News
Book of the Week
Our Junior Librarians, Kiaan from 2JB and Lily from 2NS share with us their Book of the Week. Firstly, Lily from 2NS recommends the Supertato by Sue Hendra.
Lily’s reason for her choice:
“I choose this book as I really enjoy reading and sharing this story with my brother. I like it when Supertato saves the day!”
Mrs Harvey would also promote Lily’s choice. We hope that Lily’s recommendation will encourage you to borrow one of our Supertato stories and have a chuckle with your grown up as you share the story together! We have all the different stories from the Supertato series in our Grimsdell library. It is a book that really demands to be shared – I can see why Lily and her brother really enjoy this engaging story.
In the fight of good versus evil many superheroes stand out. Batman. Spiderman. And now, straight from the aisles of the supermarket, we have Supertato. He’s a cape wearing, belt toting spud. Variety unknown. The new superhero in town …
If you are not familiar with the Supertato stories, then now is the time! It’s night-time in the supermarket and all is quiet and still. But wait. Something has escaped from the freezer. Something with plans. Evil plans. This little escapee (or escapea?) wants to cause chaos. Its targets: the fresh vegetables.
Never fear, though – Supertato is here! Can he solve these despicable crimes and save the vegetables from a terrible fate? He’ll definitely have to draw on all his superpowers if he’s going to outwit this little green foe.
This is a pacey romp of a book – every page is bursting with action, peril and drama. A hilarious and anarchic story with truly brilliant characters. No child could fail to fall in love with Supertato and his veggie companions. Bright, fun illustrations sit alongside straightforward but clever text that both adults and little ones will enjoy. But be warned: you will be asked to read it again and again. And again …
Our second Book of the Week has been recommended by Kiaan from 2JB. Kiaan is currently enjoying books from the series Zoe’s Rescue Zoo.
Kiaan explains the reason for his choice:
“I love fiction books about wild animals and in this series of books a little girl called Zoe helps her uncle at his rescue zoo.”
Mrs Harvey would also recommend incorporating early chapter books into your child’s reading repertoire. Reading one chapter each evening to your child really helps them to develop the skill of prediction – anticipating what may happen in the next chapter, based on the evidence provided in the preceding chapter. It helps to build intrigue and anticipation within a story.
Early chapter books are simple, short, illustrated fiction. They are written and designed to help newly independent readers build their reading stamina, strengthen their confidence in book selection and develop a sense of themselves as readers.
As a child transitions from a beginning reader who needs to sound out each word to a more advanced reader who is starting to decode faster and follow longer, more complicated stories, early chapter books often tend to become the reading material of choice when a child is around the ages of 7 or 8. These stories can be read independently but they should also be shared, so that your child is encouraged to think about the plot/character and to make predictions about what might occur in the following chapters. This helps to build a sense of anticipation.
Variety is key in establishing a lifelong reader and Picture Books still have a vital role to play in the development of Key Stage 1 readers. Research shows that Picture Books have a direct and positive impact on children’s literacy. Children who are given opportunities to read and respond to Picture Books throughout their primary years learn about sophisticated narrative structure, plot and character development in an accessible way. A focus on reading illustration helps to develop children’s deeper comprehension skills, allowing them additional opportunities to infer, deduce, think critically and empathise. Often, the vocabulary used in Picture Books is more sophisticated and diverse – exposing your child to more complex language.
The simple structure of a Picture Book provides children with a good writing model: beginning – middle – end. They offer a relatable main character (eg Little Red Riding Hood), providing a simple problem and solution. The sentence structure in Picture Books models the grammatical concepts children are expected to use in their own writing. By the end of Key Stage 1, the National Curriculum expectation is that children are able to construct a short narrative and Picture Books provide the best models for this process.
Add early chapter books to your child’s reading repertoire but still leave a place for Picture Books.
Happy Reading
Mrs Harvey
