Recommended English Books

[mom74]

Hi TAS,


Thanks for your recommendation.

Have not tried books like Aquila/Ctrl - Z by Andrew Norriss. My boy likes books with pictures and he will not read books fr Andrew Norriss as the series has full pages of words only.

[akbh]

Hi


Do you have a list or can you recommend some books that are suitable for P5 and P3.

Thanks & regards
Adeline

[BigDad]

Hi TAS,


Could I request a list of books for P6 also so I can choose at home and then
purchase from you when I next come to TAS?

[plum-cake]

The Alternative Story:

Hi parents,


Both TAS and non-TAS parents can purchase these books
from our AMK and Bukit Timah branch.
TAS

Thank you TAS! I will visit your AMK branch this weekend.

[deardear07]

The Alternative Story:

Hi parents,


We are having a book sale offer from now till end June 2011.

Anyone who buys $150 worth of books in one receipt will get
a chance to attend a FREE creative writing workshop for children
held in June. In this 2 hour workshop, the children will be
taught how to apply creative writing techniques to create
tension in a story and to learn how to use metaphorical
language in any context. More details of this workshop will
be out within the next few days. However the number of
spaces of the workshop is limited and hence it is on a first
come first serve basis. Once there are no more seats
left, we will inform you about it.

Both TAS and non-TAS parents can purchase these books
from our AMK and Bukit Timah branch. If you would like to
purchase the books from the East, please call us
to inform us first (at least 3 days in advance so we
can prepare the books and the phrases)

TAS parents who buy the books will get them at the booksale
prices (at least 5-10% off).

TAS

Can I have the whole list of ur books in offer? Facebook not complete list right?

[sparkie0209]

hi there,


would appreciate if you could provide the booklist… thanks.

[The Alternative Story]

Hi parents,


We have a list of books that we sell here. They come with
book descriptions. We will follow up soon with a complete
booklist with the prices given.

You can purchase these books from our centres. Do call us
before you want to come down. Thank you.

This list is for P1-4 students


Book descriptions


(Primary 1-4) : Books by series
Magic Treehouse series

In this series, 2 children will travel to different parts of the
world.
Most of the time they will travel back to the past, at times,
they do travel to the future. They travel usually to solve
certain mysteries. They will go to a magic treehouse and
that is their portal to travel to other periods of times. The
vocabulary used in this book is descriptive and can help
children to use more descriptive imagery to describe scenes.

A-Z Mysteries

It is called the A-Z mysteries as the titles are arranged in
alphabetical order. Eg: The Absent Author, The Canary
Caper, The Quicksand Question. You do not need to follow
the books in alphabetical order.

Each book deals with a mystery in which the 3 main
protagonists would be involved in solving. The storylines are
gripping and the vocabulary used is good as well.

The Magic School Bus

This series combines science with fiction. In each book,
Ms Frizzle, an elementary school teacher and her class will
board the Magic School Bus and go to places like the Moon,
the Solar System or even shrink to fit into a person’s body.
Along the way, science facts are weaved into the story. It is an
interesting way to learn about Science.

Andrew Lost series

This series also combines science facts with fiction.
The difference between this series and The Magic School Bus
series is that Andrew and his friends often get lost when they
go down to a microscopic size to discover exciting adventures
along the way. Sometimes they get hitched on the back of a fly
and get lost in their own garden where they discover flowers
and what makes them work, at others, they go
into the blood stream of Andrew’s uncle and learn about
the circulatory system.

Oliver Moon series

Many children are intrigued with magic and the unknown and the
Oliver Moon series is a good series for children to read as it
presents wizardry in a very non-threatening manner. The main
character, Oliver, gets into different adventures involving magic,
for example, in one story, he has to put up with unpleasant cousins
who threaten to ruin his Christmas holidays. Can he use a magic
cracker to change everything?


Secret Agent Jack Stalwart series

There are many mystery book series for younger kids but not
many involving secret agents or spies. However, in this book,
the mystery is presented in an interesting manner.
Jack Stalwart, a secret agent of the Global Protection Force
needs to go around the world solving mysteries. He has cool
spy gadgets, something like a young James Bond would have.
Secretly, he has another mission- to find his missing older brother
who has disappeared mysteriously some time back.

