒ　ｉｓ　ａ　ｇｏｏｄ　ｓｅｒｉｅｓ　ｆｏｒ　ｕｐｐｅｒ　ｐｒｉｍａｒｙ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ？　I ｐｅｒｓｏｎａｌｌｙ　ｔｈｉｎｋ　ｉｔ　ｉｓ　ｎｏｔ　ｓｕｉｔａｂｌｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｌｏｗｅｒ　ｐｒｉｍａｒｙ　ｏｎｅｓ　ａｓ　ｔｈｅｒｅ　ｉｓ　ａ　ｌｏｔ　ｏｆ　ｐｐｌ　ｄｙｉｎｇ　ａｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｅｎｄ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｓｔｏｒｙ　ｂｕｔ　ｉ　ｔｈｉｎｋ　ｔｈａｔ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｖｏｃａｂ（　ｅｓｐｅｃｉａｌｌｙ　ｔｈｅ　ａｄｊｅｃｔｉｖｅｓ　ｄｅｓｃｒｉｂｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｓ　ｅｍｏｔｉｏｎｓ　ａｒｅ　ｑｕｉｔｅ　ｇｏｏｄ）

ｙｏｕｒ　ｏｐｉｎｉｏｎｓ　ｐｌｓ？ :idea: :?

[Jennifer]

Advisepls:

ｄｏ　ｙｏｕ　ｔｈｉｎｋ　ｔｈａｔ　Ｈａｒｒｙ　Ｐｏｔｔｅｒ　ｉｓ　ａ　ｇｏｏｄ　ｓｅｒｉｅｓ

Both my boys started reading Harry Potter when they were in P2. No issue with dealing with deaths. They know these are just made up.