At The Story Room we believe that children should be encouraged and praised for reading books of their choice. However, when your child is preparing for their 11-Plus entrance examinations they need to prepare for the sort of language they will face in the comprehension papers. Reading a variety of books will help them with this challenge.
Reading old and modern children’s classics will help your child develop their comprehension skills and expand their vocabulary, which is essential for the Verbal Reasoning tests. Reading good writing will also help improve your child’s writing style as they will be able identify the use of literary devices e.g. similes and personification etc. in sentences and be able to use these techniques in their own writing. Reading helps improve grammar and spelling too!
The following is intended to be a guide to books suitable for children in years 4, 5 and 6. It covers a range of genres. Some of the texts will be more difficult to read than others, so care should be taken when choosing a book that your child might enjoy. Reading should not be regarded as homework or a chore, but seen as something pleasurable. If your child is not enjoying the book they are reading then reading extracts from the book and discussing the story with your child is a valuable exercise too.
The books that are more challenging and should be read in year 5/6 are marked with an asterix. These are difficult texts and should be read with an adult.
For more 11-plus advice and help – please click here.
Happy Reading!
Robert Louis Stevenson
Kidnapped *
Treasure Island *
H.G. Wells
The War of the Worlds *
Dodie Smith
The Hundred and One Dalmations
E. Nesbit
Five Children and It
The Railway Children
Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Garden
The Little Princess
C.S. Lewis
The Magician’s Nephew
The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe
Phillippa Pearce
Tom’s Midnight Garden
Michelle Magorian
Goodnight, Mister Tom *
Eva Ibbotson
Journey to the River Sea
Michael Morpurgo
Kensuke’s Kingdom
The Butterfly Lion
Private Peaceful *
Lucy Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables
Louise Sachar
Holes *
J.R.R Tolkien
The Hobbit *
David Almond
Skellig
Mary Poppins
P.L. Travers
Philip Pullman
The Firework-Maker’s Daughter
Northern Lights *
Clive King
Stig of the Dump
Ian Serraillier
The Silver Sword *
Richard Adams
Watership Down
T.H. White
The Sword in the Stone
J.M. Barrie
Peter Pan
Kenneth Graham
The Wind in The Willows
Michelle Paver
Wolf Brother (the whole series)
Louisa May Alcott
Little Women *
Erin Hunter
Warrior Cats *
Jack London
White Fang *
Call of the Wild *
Berlie Doherty
Street Child
Lynne Reid Banks
The Indian in the Cupboard
Penelope Lively
A Stitch in Time
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
Roger McGough (Edited by)
The Ring of Words (An Anthology of Poetry for Children)
Joan Aitkin
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase *
Rudyard Kipling
The Jungle Book *
Lewis Carroll
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland *
Paul Gallico
Jennie
Anna Sewell
Black Beauty
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