Recommended reads
We asked our pupils about their favourite authors. Their top recommendations were Roald Dahl, Jacqueline Wilson, David Walliams and Enid Blyton. You can find out more about them here, and click on the links to visit their websites.
Over 50 years since his first children's stories were published, Roald Dahl remains the master of the modern day fairy tale, his books brimming with fizz-poppingly imaginative language and characters who live in worlds where grown ups are often mean and menacing and children triumph over adversity to get their happy ending, having some amazing adventures on the way.
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A parent says, "Many of you will be familiar with classics such as the BFG and James and the Giant Peach, but why not try reading Dahl's autobiographies, Boy, and Going Solo, with your child? He had such an eventful life - did you know he nearly lost his nose when his sister crashed their first car - and you can get an insight into the influences for his stories, from his terrifying teachers to his favourite sweetshop." |
Jacqueline Wilson has written many books for both younger and older children, many covering challenging themes such as adoption, divorce and mental illness in an accessible way.
The famous comedian and long distance swimmer is also an acclaimed children's writer.
| A pupil says, "I really enjoyed Gangsta Granny. The main character is a boy called Ben who spends every Friday night with his Nan while his parents go ballroom dancing. All she seems to do is play Scrabble and eat cabbage soup. Ben thinks she's boring, so she makes up a story that she's really a jewel thief, and together they they plan one last job - to steal the crown jewels from the Tower of London. Ben loves plumbing, so he finds an old sewage tunnel to get them in, but the Queen herself ends up stopping them from stealing the crown and they go home. Nan tells Ben she's not really a jewel thief - she made it up so he would think she was more exciting. It's a good adventure story and I liked the characters and how they related to each other." |
Enid Blyton was a prolific writer, with many popular series to her name, including the Famous Five, Secret Seven, Malory Towers and the Faraway Tree. Writing at a time when children had more freedom to have adventures, her stories evoke a golden age of fun, friendship and lashings of ginger beer!
