“[R]esearch shows us that being literate changes your life. The research also shows us that if you are a literate child who reads for pleasure then this has more impact on your future life chances than any other factor. Encouraging reading for pleasure is a social justice issue.”
Reading for Pleasure, CLPE (2020)
“Reading for pleasure has been found to improve our confidence and self-esteem, providing the grounding we need to pursue our goals and make life decisions. It can also aid our sleep and reduce feelings of loneliness.
To the onlooker, reading can appear to be a solitary and passive activity. But the simple act of picking up a book can do us a world of good.”
BBC Teach
Here at Wandsworth Prep School, we believe that developing children’s love of reading is fundamental to their education, personal and social development, and mental health. With so many demands on children’s time in the contemporary world, children may have less time to identify what they want to read without adult or peer input. We prepared summer reading lists for all classes. These lists of recommended reads provide details of high quality texts with depth and interest in story, character, illustration, vocabulary, structure and subject matter.
It is hoped that by crafting a list from our own reading, as well as recommendations from respected organisations such as Book Trust, children enhance their chances of a satisfying reading experience and develop a love of reading.
The lists include a range of engaging, inclusive fiction and non-fiction, picture and chapter books, as well as graphic novels. A number of the texts are dyslexia-friendly (published by the brilliant Barrington Stoke https://collins.co.uk/collections/barrington-stoke ); for these texts, the first chapters are available to read online.
These lists form part of our carefully planned reading provision, reflecting our wish to nurture a reading community which gives your children rich reading experiences throughout their primary schooling (author visits are another important pillar of this approach).
For each recommended title, there is a hyperlink to a review or summary of the book. This enables parents to consider whether the text is appropriate for their child. No reading list can be comprehensive, but we hope that there is something here for your children to enjoy.
Happy reading.
