What did the school think of the reading books?

The teacher who used the books was very impressed with the content and presentation of the books and the pupils’ responses to them, ‘when I first looked at the books I thought, colourful and good sized print’. She had been slightly reticent at first as to whether the pupils would think the books were more appropriate for younger children but she said this was not the case. The pupils had enjoyed using the books and were particularly positive about the non-fiction texts, ‘the non-fiction lended itself to a lot of discussion’.

The pictures in the books were also popular, ‘the real pictures are what the pupils commented on more than anything else, a lot of it made them laugh’.

The teacher also liked the Before Reading page and the Tricky Words section. However, she did think some of the lists of Tricky Words were quite long and for some pupils being able to read the words in context might have been easier for them. The Quiz page was also liked and the phonics section in the Word Detective was felt to be particularly useful.

The colour and the content of the books were felt to be particularly attractive features which had worked well with the pupils.

The non-fiction texts were especially popular. Some of the topics were in areas pupils were learning about in other lessons and some of the topics were about subjects pupils had little experience of and wanted to find out more about, the teacher said, ‘they were good choices of non-fiction’.

The fact that the text was blocked was also liked and the fact that some of the sound words were highlighted was also felt to be a good idea.

What do the pupils think?

The pupils had enjoyed using the books and had been very motivated to use them. The books had been used by pupils with a range of reading abilities and seemed to be suitable for all the pupils in the group. The non-fiction text was particularly well favoured by the pupils. They were interested to learn about the topics which were featured and to share the information with their friends. One of the pupils had enjoyed reading the book on rats. The teacher said they had been learning about the plague in one lesson and the book on rats fitted in well with this.

The teacher described three of the pupils in particular as reluctant readers, she commented, ‘I have never really seen these pupils interested in reading’. The teacher went on to explain that it was largely the colour of the books, the presentation and the topics which she felt were particularly motivating for pupils.

One of the pupils had read a book called Scary Hair and after reading it had said, ‘that made me laugh and books don’t usually make me laugh’. This was seen as a really positive comment from a pupil who tended to be a reluctant reader.

Overall

The pupils, many of who were reluctant readers, looked forward to using the books and had been motivated to use them. They had particularly liked how the books were presented and the content of the non-fiction texts.

The teacher was positive about continuing to use the books in school, she said:
‘after all these years there still isn’t a lot that really inspires 13 and 14 year olds with a reading age of 6 or 7 years’.