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Topic: Y1 50 Recommended Reads

Gorilla

Anthony Browne

Picturebook

This is a beautiful and timeless story by renowned author-illustrator Anthony Browne, and a true Year 1 classic read.

This story follows a lonely girl called Hannah, who loves gorillas and longs for her Dad to spend time with her, perhaps taking her to the zoo. The night before her birthday, Hannah’s toy Gorilla magically comes alive and takes her on brilliant adventures, visiting the cinema, a cafe and the zoo, where they meet the real-life gorillas. The next morning, Hannah celebrates with her dad and wonders whether her nighttime adventures were as real as they felt.

This is a unique and interesting picture book – not one to be rushed over but one to spend time thinking about and discussing. The story is emotive and thought-provoking, and the illustrations are rife with intriguing details (including repeated gorilla shapes and patterns to spot everywhere) and evoke the depth of the characters’ unspoken emotions.

We adore this first-class picture book and, even now, find something new to consider on every read.

Look I’m a Maths Wizard

Non-fiction

A great introduction to learning maths, this book teaches children the magic of numbers through play. Inside they’ll deal with number bugs, creating a hungry adding robot, learning about subtraction by playing skittles, crafting 3D shape aliens, and even making a repeating pattern fruit wand.

Covering a comprehensive range of maths topics, from counting and numbers, to shape and size, and measurements and time, this is the perfect first maths book for children. Every fun project features a mixture of bright photography and charming illustrations that support the easy-to-follow activity instructions. These creative hands-on activities support Early Years and Key Stage One maths curriculums taught in schools.

Look I’m A Maths Wizard allows little readers to do what they do best – imagine, create, learn, problem-solve, and play their way to maths magic!

Bad Bunnies Magic Show

Mini Grey

Picturebook

When the great magician, Hypno, goes missing just before a show, his rabbits Abra and Cadabra step in to save the day.
But are they all that they seem? Or is there more to their sleight of paw than meets the eye?
An exciting new novelty book from British author and illustrator Mini Grey that will have children and parents laughing out loud.

I Can Only Draw Worms

Will Mabbitt

Picturebook

This laugh-out-loud story book has become a modern classic and a true story time staple for Year 1.

The format is a simple counting book, but the commentary from the illustrator adds a layer of hilarity that children love – making it a funny counting book with a humorous twist.

The illustrator directly addresses the reader to explain that he can only draw worms, and proceeds to demonstrate by drawing a series of brightly coloured neon wiggly worms. His added commentary promises extra details – such as flying unicorns and an outer space setting – but as he has admitted, he can’t draw these details so he teases the reader with the details instead and leaves the rest to the imagination.

Children love the tension of wondering whether anything other than worms will really appear, but never feel short-changed when they don’t because the in-joke is now theirs to enjoy over and over again.

Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea!

Ben Clanton

Graphic novel

A laugh-out-loud short graphic novel, bound to get even the least enthusiastic readers engaged.

The three short comic-style stories would be great for introducing a graphic novel to reading sessions for those children moving on from phonics; exploring the characters, the humour and how the illustrations support the storytelling and help the reader make inferences about the characters. It is jam-packed with possibilities for the classroom. There are Narwhal and Jellyfish facts that could lead to information writing and the final text is a reflection on imagination and storytelling the blank pages would be a brilliant prompt for children to unleash their own creativity and design their own comic strip style stories.

A reading-for-pleasure ‘must have’ for the KS1 classroom! I highly recommend it!

My Dad is a Grizzly Bear

Dapo Adeola & Swapna Haddow

Picturebook

This is a sweet story about one imaginative boy’s special bond with his father, whom he images as a loveable grizzly bear. It’s full of humour, from the exaggerated facial expressions and bear-like attributes captured in Dapo Adeola’s vibrant illustrations, to the humorous asides in the text about Dad’s wild habits.

This is a playful and heartwarming picture book that perfectly captures the way in which young children observe familiar adults with curiosity, wonder and imagination – but also with pure adoration. Filled with giggles and with the theme of family bonds at its heart, this is a bear-illiant choice for storytime.

Tiger Walk

Dianne Hofmeyr & Jesse Hodgson

Picturebook

One day Tom draws a tiger, inspired by his visit to the art gallery… That night, when Tom can’t sleep, the tiger pads out of his drawing and purrs, “Let’s go for a walk!” It’s the beginning of a magical and life-changing adventure, as the tiger helps Tom to overcome some of his biggest fears.

Lights on Cotton Rock

David Litchfield

Picturebook

An out-of-this-world picture book from David Litchfield, the best-selling author of The Bear and the Piano and Grandad’s Secret Giant .
Longlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal.

Heather is a little girl who wants to go to Outer Space, where the stars sparkle with magic and wonder . When a spaceship lands at Cotton Rock, it seems that all of her dreams have come true. But soon the alien has to leave. Will the spaceship ever come back? And if it does, is Heather ready to leave everything on Earth behind? This beautiful story for ages 4-7 about family and dreams travels through space and time to show us that what we are looking for might be closer than we think.

David Litchfield is the author of best-selling books including The Bear and the Piano , which won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize , Illustrated Book Category in 2016 and has sold over 120,000 copies in the UK.

Around the World in 80 Ways

DK & Katy Halford

Non-fiction, Picturebook

A fascinating and engaging picture book exploring 80 exciting ways to travel, both past and present – from the obvious, to the crazy!
Travel around the world by yacht, tram, train, unicycle, jetpack, camel… any way you can imagine, in this non-fiction children’s book.
Every mode of transport is part of a charming scene. See how astronauts travel around space, watch surfers ride the waves at the beach, and race to an emergency with the firefighters. Illustrator Katy Halford’s beautiful drawings brings the scenes to life and fun complementary facts will prompt discussion and laughter between readers. How would you choose to travel? Donkey, pedalo, moon buggy? From the small to the big, the familiar to obscure, take your pick from the amazing 80 shown in DK’s Around the Way in 80 Ways!

The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark

Jill Tomlinson & Paul Howard

Chapter book

This beautiful story about a little barn owl who struggles to fight his fear of the dark is a true classic story book for children.

Plop the barn owl is afraid of the dark. To help him overcome his fear, Mummy Owl sends Plop on a mission to seek out the opinions of others about the dark. He finds out from children, adults and a cat that they all have things they love about the dark. In the end, Plop decides he can embrace the night time darkness like a true nocturnal creature.

This is a joyful short chapter book, tenderly told by Jill Tomlinson, whose animal stories are highly recommended for Key Stage 1.

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