Reading Suggestions
Here are some suggestions of core of books that create a living library inside a child’s mind. The books are essential reads that help children engage at a deeper level and enter the world of the story.
| Nursery | |
| Where’s Spot? | Eric Hill |
| Dear Zoo | Rod Campbell |
| You Choose | Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt |
| We’re Going on a Bear Hunt | Michael Rosen |
| The Very Hungry Caterpillar | Eric Carle |
| Each Peach Pear Plum | Allan and Janet Ahlberg |
| The Train Ride | June Crebbin |
| Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes | Mem Fox |
| Peace at Last | Jill Murphy |
| What the Ladybird Heard | Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks |
| Reception | |
| Owl Babies | Martin Waddell |
| The Gruffalo | Julia Donaldson |
| Handa’s Surprise | Eileen Browne |
| Farmer Duck | Martin Waddell |
| Goodnight Moon | Margaret Wise Brown |
| Dogger | Shirley Hughes |
| The Snowman | Raymond Briggs |
| Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak |
| I Want My Hat Back | Jon Klassen |
| The Cat in the Hat | Dr Seuss |
| Year 1 | |
| The Tiger Who Came to Tea | Judith Kerr |
| Lost & Found | Oliver Jeffers |
| Beegu | Alexis Deacon |
| Elmer | David McKee |
| Alligator Pie | Dennis Lee |
| Corduroy | Don Freeman |
| Oi Frog | Kes Gray and Jim Field |
| The Lion Inside | Rachel Bright and Jim Field |
| Stellaluna | Janell Cannon |
| The Jolly Postman or Other People’s Letters | Allan and Janet Ahlberg |
| Year 2 | |
| Traction Man is Here | Mini Grey |
| Meerkat Mail | Emily Gravett |
| Amazing Grace | Mary Hoffman |
| The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark | Jill Tomlinson |
| Flat Stanley | Jeff Brown |
| Not Now Bernard | David McKee |
| Gorilla | Anthony Brown |
| Don’t Look in This Book | Samuel Langley-Swain |
| The Legend of Spud Murphy | Eoin Colfer |
| The Day the Crayons Quit | Drew Daywalt |
| Year 3 | |
| The Iron Man | Ted Hughes |
| Journey to the River Sea | Eva Ibbotson |
| The Sheep-Pig | Dick King-Smith |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid | Jeff Kinney |
| The BFG | Roald Dahl |
| Pippi Longstocking | Astrid Lindgren |
| Winnie the Pooh | A.A. Milne |
| Charlotte’s Web | E.B. White |
| The Worst Witch | Jill Murphy |
| Year 4 | |
| Bill’s New Frock | Anne Fine |
| The Firework-Maker’s Daughter | Phillip Pullman |
| The Scarecrow and His Servant | Phillip Pullman |
| Why the Whales Came | Michael Morpurgo |
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | C.S. Lewis |
| Voices in the Park | Anthony Browne |
| Varjak Paw | S.F. Said |
| The Children of Green Knowe | Lucy M. Boston |
| How to Train Your Dragon | Cressida Cowell |
| Desirable | Frank Cottrell Boyce |
| Year 5 | |
| Tom’s Midnight Garden | Phillipa Pearce |
| The Wolves of Willoughby Chase | Joan Aiken |
| Heidi | Johanna Spyri |
| Artemis Fowl | Eoin Colfer |
| The Breadwinner | Deborah Ellis |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone | J.K. Rowling |
| The Borrowers | Mary Norton |
| Emil and the Detectives | Erich Kastner |
| Holes | Louis Sachar |
| The Ghost of Thomas Kempe | Penelope Lively |
| Year 6 | |
| Clockwork | Phillip Pullman |
| The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Skellig | David Almond |
| The Arrival | Shaun Tan |
| A Monster Calls | Patrick Ness |
| Carrie’s War | Nina Bawden |
| Matilda | Roald Dahl |
| Private Peaceful | Michael Morpurgo |
| Wonder | R.J. Palacio |
| Once | Morris Gleitzman |
