Resources
Covid-19 Toolkit to Stay Connected
We know many of our partners have had to close their buildings and are working remotely. We want to share our resources and ideas that will help us all stay connected.
We're Going on a Bear Hunt - celebrating 30 years
We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one. Will you come too? We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, the classic chant-aloud by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury, started a publishing phenomenon 30 years ago with readers swishy-swashying and splash-sploshing through this award-winning picture book favourite. Now with special 30th anniversary paperback and board book editions, this modern picture book classic can be enjoyed by a whole new generation of readers. Walker Books have...
All the World's a Stage Chatterbooks pack
The 27 March is World Theatre Day and to celebrate we have created a Chatterbooks pack with six of our favourite children’s books which have provided inspiration for theatre productions. You can find out more about some of our picks on the Summer Reading Challenge news page.
Awesomely Austen - Book Club Pack
Meet your new favourite heroines – they’re bold, brilliant and totally awesome! Fresh, funny and accessible retellings of Jane Austen’s classic stories, with witty black and white illustrations throughout. The perfect way to discover Austen for the first time, this bright and bold collection features some of the most inspiring and famous heroines in English literature. For readers aged eight and up. Awesomely Austen: Pride & Prejudice written by Katherine Woodfine and illustrated by...
There’s a Rang-tan in My Bedroom - supporting resources and activity sheets
Teach children about the plight of the orangutan and the dangers of deforestation in, There’s a Rang-tan in My Bedroom, the timely and beautiful picture book by James Sellick and Frann Preston-Gannon. Hachette Children’s Group have got lots of excellent resources that will help you plan KS1 and KS2 lessons and assemblies, which you can download from hachetteschools.co.uk/rangtan. About the book: When a little girl discovers a mischievous orangutan on the loose in her bedroom, she can’t...
Freddie's Amazing Bakery - recipes and activities
Freddie Bonbon is sweet by name and sweet by nature. He’s also THE BEST baker in Belville and always around to lend a hand too. Stories that are full of fun with gorgeous illustrations throughout, Freddie is a likeable and positive character who promotes the idea that you don’t need superpowers or magic to succeed – you just need to try hard and do your best.
The Infinite - Teacher Resource Pack
About the Book Leaplings, children born on the 29th of February, are very rare. Rarer still are Leaplings with The Gift – the ability to leap through time. Elle Bíbi-Imbelé Ifíè has The Gift, but she’s never used it. Until now. On her twelfth birthday, Elle and her best friend Big Ben travel to the Time Squad Centre in 2048. Elle has received a mysterious warning from the future. Other Leaplings are disappearing in time – and not everyone at the centre can be trusted. Soon Elle’s adventure...
Lenny Makes a Wish - Reading Notes
When Lenny the rabbit spots a lonely fish in a pond, they soon become friends. But will their friendship survive, when Lenny lives on land and his friend lives in water? A heart-warming story about the enduring power of friendship.
Attack of the Smart Speakers - Reading Notes
There’s a new craze in town for smart speakers and everyone has got one. At first they seem super helpful, but Tyler and her friends soon start to get suspicious. It’s like these virtual assistants are really the ones in control-but no-one else seems to notice. It’s not long before the assistants become mobile, attaching limbs so that they can crawl around like weird spider robots. Spiders are bad enough, but robot spiders trying to enslave humanity? That’s a problem...
Football Superstars - A3 posters
Football Superstars is a series aimed at building a love of reading from a young age, with fun cartoons, inspirational stories, a simple narrative style and a cast of characters chipping in with quotes, jokes and comments. Football Superstars: Ronaldo Rules, Messi Rules, Kane Rules, Mbappé Rules. Ronaldo Rules: Discover how he went from kicking bottles in the streets of Madeira to becoming a football superstar at Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus. Messi Rules: Discover how he went...
Football Superstars - Teachers' Notes
Football Superstars is a series aimed at building a love of reading from a young age, with fun cartoons, inspirational stories, a simple narrative style and a cast of characters chipping in with quotes, jokes and comments. Football Superstars: Ronaldo Rules, Messi Rules, Kane Rules, Mbappé Rules. A brand new visual series of first biographies for ages 5-7 featuring male and female football stars. Perfect to engage emerging readers, especially reluctant readers. Quotable stats and expert tips...
