With September just around the corner my mind is starting to get back into work mode! I thought I would have a little time to reflect on what have been my previous classes (I teach Key stage one so the are aged 5 – 7) top 5 books. These are books that we have read together for pleasure and they haven’t had any directed work to complete from them.
1. The Day The Crayons Quit – Drew Daywalt
Debut author Drew Daywalt and international bestseller Oliver Jeffers team up to create a colourful solution to a crayon-based crisis in this playful, imaginative story that will have children laughing and playing with their crayons in a whole new way.
Poor Duncan just wants to colour in. But when he opens his box of crayons, he only finds letters, all saying the same thing: We quit!
Beige is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown, Blue needs a break from colouring in all that water, while Pink just wants to be used. Green has no complaints, but Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking to each other.
The battle lines have been drawn. What is Duncan to do?
My classes have always loved this book and asked for it to be read to them over and over again! They find it hilarious and they love beige crayon – if you’ve read it I’m sure you’ll know why. A funny book that shows that everyone is equal and individual but together they can be a team, a masterpiece!
2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory is one of fiction’s most tantalising locations and Charlie Bucket’s adventure a mouth-watering roller-coaster of a ride. Along with four other children, Charlie wins a golden ticket to be shown around. While Charlie blossoms on the trip, his four companions reach suitably sticky and disgusting ends as punishment for their revolting behaviour. Mr Willy Wonka dispenses prejudiced and violent justice, which children adore.
It was SO hard to just pick one Roald Dahl and I was really stuck between this one and George’s Marvellous Medicine. The children really enjoy this book and imagining what it would be like inside Willy Wonka’s factory. I remember that during wet play times, they would draw the most elaborate designs of flowers you might have found in the garden and rooms that might have been inside the factory.
3. Stuck – Oliver Jeffers
Floyd gets his kite stuck up a tree. He throws up his shoe to shift it, but that gets stuck too. So he throws up his other shoe and that gets stuck, along with… a ladder, a pot of paint, the kitchen sink, an orang-utan and a whale, amongst other things!
Will Floyd ever get his kite back?
You might have noticed that I love reading books with a little humour in to my classes. I find it keeps them engaged and giggling throughout. A hilarious book with a wonderful surprise ending.
4. The Adventures of Captain Underpants – Dav Pilkey
Cartoon illustrations, a chunky format and pants in the title make this an easy choice for new readers. Superhero Captain Underpants hurtles through adventures, seeing off all kinds of opposition from aliens and the rest. Loads of slapstick humour to enjoy in the pictures, as well as easy-to-read speech bubbles that support the longer story line.
I have had this book requested a few times and I put it off, for reasons I’m not actually sure of. Once we got around to reading this we couldn’t wait between installments. The children loved looking at some of the comic strips inside the book and found it hilarious that I couldn’t flip the pages correctly!
5. Actual Size – Steve Jenkins
Just how big is a crocodile? What about a tiger, or the world’s largest spider? Can you imagine a tongue that is two feet long or an eye that is bigger than your head? Sometimes facts and figures don’t tell the whole story. In this visually stunning book, seeing is believing as Steve Jenkins illustrates animals both large and small at ACTUAL SIZE.
So this book is pretty different to the rest of my top 5. My kiddies have always loved reading both fiction and non-fiction and this is one of their favourites. They love the fact that they can see animals that are to scale and love comparing the different animals. A great one to leave in your reading area for the children to look through in their own time!
Books & Adventures 