Books every child should read!
Reading is a crucial skill which everyone needs to further themselves and succeed in their lives. To support our reading curriculum we have booklists allocated for each class. These are quality texts that we believe every child should have heard, read or had access to.
We strongly advocate reading for pleasure as an approach to engaging children with literature. They will therefore have some of these books available in class, some will be birthday books given to each child and some will support work across the curriculum.
Teachers will also select a class novel to read to their class at least three times a week.
All books on this list have been chosen from the Pie Corbett (PC) reading spines or the Reading Reconsidered (RR) reading spine.
In addition, we have included texts selected by each Teacher for their own class. (TS) There is also a developing list of books which will support an understanding of Diversity and Inclusion.
Nursery
PC | Hug – Jez Alborough |
PC | We’re Going on a Bear Hunt? Michael Rosen |
PC | Come on Daisy! – Jane Simmons |
PC | Each Pear, Each Plum – Allan and Janet Ahlberg |
PC | Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle |
PC | Jasper’s Beanstalk – Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen |
PC | Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you See? Eric Carle |
PC | The Foggy, Foggy Forest – Nick Sharratt |
PC | Hairy Maclary – Lynley Dodd |
PC | The Train Ride – June Crebbin |
PC | Poetry Spine – The Oxford Treasury of Nursery Rhymes |
TS | Hooray for Fish – Lucy Cousins The Odd Egg – Emily Gravett Snail Trail – Ruth Brown Starting School – Janet Ahlberg
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Reception
PC | Owl Babies – Martin Wadell |
PC | The Gruffalo – Julia Donaldson |
PC | Rosie’s Walk – Pat Hutchins |
PC | Whatever Next – Jill Murphy |
PC | Six Dinner Sid – Inga Moore |
PC | Mrs Armitage on Wheels – Quentin Blake |
PC | Farmer Duck – Martin Wadell |
PC | Handa’s Surprise – Eileen Browne |
PC | On the Way Home – Jill Murphy |
PC | Mr Gumpy’s Outing – John Burningham |
PC | Poetry Spine – A Treasury of Songs |
TS | Peepo – Janet and Allan Ahlberg The Jolly Postman – Janet Ahlberg Kipper’s Birthday – Mick Inkpen Super Duck – Jez Alborough Mr Wolf’s Pancakes – Jan Fearnley |
| Diverse and Inclusive texts: Handa’s Noisy Night So Much |
Year 1
PC | Lost and Found – Oliver Jeffers |
PC | Beegu – Alexis Deacon |
RR | Voices in the Park – Anthony Browne |
RR | Grandpa – John Burningham |
PC | Dogger – Shirley Hughes |
PC | Elmer – David McKee |
PC RR | Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak |
RR | Not now Bernard – David McKee |
PC | Peace at Last – Jill Murphy |
RR | The Day the Crayons Quit – Oliver Jeffers |
PC | Poetry Spine The Puffin Book of Fantastic First Poems Here’s a Little Poem |
TS | Burglar Bill – Janet and Allan Ahlberg Cops and Robbers – Ahlberg Avocado Baby – John Burningham Gorilla – Anthony Browne The Elephant and the Bad Baby – Vipont The Rescue of Bunny Wunny – Clark |
| Diverse and Inclusive I am Bear The Mega Magic Hair Swap |
Year 2
PC RR | Fantastic Mr Fox – Roald Dahl |
PC | Tuesday – David Weisner |
PC | The Flower – John Light |
PC | Pumpkin Soup – Helen Cooper |
PC | Amazing Grace – Mary Hoffman |
RR | The Red Tree – Shaun Tan |
RR | The Enchanted Wood – Enid Blyton |
RR | The Heart and the Bottle – Oliver Jeffers |
RR | The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig – Eugene Trivizas |
PC | Gorilla – Anthony Browne |
PC | Poetry Spine – Heard it in the Playground The Works Key Stage 1 |
TS | Masai and I – Virginia Kroll Stubby – Michael Foreman Bean Thirteen – McElligott The Mousehole Cat – Barber |
| Diverse and Inclusive Betsey Biggalow the Detective Julian is a Mermaid Hip and Hop You Can Do Anything Billy and the Beast Look Up! |