Football Superstars - Activity Sheets
The Football Superstars series – a brand new visual series of first biographies. Football Superstars is a series aimed at building a love of reading from a young age, with fun cartoons, inspirational stories, a simple narrative style and a cast of characters chipping in with quotes, jokes and comments. Football Superstars: Ronaldo Rules, Messi Rules, Kane Rules, Mbappé Rules. Download the activity sheets to enjoy a host of activities based around these books. The pack including a...
Would You Like a Banana? - Activity Sheet
Award-winning illustrator Yasmeen Ismail’s delightfully funny picture book featuring a very stubborn gorilla will have the whole family laughing! Gorilla is hungry but there is absolutely no way he’s going to eat a banana. Not even a teeny taste. Not with some bread or standing on his head. Even if you eat one too, which is something you might do. This brilliant and hilarious picture book from award-winning illustrator Yasmeen Ismail will have everyone laughing at this all-too familiar...
The Threads of Magic - Teachers' Notes
An atmospheric and riveting fantasy adventure, perfect for fans of Frances Hardinge and Cornelia Funke. Pip lives on his wits in the city of Clarel. When he pickpockets the wrong man, he finds himself in possession of a strange object – a heart in a silver casket. What’s more, the heart seems to be trying to communicate with Pip, and the royal officials who lost it will stop at nothing to get it back. Pip has unwittingly broken an ancient spell, and his theft will have far-reaching...
Not an Alphabet Book: The Case of the Missing Cake - Activity Sheets
A graphic, bright, imaginative alphabet book, with a smart and laugh-out-loud whodunit twist. This was meant to be a simple alphabet book but something has happened. Something horrible. The most terrible crime! The world’s most completely delicious, tongue-jinglingly, chocolaty cake has been … STOLEN! As Bear travels from A to Z, visiting all sorts of characters, objects and extraordinary places along the way, can YOU help him search for the culprit? But, wait! Are those crumbs on Bear’s...
Alex Rider 20th Anniversary - Activity Sheets
CELEBRATE THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING SERIES! Encourage pupils to become READING SPIES and to take their writing to the next level with the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz – suitable for children ages 9+. The pack is aimed at developing descriptive and creative writing at KS2/3, including exploring different genres, writing strong lead characters, devising mission files, developing settings, and creating pacey stories.
Bunnies on the Bus by Philip Ardagh and Ben Mantle - Activity Pack
Watch out! Move out of the way! Hold onto your tails! There are … BUNNIES ON THE BUS! And they aren’t stopping for ANYONE! The bunnies have taken over the bus and they’re on a wild ride across the streets of Sunnytown! They whizz past the bus stop, swerve around corners and zoom over crossings on a non-stop roller coaster adventure! There are bunnies on the roof! Bunnies in the aisle! DO sit down, bunnies, or you’ll end up in a pile! Eventually, they come to a stop …...
Bunnies on the Bus by Philip Ardagh and Ben Mantle - Storytelling Kit
Watch out! Move out of the way! Hold onto your tails! There are … BUNNIES ON THE BUS! And they aren’t stopping for ANYONE! The bunnies have taken over the bus and they’re on a wild ride across the streets of Sunnytown! They whizz past the bus stop, swerve around corners and zoom over crossings on a non-stop roller coaster adventure! There are bunnies on the roof! Bunnies in the aisle! DO sit down, bunnies, or you’ll end up in a pile! Eventually, they come to a stop …...
Michael Rosen introduces The Missing - Author Video and Teachers' Notes
A personal, powerful and resonant account of the Holocaust by one of this country’s best-loved children’s authors. By turns charming, shocking and heart-breaking, this is the true story of Michael Rosen’s search for his relatives who “went missing” during the Second World War – told through prose, poetry, maps and pictures. When Michael was growing up, stories often hung in the air about his great-uncles: one was a clock-mender and the other a dentist. They were there before the war,...
February 2018 children's and young people booklist - Wonder Women *reshare*
February 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 and to celebrate this we have created a list of some of our favourite books about inspirational women. The Representation of the People Act of 1918 granted the vote to certain women over the age of 30 – the first time women could vote! You can join in with the conversation online using #WonderWomenBooklist and tagging us using @readingagency on Twitter and @SummerReadingChallengeUK on Facebook.
