11 Plus Reading List Recommendations

Why is reading important for the 11 Plus?

Reading is an especially important skill for the 11 Plus exam and students are advised to read for at least half an hour a day, beginning from Year 3. This is because the most common reasons for not achieving the desired mark is due to insufficient vocabulary, spelling errors, poor concentration and poor punctuation. All of these mistakes could be improved by reading.

Children who read more will naturally have a better vocabulary as they’re exposed to a wider range of words. Therefore, they would be able to see how these words are incorporated and would encourage them to use it in their own writing. For this same reason, comprehension, fluency, punctuation, grammar and spelling are also improved.

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How do I encourage my child to read more?

It’s important that the whole process of preparing for the exam is fun for them so that they remain consistent. Perhaps encourage them to begin reading a book series, such as Horrible Histories. But experiment with different types of books, e.g. novels, fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and find out which ones they gravitate towards the most.

Classic books

Sometimes independent schools, or even grammar schools, can decide to use a passage from 19th or 20th-century text for the comprehension questions. Therefore, reading classic books would help the student become more familiar with the common phrases and meanings.

Choose a classic book, read through the first few pages and try to analyse the techniques, characters, setting and plot. These are the types of questions they would be asked about in comprehension questions.

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Recommendations for classic books:

• Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy             
• Kipps – HG Wells
• The Road to Wigan Pier – George Orwell              
• Tom Sawyer- Mark Twain
• The Mill on  the Floss – George Elliot                      
• Tobermory – H.H. Monroe  
• Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy    
• Longitude – Dava Sobel
• The Destructors – Graham Greene                         
• Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

Classic books for younger readers:

• Hans Christian Andersen – Fairy Tales
• Brothers Grimm – Fairy Tales
• Roald Dahl – Story Collection

Recommended reading for hesitant readers: age 7+

Try to focus on their interests; for example, if they enjoy sports, try to find a book related to sports.

Recommended comic book: The Terrible Tales of the Teenytinysaurs and Asterix the Gaul – Rene Goscinny.

Comic books can be a great start as they’re filled with pictures and are very easy to follow. This also helps to inspire students for the creative writing task as it’ll help them to visualise the plot better.

To gradually move your child from comics up to books, the Horrid Henry series by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross is a great way to start.

Non-fiction recommendations

• Jane Goodall: The Researcher who Champions Chimps – Mike Venezia. In this younger reader’s biography, you’ll learn about Jane Goodall, an innovative scientist who eventually became the world’s specialist on chimps. Jane Goodall was the first individual to examine wild chimps in a rainforest. She became friends with the chimps and revealed fascinating facts about their behaviour. What she discovered forever altered people’s perceptions of these animals. 

• The Elephant Scientist – Caitlin O’Connell and Dana Jackson. This is the perfect book if your child is interested in science. Although this book is primarily about elephant communication, it also demonstrates the processes that researchers must undertake, the equipment they may use, and the measurements that need to be made. It also communicates the idea that different specialists are required for discoveries to be made.

• Manfish – A story of Jacques Cousteau. Jacques Cousteau is a famous oceanographer; in this autobiography, readers will begin to understand his curiosity and his childhood passions (the sea and directing movies).

Fiction recommendations

• Asterix the Gaul – Rene Goscinny
• Tintin – Herge
• The Green Men of Gressingham – Philip Ardagh
• The Red Dragons of Gressingham – Philip Ardagh
• The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster

Recommended reading for hesitant readers: age 9+

• Animal Farm – George Orwell. This story is about animals on a farm plotting a rebellion against the farmers. Nevertheless, it also encompasses political connotations making it a fascinating book to debate.

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis. Walking through the wardrobe door in their house, Susan, Edmund, Lucy and Peter discover that they have reached the land of Narnia. Narnia is a land that’s locked in everlasting winter and its creatures are imprisoned by the dreadful White Witch. 

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne. This is the story of an unexpected friendship in the most heinous of circumstances. Bruno is growing up in Berlin during WWII when his father is raised to commanding officer and they relocate to Auschwitz, where he meets Shmuel, who lives behind a fence. He has no understanding of what lies behind this fence, but he visits his new friend regularly and sneaks food to him.

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