Eleven Plus Reading

“What can I do? I’m bored of the books I have. I want something to read.” Familiar words? I hope so.

You will probably have read aloud all the well known books like “Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame when your `Eleven Plus Candidate’ was little. Even though this book was written in 1908 it could still be enchanting to a ten year old – because it has fantasy characters and the story is about an illusion. Your child may want to re-read a timeless classic.

No doubt the Dr Dolittle stories (Hugh Lofting), which date back to the 1920s could also give still a good re-read to a ten year old. Other authors from the twenties like A.A, Milne with `Winnie the Poo’ and J.R.R. Tolkien with `The Hobbit’ could also stand the test of being read aloud. All you have to do is find an audience for your child to read to.

In the 1930s authors like Arthur Ransom’s Swallows and Amazons and Emil Kastner’s Emil and the Detective enthralled many children – and the appeal persists today.

Recently members of our family have been listening to the Enid Blyton’s Famous Five stories on audio and the romance of the stories persist. Perhaps you could encourage the writing of a short and simple book – and then recording the book to read to others.

In today’s world there is such a proliferation of books – that there must be something out there that will catch your child’s interest. T.V. brings stories to life in a different way to words on a page. Reading books based on television series can bring great pleasure. The Hannah Montana books, for example, are deeply satisfying to some ten to eleven year olds.

Even though paper back books are relatively cheap – buying ten to twelve of them quickly adds up.