Book/s of the Week

This week, our book recommendations are from Nina, in Owl class and Rafi from Hawk class.

Nina recommends her favourite Reading Road Map book, No Climbing by Ross Collins.

Nina tells us: ” I love this story because it teaches you to never give up—just like the Grimsdell Way!”

Mrs Harvey wholeheartedly supports Nina’s choice. No Climbing is a fun and mischievous story about a little bear who just can’t resist climbing everything he sees, despite the warnings from his friends. Full of humour and playful illustrations, this book explores the idea of curiosity, boundaries and the excitement of adventure. The lively text and engaging pictures make it a perfect read for young children, while also offering a gentle lesson about listening and respecting rules.

No Climbing is one of the texts from this year’s Adventure Reading Road Map programme. The programme is a reading-for-pleasure initiative designed to expand children's reading experiences. Each map features a carefully selected range and genre of books - published within the past year (except in the Classics genre) - ensuring that no author appears more than once. The goal is to inspire a love of reading and nurture a strong reading culture across the school. We believe that reading for enjoyment is the most effective way to boost literacy levels.

Research from the Open University highlights the positive impact of this programme. It shows that children in schools using the Road Maps read a more diverse range of books and engage in more discussions about reading with their peers. The Open University also supports the growing recognition in England of the importance of reading for pleasure, with both policy and educational frameworks emphasising its significance. According to the National Curriculum (DfE, 2014) and The Reading Framework (2023), teachers are encouraged to foster a love of reading - but it’s not enough to simply require it. Children must be enticed and engaged in a way that builds a lasting love of books.

Balancing reading instruction with reading for pleasure can be challenging in an environment focused on testing and accountability. However, international research confirms that a child’s desire to read significantly influences their reading skills, and vice versa (OECD, 2002; Schugar and Dreher, 2017). Moreover, young readers benefit in multiple ways - socially, emotionally and cognitively. Studies show that reading for pleasure is linked to a broader general knowledge, richer vocabulary, enhanced writing skills, greater empathy and even improved literacy and numeracy during adolescence (Sullivan and Brown, 2015; McGrane et al., 2017; Senechal et al., 2018).

By encouraging reading for enjoyment, the Year 2 Adventure Reading Road Map programme helps lay the foundation for lifelong reading habits and academic success.

Rafi recommends one of his most favourite books ever: The Cat in the Hat written and illustrated by Dr Seuss.

Rafi advises us: “I like poetry and the rhymes in this book are super silly and fun! I hope you like it as much as I do!"

Mrs Harvey would also recommend Rafi’s choice. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss has significant literary merit, especially in the context of children's literature and early literacy development.The book is written in anapaestic tetrameter, a poetic meter that gives it a musical, bouncy flow. This rhythm makes the text memorable and enjoyable to read aloud. It helps children predict and decode words. This style of writing also reinforces phonemic awareness, a key early literacy skill.

The content of the poem teaches about responsibility and consequences. On a thematic level, the story explores:

• Freedom vs. control: The Cat represents unstructured play, while the fish serves as the voice of caution.
• Consequences of actions: The children must decide how to manage the Cat’s chaos.
• Responsibility: Despite the mayhem, everything is cleaned up before Mum returns — sparking conversations about accountability.

What do you do on a rainy day when there’s nothing to do? For Sally and her brother, things get exciting fast — because The Cat in the Hat shows up! He wears a tall red-and-white hat, brings wild games, and turns their quiet day into total chaos … all while Mum is away.

With his silly rhymes, goofy tricks, and Thing One and Thing Two, this cat brings fun and mischief like no other. But will the mess get cleaned up in time?

Happy Reading!

Mrs Harvey