Usbourne Puzzle Adventure series

There is a wide range of Puzzle Adventure books that we carry,
they are especially good for reluctant older readers and for
young readers who might not be captivated by words yet.
In these books, every page presents a puzzle that can be solved
on the following page. The words used to describe the scenario are
also rather good and you can show your child how to use these
phrases to describe certain suspenseful scenes in their compositions.

Magic Ballerina series

In this series, the main character puts on a pair of magic ballet
shoes and when she spins around, she is whisked into the fairy
tale land. In one story, she needs to help a princess find her prince,
in another she needs to protect the royal baby from being cursed by
an evil witch. In every story, the main character is transported to
an enchanted world to help solve a mystery.

The storyline is interesting and girls would love the fairy tale theme.

(Primary 1-4: Books by themes):

Thought-provoking books, books to teach values

1)\tThe Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

It is a beautiful story of how a tree gives its all to a boy who takes
it for granted. Sad but thought-provoking story that can be used to
teach children on the value of being grateful.

Learning Books

1)\tBarron’s First Thesaurus

This is a great book to teach your child synonyms. Very often,
children overuse common words like ‘run’, ‘go’ etc. In this book,
they get exposed to synonyms of these common words and it will
help them to expand their vocabulary and to also build up adequate vocabulary to write their first composition.

2)\tMath Gear

These ‘toys’ help to make the learning of maths fun.

3)\tGreat Big Air Book

This is a very good book to introduce your child to the world of
Science. There are many examples given to show how things work
and move because of science concepts related to air. This book
shows children how to apply science concepts to daily life.

4)\tPhonics 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

Exciting books

1)\tFlat Stanley

Flat Stanley becomes flat one day when a bulletin board falls on him.
He then finds his life totally changed as he can slide into locked
rooms from underneath the door, he can even help catch thieves
by posing as a painting in the museum. This book is interesting and imaginative.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Hi parents,


This is a list for books for P3-6 students:
(This is not the complete list of books that we
have but it is a list of book descriptions so that
you can know more about the book)

(We will follow up with a complete booklist soon)

Book Descriptions:


(Primary 3-6): by series

39 Clues

2 children are left with a strange will at the death of their relative.
They have to travel around the world to collect 39 clues to help
them solve a mysterious puzzle that will give them great power,
they also need to make sure their scheming relatives do not get
the clues first. Each book comes with cards that act as clues,
children can go to the website online to find out what they can
do with the cards.

Charlie Bone series

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 had 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.

Spiderwick Chronicles

This series is also very interesting. 3 siblings move with their mother
to an old rambling house in the middle of nowhere, later on one
of the siblings who is part of a twin, discovers a book which
explains that they live in a place that has all sorts of strange
creatures around. They then discover a glass that allows them
to see these creatures. One of the creature wants to get the book
as it will give him knowledge of all the other creatures' weaknesses
and strengths. Their adventure then begins as they try to stop it
from getting the book.

Percy Jackson series (We only have the first book currently)

For those of you who love 39 clues, this series of Percy Jackson is
written by the same author as the first installment of 39 clues.
This series is very easy to read and interesting. Even adults will
find it interesting. It weaves in Greek mythology into the plot and
it is done very cleverly.

Rick Riordan started this series as a bedtime story for his own kids
and they loved it so much, he made it into a series.

The first book has now been made into a movie and it was showing
in the cinemas.

Conspiracy 365

A series of books about a boy who has lost his father and now
his father's murderers are after him and he has to be on the run
but at the same time solve his father's murder.

Jimmy Coates series

The main character is a assassin that has been programmed to carry
out the government's orders since birth. However, he rebels against
his destiny and has to fight this dictatorial government to get his life
and family back. Very riveting.

(Primary 3-6: Books by themes)

Books that weave in historical facts into fiction (it
helps your child to expand his general knowledge as well)

1)The Boy with the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

This story is written from the point of Bruno, a 8 year old boy
whose father is a high-ranking German official. They live in a huge
house in Berlin. However later the whole family moves away to a
place called Out-With (which turns out to be Nazi concentration
camp Auschwitz).

