Suggested Reading Books For Children Preparing For 11+ Exams
Suggested Reading Books For Children Preparing For 11+ Exams
Suggested Reading Books For Children Preparing For 11+ Exams
Reading helps children to identify and understand the use of similes, metaphors, adjectives, adverbs etc. within
sentences; it also helps them to see how sentences can be constructed in different ways and apply the rules of
English grammar and spellings.
It is important to try and expose your child to the many different types of literature, such as poems, short stories,
letters, non-fiction, magazines and newspaper articles.
Reading should be fun, so try not to make it yet another piece of homework that your child has to do. Help them to
choose books to read from a local library or perhaps on a Kindle/e-Reader and perhaps consider rewarding them for
after they have read a few books to encourage them to read more. Try and make reading part of normal life by
including it in your child’s daily routine e.g. reading before going to bed. Listening to your child read and discussing
the content with them will also encourage them to read more as you are showing that you consider reading an
important skill.
The following suggestions are a mix of classics and more contemporary books and are in no particular order.
I have noted against a few books where I think they may be considered more appropriate for boys or girls.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost World, Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles
Arthur Ransome - Swallows and Amazons and other books in this series
C.S Lewis – All of the Narnia Series starting with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House on the Prairie, Little House in the Big Woods (good for girl readers)
Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Secret Garden, A Little Princess
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
J.R.R Tolkein - The Lord of the Ring (3 books: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King)
The Hobbit
Mark Twain - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
George Orwell – Animal Farm
Arthur Ransome – Swallows and Amazons series
Malorie Blackman – Noughts and Crosses Trilogy, Tell Me No Lies, Thief, Pig Heart Boy
Susan Coolidge – What Katy Did series (good for girl readers)
Roald Dahl books – e.g. The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Giant Peach
(There are plenty more good books also written by Roald Dahl)
Anne Holm – I Am David
Daniel Defoe – Robinson Crusoe
Laura Ingalls Wilder – Little House on the Prairie series (good for girl readers)
E. Nesbit – The Railway Children, The Phoenix and the Carpet, Five Children and It, The Wouldbegoods, The Treasure
Seekers
Michael Morpurgo books – e.g. The Butterfly Lion, War Horse, From Hereabout Hill, Why the Whales Came (there are
plenty more good books he has also written)
Louis Sachar – Holes
Joan Aiken – Wolves of Willoughby Chase series
Nina Bawden – Carrie’s War
Brian Jacques – Redwall series (Good for reluctant boy readers)
Carolyn Keene – Nancy Drew mysteries
Charles Kingsley – The Water Babies
Clive King – Stig of the Dump