Great books
What book should I read?
Reading offers children access to worlds they may never see; perspectives they may never have encountered; vocabulary that opens new doors in their writing and ideas that spark their imaginations and lust for life.
There are some truly wonderful books for children aged 8-14 but sometimes it is difficult to know what to read and even harder for parents to decide what is a 'good' book.
You can find tips for the best children's books at these websites
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/children/100-best-books/
http://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/
http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/
Here are my suggestions:
Wonder by R J Palacio is just superb. We read it in class and the children loved it. There are also two sequels The Julian Chapter and Auggie & Me.
The Messenger Bird by Ruth Eastham.
The Memory Box by Ruth Eastham.
Holes by Louis Sacher.
Itch by Simon Mayo.
Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis.
My name is Mina by David Almond.
Skelleg by David Almond.
The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell
Trash by Andy Mulligan.
The other side of the Truth by Beverley Naidoo.
Broken Glass by Sally Grindley.
The boy in the striped pyjamas by John Boyne.
Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders.
Fortunately the Milk by Neil Garmin.
A boy and a bear in a boat by Dave Sheldon.
Breaking Starlin's nose by Eugene Yelchin.
Toby Alone by Timothee de Fombelle
The Astounding Brocolli Boy by Frank Cottell-Boyce
Some great book series
Alex Rider
Charlie Bone
Mr Gum
Harry Potter
How to train your dragon
Tom Gates
Spy Girl
Charlie Bone
In 30 seconds (non fiction books about Space, Earth, Inventions, Science and much more)
Brilliant picture books that offer lots of opportunity for discussion as well as quality text
The lost happy endings
Beegu
Cloud tea monkeys
Leon and the place between
The man who walked between the towers
Black dog
Wolves in the wall
How to live forever
Tell me a dragon
Way Home
The Wonder
The Promise
Gorgeous picture books without text that will spark discussion and imagination
Flotsam by David Weisner (he has many other wonderful books)
Journey, Quest (and soon also Return) by Aaron Becker
The Arrival
Imagnes by Normal Messenger
and finally some authors who have written lots of brilliant books
Michael Mopurgo
David Walliams
Roald Dahl
Philip Pullman
Sally Grindley
David Almond
Ruth Eastham