March 2020 Children's and young people booklist - STREAM (British Science Week)
British Science Week takes place between 6-15 March 2020 – and to celebrate this we have created a themed booklist based on STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) topics. To help children learn more about STREAM topics, our list has a fun mix of picture books, suggestions for children in Key Stage 2 and books for young people (13+). You can join in with the conversation online using #STREAMBooklist and tagging us using @readingagency on Twitter and...
The Good Hawk by Joseph Elliott - discussion guide and author video
If everything was taken from you, what would you do to get it back? Agatha patrols the sea wall with pride, despite those in her clan who question her right to be there, because of the condition she was born with. Jaime is a reluctant Angler, full of self-doubt and afraid of the sea. When disaster strikes, the pair must embark on a terrifying journey to a land where forgotten magic and dark secrets lurk in every shadow… Thrilling and dark, yet rich with humour and compassion, this novel...
Climate Change booklist
This month we’re travelling to alternative worlds, and worlds that don’t seem too different from our own with our climate change booklist. Full of fiction and non-fiction, this list will get you thinking about how you can make a positive impact on the world.
February 2020 Children's and young people booklist - Climate Change
The theme for our booklist this month are books based on climate change. To help children get a deeper understanding of the effects of climate change and this list has picture books, suggestions for children in Key Stage 2 and books for young people (13+). You can join in with the conversation online using #ClimateChangeBooklist and tagging us using @readingagency on Twitter and @SummerReadingChallengeUK on Facebook.
Reading Guide for Jane Austen's Emma
Jane Austen’s beloved comedy about finding your equal and earning your happy ending is reimagined in this delicious new film adaptation of EMMA. Handsome, clever and rich, Emma Woodhouse is a restless “queen bee” without rivals in her sleepy little English town. In this glittering satire of social class, Emma must navigate her way through the challenges of growing up, misguided matches and romantic missteps to realize the love that has been there all along. Please find a Reading Resources for...
The Maker of Monsters by Lorraine Gregory - activity pack
Brat has always lived in the isolated castle on the island, taking care of the vicious creatures that his master creates, waiting in terror for the moment when they are ready to be put to use. But then the unthinkable happens. The monsters get out. Now Brat must overcome his fears, and venture into the world he has hidden from his whole life. For the fate of everyone rests on his shoulders alone…
Me and Mister P by Maria Farrer - Reading notes, discussion ideas and activities
There are times when only a polar bear will do… So Mum and Dad have decided we’re moving house, but not just down the road, not even in the same town… not even in the same COUNTRY! Not only that, but now they expect me to try and fit in and make new friends. Don’t they understand that I just want my old friends who love and accept me the way I am—bad jokes and all. It would seem that the only friend I CAN make is this enormous POLAR BEAR who has come to stay. I didn’t ask for him,...
The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike - Ideas for discussion and activities
In this stunning fantasy story, enter the unique world of the Spell Breathers! Spell breathing does not come naturally to Rayne—she hates the hours of practice, the stacks of scrolls, and the snapping mud devils that cover her mother’s precious spell book. But it is spell breathing that keeps her village safe from the dreaded monster curse that plagues their world. It is ancient powerful magic, but as Rayne learns to her horror, it is also fragile. In one clumsy move, the magic that keeps...
The Viper's Daughter by Michelle Paver - activity pack
A boy. A wolf. The legend lives on. Viper’s Daughter is the seventh book in the award-winning series that began with Wolf Brother, selling over 3 million copies in 36 territories. It can be read as a standalone story. For two summers Torak and Renn have been living in the Forest with their faithful pack-brother, Wolf. But their happiness is shattered when Renn realizes Torak is in danger – and she’s the threat. When she mysteriously disappears, Torak and Wolf brave the Far North...
Alex Rider 20th Anniversary - Teachers' Notes
CELEBRATE THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING SERIES! Encourage pupils to become READING SPIES and to take their writing to the next level with the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz – suitable for children ages 9+. The pack is aimed at developing descriptive and creative writing at KS2/3, including exploring different genres, writing strong lead characters, devising mission files, developing settings, and creating pacey stories.
