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I love reading novels to my class. I often read a chapter a day while the students are eating lunch or if there is some extra unexpected time. It gives students a chance to hear great writing and great stories. It can also spark their own creativity and inspire them. Finding great books to read can be hard work though because you need to read them first, to check that the content is appropriate and high quality. For this reason, I read books by myself before I read them to the class. This is a list of children’s novels that I have read and love. I hope that it might save you some time in finding novels for your class.

My class is in Year 3 and these are books I have found to be appropriate for them, however, when the teacher is reading, there is a lot more flexibility on appropriate age ranges since kids can often understand a book being read to them a lot easier than reading it themselves.

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

When I told my students that we would be reading this book, they all groaned and showed their disapproval immediately. They were sure they would hate it. But by the first couple of pages, they were laughing and giving their undivided attention. They came to love the book and students have gone on to read the sequels on their own.

Roz, the wild robot, finds herself on an island with no idea how she arrived there. She can communicate with animals and, despite the initial hesitancy of the creatures, becomes an accepted and important part of the island’s ecosystem. She also comes to be the foster parent of a gosling. It is a touching story with relevant themes for today about AI and robots. I read this to my Year 3s and it was great for them. It is worth noting that it does include the death of animals, who in every way act like human characters. This is sad of course but it is probably useful for students to be exposed to this in a safe space and only as part of a story.

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Way of the Warrior Kid by Jocko Willink

My students loved this book (and so did I). The author, Jocko, is a former marine who has taken military wisdom and applied it to things like business, self-improvement and even the lives of children. The book teaches lots of important ideas through a great story.

Marc is a young boy at school with many things he finds challenging. Jake, Marc’s uncle who is in the military, stays with Marc’s family over the holidays and everything changes for Marc. Jack challenges Marc to work hard, make good choices and achieve his dreams through hard work. By the end of the book, Marc has become a leader and teacher of others with a set of guiding principles.

I like to start the school year with this book. I encourage my students to take on challenges, make goals and figure out how to achieve them. I often remind them about the book and we go back to it time and time again. As a note, the book promotes martial arts and self-defence as great things. I think the book deals with this appropriately but it is worth noting if this is a concern to you.

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The Matilda Effect by Ellie Irving

Matilda is a young girl who is an inventor. When she makes a great invention, no one believes that she could have made it herself. One day she discovers that her grandma had almost the same thing happen when she discovered a planet. Upon finding out that, a man would be receiving a Noble Prize for her grandma’s discovery, Matilda is compelled to take her grandma on an adventure to stop this from happening.

It is a funny story with an entertaining main character. The book is full of fun facts and surprising plot twists. My Year 3 class really enjoyed the book and were always asking me to keep on reading it to them.

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Wonder by R. J. Palacio

I feel like everyone must know about this book but I include it just in case that isn’t true. Wonder is a children’s book like no other. It is about a boy with a significant facial defect that causes him to look unusual. The book is about him starting school. The book is inside the main character’s head for the majority of the time and doesn’t shy away from the difficulties of being someone who looks different. It is a touching book and a great one for getting students to step into the shoes of someone who may be very different to them.

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Conclusion

Those are just a few of my favourites. One thing is, as a teacher, because you have a different class every year, you can often read the same book again and again. Still, that can be a little boring for me, so I would love to hear your suggestions for great novels to read in primary school classrooms.

Jake Heading

Creator of GoodTeach and Primary School Classroom Teacher.

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