Year 3
PC RR | The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis |
PC | Hansel and Gretel – Anthony Browne |
PC | The Queen’s Nose – Dick King-Smith |
RR | Butterfly Lion – Michael Morpurgo |
PC | Ice Palace – Robert Swindells |
PC | The Tale of Desperaux – Kate DiCamillo |
PC | Poetry Spine – The Puffin Book of Utterly Brilliant Poetry Paint me a Poem |
RR | The Witches – Roald Dahl |
PC | The Abominables – Eva Ibbotson |
RR | The Fishermen and his Wife – Brothers Grimm |
PC RR | The Iron Man – Ted Hughes |
| Diverse and Inclusive Planet Omar Accidental Trouble Planet Omar Unexpected Super Spy Weirdo and Weirdo 2 Sam Wu is not afraid of spiders Anna Hibiscus The Proudest Blue
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Year 4
PC RR | The Firework Makers Daughter – Phillip Pullman |
PC | The Snow Walkers Son – Catherine Fisher |
PC | Perry Angel’s Suitcase – Glenda Millard |
PC | Why the Whales Came – Michael Morpurgo |
RR | Five Children and It – Edith Nesbit (on order) |
PC | The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo |
PC | Poetry Spine – Deep in the Green Wood Revolting Rhymes |
PC | Journey to the River Sea – Eva Ibbotson |
RR | The Legend of Podkin One Ear – Keiran Larwood |
RR | Cloud Busting – Malorie Blackman |
RR | Fortunately, the Milk – Neil Gaiman |
| Diverse and Inclusive Anisha Accidental Detective Cookie and the Most Annoying Boy in the World The Undefeated Counting on Katherine
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Year 5
PC | FArTHER – Grahame Baker-Smith |
PC | Tom’s Midnight Garden – Philippa Pearce |
PC RR | The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Joan Aiken |
RR | The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling |
RR | The Lost Thing – Shaun Tan |
PC | Varjak Paw – S F Said |
PC | Poetry Spine – Lost Magic The Works 4 |
PC | Wolf Brother – Michelle Paver |
PC | There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom – Louis Sachar |
RR | A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens |
RR | Time Travelling with a Hamster – Ross Welford |
| Diverse and Inclusive Night Bus Hero The Undefeatables The Boy in the Tower Thief Lalani of the Distant Sea The Girl Who Stole an Elephant Coming to England Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties The Young Magicians and the Thieves Almanac The Parker Inheritance Diver’s Daughter Now or Never
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Year 6
PC RR | The Arrival – Shaun Tan |
RR | The Raven – Edgar Allan Poe |
RR | Just So Stories – Rudyard Kipling |
RR | Holes – Louis Sachar |
RR | The 1000-Year-Old Boy – Ross Wellford |
PC RR | The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien |
RR | A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
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PC | Poetry Spine - 101 Poems for Children The Works Key Stage 2 (on order) |
PC | Letters from the Lighthouse – Emma Carroll |
RR PC | The Girl of Ink and Stars – Kiran Millwood Hargrave |
PC | Phoenix – S F Said |
| Diverse and Inclusive Blackberry Blue Asha and the Spirit Bird The Girl of Ink and Stars Noor-Un-Nissa Inayat Khan The Girl Who Stole an Elephant A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E Star Switch The Boy at the Back of the Class Aru Shah and the Song of Death 1783 Freedom
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One of the great joys of reading, is there are always new books being written or authors to discover who we may not have read before. For this reason our book spine is under constant review and as staff find new books that they feel our children should read and enjoy, these lists will grow, change and develop.
These lists can also be a fantastic gift list for birthdays and Christmas!