Later on, he explores the woods and comes upon the fence enclosing
the concentration camp and he meets a Jewish boy his age (Shmuel)
on the other side of the fence. They become friends and later on
Bruno helps Shmuel to try to find his father.
(His father had been gassed to death). He puts on a pair of
striped pajamas that Shmuel lends him, digs a hole under the fence
and goes over to the concentration camp.
Find out what happens to him in the end in the book. The story is
a gripping and haunting one. The book has also been made into a
movie (title is the same as the book title)

Interesting Plots with settings that are impossible in real-life
(eg: time travel)

1) Gone by Michael Grant

It is about a town that experiences a very strange phenomena.
One day, in class while the main character (Sam) was having his
lessons, the teacher disappeared. Of course, everyone was rejoicing
at first. However, panic struck, the children when they realised that
every teacher was gone and that their parents could not be contacted. Later on, they found out that everyone above the age of 14 was
gone. Later on, 2 main leaders emerge to help the rest make sense
of their world that had gone horribly wrong. This book is very gripping
and interesting especially for upper primary kids.

2) Hunger by Michael Grant

This is the second book in the Gone series, however, you do not have
to read Gone to understand Hunger. Now the children have no food
and they need to think of ways to save themselves in a world that
has been depleted of adults.

3) Reckless by Cornelia Funke

This book is by the same author of the Inkheart trilogy (the first book
has been made into the movie-Inkheart). The author uses a lot of personification and metaphors in her stories and your child will be
able to pick up the use of such descriptive language.

This story is from the fantasy genre. Jacob Reckless has always
wondered why his father left his family suddenly and one day while exploring his father's study, he discovers a mirror and when he
touches it, he is sucked into it into another world where mystical
beings exist. He continues going into it for the next 12 years and
discovers that his father is stuck somewhere inside this world.
Then one day, his younger brother follows him in and gets turned
into stone. Jacob must now find a way by using the magic of the land
to turn his brother back. However, later on, he discovers that he has
to pay a heavy price for that.

4) The Magnificent 12 by Michael Grant

This book is by the same author as Gone. In this book, 12 year old
Mack is a kid that gets bullied most of the time. Once when he was
being bullied, an apparition appeared and helped him to fight the
bully. The apparition then disappears. Later on, Mack discovers that
this apparition is a real person who lived 3000 years ago. He has
come from the past to tell Mack that he and 11 other kids are part of
an elite team that must fight something coming into their world that
is more sinister than anything they have ever encountered.

Mack must now travel round the world and search for these 11 kids
to make sure this disaster does not come upon their world.

5) Aquila by Andrew Norriss

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 that
come about because of their travels on Aquila.

6) Crtrl – Z by Andre Norriss

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,
the books come with a message.

7) The Candle Man by Glenn Darkin

Theo has a mysterious “illness” and his guardians force him never
to go outdoors. As he grows older, he begins to wonder why he has
to wear gloves all the time and go for daily medical treatments. He
feels fine, he does not feel sick. At the same time, he begins to
wonder why he has only known 3 people in his whole life. The
answers to all these mysteries begins when Theo discovers a
suspicious package on his birthday and finds one person from
the past that will unlock the secret behind Theo’s “illness” and
change his life forever. A very intriguing storyline!

8 ) Nightmare Academy

Monsters often haunt the dreams of children. However in this book,
the children find a way to fight back and they need to go into the
world of these monsters and find way to defeat them. Interesting
read!

9) The Secret of Platform 13

In this story, Platform 13 is a place in a train station where you
can enter into the fairy world. Years ago, a prince from the fairy
world got lost in the read world and now, the guards have come
into the real world to try to get him back.

10) Nearly Departed

This is a very interesting story. In this town, mysterious things
are happening and a group of 5 children are brought together to
work on a project. The first night they work together, they
discover that one of them has been living on her own for weeks.
Her mother disappeared weeks ago and she has been living alone
trying to wait for her mother to come back. Another 2 of the children
began to ‘hear’ a voice telling them to protect ‘her’.
What is going on? It is thrilling and will keep you on the edge of
your seat.

