Every parent knows their child should be reading books, but are there particular books children trying to get into grammar schools should be reading? Or is it okay to read anything…as long as they are reading something? 

Good question. 

From our experience, it does matter what books children read. It matters quite a lot. 

Children aiming to get into a grammar school need to possess a higher level of vocabulary and comprehension compared to their peers. This is because without this skillset, it is very difficult to pass the 11+ exam. Not only will the 11+ exam test children’ s comprehension of a passage of text, but other sections of the 11+ exam will also involve word problems – including maths. Verbal Reasoning, meanwhile, is heavily dependent on relationships between words. 

Are there some books children should avoid reading?

There are some books which are very obviously not suitable for children aiming to pass the 11+ exam. I must stress, the point of this article is not to deride any specific book or even type of book; for instance, a book may be good at enticing a child into beginning their reading journey, but may not be suitable to help a child pass the 11+ exam.

Consider the excerpt below. The sentences are short and composed of simple words. It uses repetition a lot and there are a lot of onomatopoeias. Realistically, a Year 5 pupil will not need to look up the definition of any words contained in this excerpt. 

This excerpt is taken from one of the books in the Ultimate Football Heroes series. The specific book this excerpt came from is irrelevant because all the books in this series are structured in a similar way. Any book that has been written in a similar fashion is unlikely to be suitable for a child aiming to pass his or her 11+ exam. 

So what type of books should children be reading? 

There isn’t a fixed answer to this question, but as a general rule, if a child is reading a book and they already know the meaning of all the words used in the book, then the book is not sufficiently challenging. All that this type of book will do is reinforce what the child already knows, but will not help the child learn any new vocabulary. Your child should be reaching for the dictionary to look up a word or two every few pages. 

Also, children need to read a variety of genres. For example, if a child is exclusively interested in non-fiction books, they need to be encouraged to read fiction books, too. Apart from developing the child’s reading skills, being exposed to a variety of genres gives children a better chance of passing the 11+ exam. 

There is some good news on this front: the National Education Association has created a list of one hundred books which it recommends as good reading for children. Children aged nine to 12 should consider reading some or all of these. Here are some of the recommendations:

  1. Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
  2. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
  3. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
  4. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
  6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
  7. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  8. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  9. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  10. The Boxcar Children Gertrude by Chandler Warner
  11. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
  12. The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
  13. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
  14. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
  15. The BFG by Roald Dahl
  16. The Giver by Lois Lowry
  17. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
  18. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  19. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
  20. Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
  21. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
  22. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
  23. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by  Barbara Robinson
  24. Matilda by Roald Dahl
  25. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
  26. Ramona Quim, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
  27. The Trumpet of the Swan by  E. B. White
  28. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
  29. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
  30. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
  31. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
  32. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
  33. Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  34. Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
  35. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
  36. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
  37. Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
  38. My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
  39. Stuart Little by E. B. White
  40. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
  41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
  42. The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

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