11) The Graveyard Book

This book is by Award winner Neil Gaiman. It talks about a little boy
who loses his family in one night as an assassin has been sent to kill
his family. This little boy crawls out into the night into a graveyard and there a group of ghosts take him under their wing and bring him up.
Later as he grows older, he wants to find out what really happened to
his parents. He goes back into the real world but the ghosts can
always be counted on to protect him. Highly recommended book.

12)\tThe Set-Up

A group of children discover that they have special powers and
these powers only kick in when they turn a certain age. As their
powers kick in, they need to be trained so that they can be sent to
carry out important missions. Who are these children and what can
they do? This book keeps you hooked from beginning to the end.

13)\tDiana Wynne Jones: Howl’s Moving Castle

This is an award winning book that revolves around a girl who can
‘talk’ objects into life. This book follows the adventures that happen
to her.

Adventure books

1) Survival by Chris Ryan

This book is about 5 children who are on board a sailing ship
however, they get marooned on an island and have to battle
komodo dragons and other dangers to stay alive. It is both
gripping and also full of great vocabulary.

2) Agent 21 by Chris Ryan

The storyline is very interesting. Zak becomes an orphan one day
when his parents die while holidaying overseas. He is shipped to
stay with his aunty and uncle who do not want him.

Then he meets a man who tells him that he fits the profile of a
secret agent and if he signs up with them, he would have to say
goodbye to his current life and live a life full of danger and intrigue
but he would be able to find out what really happened to his parents.
Zak takes up the challenge and in his first assignment, he is sent to
kidnap a very influential man right in the heart of the city where his parents were killed. How is everything linked together?

3)\tBunker 10 by J A Henderson

This is a gripping fast-paced book. It is something like the movie
'Matrix', not in the plot but in the way it develops.

A group of children live on a military base, they have been chosen
to live there because they are all very intelligent and thus are being
groomed to become top leaders. One of them discovers time-travel
but just before he can begin to have 'fun', a scientific experiment
goes very wrong and might possibly kill everyone on the base, it is
up to these children to try to figure out how to prevent this. This is
not your usual kids book with a nice happy ending, the ending is
realistic and not everyone ends up alive and happy but it is a
hard-to-put-down book and children who like the fast-pace of
computer games will like this book.

Books that make you think about real-life issues/reflect
at a deeper level

1) The Giver by Lois Lowry

This is one of the books that is recommended for reading for the
GEP students. It is chosen for its indepth analysis of the human
character. Jonas lives in a world where there is no war, no
problems, no pain. Everything seems perfect until he is chosen to
take on the role of Receiver of Memory and then he begins to
discover that underneath the veneer of perfection in his world lie
many dark secrets that he must get hold of to unravel the truth
about his world.

He realizes after he gets some of the memories that the people
who now live in his world are used to a world without colours,
without pain, without real love and joy. When he begins to get the memories of the past, he realizes that the people of the past had
colour, life, sorrow but joy as well in their lives. He begins to
question his way of life and wonders if he can ever get out of it.
Thought-provoking book.

Learning Books

1)\tForensic Science

This book presents real-life cases of murder - one example would be
man who was away on a business trip when police find his wife and
3 children murdered at home. Find out how the police use science to
link the murder to the man. The science concept is linked to digestion.
Hence, your child can read the cases and at the same time learn
about the concepts used to solve the murders.

2)\tScience Experiments

There are close to 100 experiments in this book and each
experiment comes with also the explanation of the science
concepts behind.
One example of an experiment is 'how to make your own
yoghurt', 'dancing raisins' and 'diver in a bottle'. All these
experiments are fun to do and you can show your child how the
science concepts he or she learns in school can be used to apply to
them.

3)\tParting is such sweet sorrow

Learn Math in an interesting way as the author presents cases for
you to solve and through this you can get to practise some math
concepts as well.

TAS

[ccgoh]

Hi TAS,


Do you have the books that you listed available at your centres currently?

[deardear07]

Im keen in magic ballerina,treehse…


Do u carry or recommend full sets n do they come with phrases?