I'm sorry, I have to have another rant about school - please feel free to ignore (it's ridiculously long).

[marthamoo]

Ds1 is in Year 4 (I am so mad....) He loves reading, reads anything, everything, has read Harry Potter, lots of quite difficult books etc. (I am bl*dyseething....) I love that he loves reading, I consider it one of my prime roles as a parent to instil in him a love of books - it's a gift for life (I hate that bl**dy school...)
OK, deep breath...phooooooooooooo.
The reading books he gets from school are a) too easy b) exceedingly dull. This galls me a little but as he has a diet of the good stuff at home I haven't worried about it too much. Since he started in Year 4 he has been bringing home a series of books called Boys Rule here (have just seen that they are for "less able" or "reluctant" readers....BOOOOM! - that was my head exploding) They are crap, anyway. They are aimed squarely at boys. He finished those and now he is reading the "Girls Rock!" series (see link, left hand side). These - surprisingly enough - are aimed at girls. So far we have had sneaky brothers reading diaries, lost ankle bracelets...
Tonight, he brought home "Girls Rock! School Play Stars" and, in among such gems of literature as

I do live in Cumbria MM, but not the pretty bit! Within easy reach of the Lakes though, and 5 mins drive to the sea - it's great! Because the area has high deprivation levels there's lots of money sloshing around for various things, and primary schools tend to do quite well out of it. We have loads of fantastic primary schools here: it's fab.
Secondary schools are another story however ...

Roisin -some bits are pretty ie my bit!

My dd1 is in yr 1 and she has free choice of books and has done since september.Shei iis only in an infant school so they don't go very advanced but what I have seen is always appropriate.

Hello Nikkie! How are you? Enjoying the delightful weather we're having lately?

Marthamoo

Glad you got somewhere, at least... Let's hope they start to take Mooboy seriously from now on.

My dd1 has read some of the first 'level' of the Bananas series (they go through different colours, I think, for different stages of reading). I bought some of the 'Green Bananas' books for her to read over the summer, so she didn't forget what she'd done during the summer term (which was her first term full-time and first term doing 'proper' work/reading). She found them a bit tough over the summer (having only completed ORT Level 1) but we read a couple more at half term and she loved them. Fun stories and appropriate for her level (now ORT Level 3). She wants to try the next colour up now, which is good, because she was lacking enthusiasm for reading a bit before.

I know this is all irrelevant to your ds, who's way in advance of that, but I just wanted to say that I liked the books, at least at that first level.

Good luck. I hope this is a turning-point...

I'll also look forward to the 'Miss Grainger suggests...'.

My dds school has a book fair every year and parents are encouraged to buy a book for class , is it possible to donat esome books?

Roisin-I bet you can get to work easier than I can though! I have to pass the lindal river and the tide keeps coming in surrounding my school in Ulverston!

at your flooding!
It takes me c. 2.5 mins to walk to school But this last week that's been long enough to get soaked. So I went and bought a new umbrella today.

ds's (yr2) books are so boring we rarely get them out of the bag. dd (in reception) choses some nice things - not sure why she has free choice and he has a scheme. However I remember this being the same when I was at school - we weren't allowed to progress along the book scheme until we had read them aloud to the teacher. So I learned always to have a book under the table (persitst with me even today)! I don't think it really matters so long as children have plenty of choice somewhere, and as others have said, there are some fantastic books out there (I was a seventies child - or rather my big sister's bookcase had lots of early 70's books that I read, probably far too early, but some of them are still amoungst my favourites today). I don't think schools encourage reading for the joy of reading at all (I hated English, for example), but then, maybe that is more of a parental / library thing? Roisin's school sounds brilliant!

Marthamoo, I haven't congratulated you yet, I think. Well done!!

(homemama, was your message really for me? I'm not sure what it was responding to? Sorry if dim)

I have been reading this thread with great interest. Am not a parent myself ,yet! but I have worked with children for the last 10+ yrs.

I just wanted to say that I think it is fantastic that all you parents take such an active interest in your children's reading skills.

I was fortunate enough to have mother who is passionate about books and she passed this on to at a very early age. I grew up completely immersed in a world of 'my naughty little sister', 'famous five' Roald Dahl and CS Lewis stories and I had the reading age of an adult whilst still in primary school.

However, my best friend had no interest in reading and at the age of nearly 30 has NEVER read a book! I just find that so sad.

I am eternally grateful to my mum for encouraging my LOVE of books and I will endeavour to pass this passion on to my own children one day.

Parents on this thread, take a bow!

If you want to see what can be done by way of structured reading encouragement for primary/early secondary children (boys in this case) check out this website which is the English section of a London boys' prep school. Particularly the suggested reading lists in the left-hand menu. I blinking well hope those kids appreciate it -- if not, they should see what the rest of us have to make do with.

(though you know, frogs, I have never seen so many black 4x4s as at the drop-off to that school...)

Thanks for that link, Frogs. Has given me some more ideas for DS1 (as of course have all the excellent suggestions by Roisin and others).

Meant to come back to this and say thanks for everyone's contributions - and especially thanks to frogs for that link (I've printed off the two lists appropriate to ds1's age so I can take it to the library with us).

As a postscript - the new books are much better, but (there's always a but)...the other night he had to read a whole one. Around 45 pages of quite dense text. Which is fine, it didn't take him long (though as we don't look at the reading book 'til bedtime it was 8pm before we discovered just how much he had to read). It just made me laugh - I had a mental image of his teacher, pen in hand, saying to herself "they want challenging...I'll give 'em challenging..."

Although I take your point and the books do sound awfu,l I think it's important to separate what you feel about them from what your ds may feel - you never actually said whether he dislikes them at all. I hate Thomas the Tank books but my dd loves them and I try not to let my lack of enthusiasm damp hers. In fact, we try to be positive about most things - reading, theatre, otehr people - in front of her regardless of what we feel. With reading in particular there's a danger of putting children off the whole thing if you don't remain positive.

Also, it's important not to avoid books because you don't like some of their messages. Shakespeare, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies etc are all part of the National Curriculum and have some very un pc 'messages' and representations but I wouldn't want them banned or taken off the syllabus. It's important to talk to children about these messages and explain they don't necessarily undermine the quality of the literature and it can be useful to get difficult issues out in the open where they can be discussed properly. Obviously I'm talking about an older age group here and realize these things aren't quite as easy with Year 4 esp when you think the books have no redeeming features.

I have strong memories of not getting anywhere with the 'Carry on Reading' series at primary school because they were so boring and we had to stop at the end of each chapter and answer a load of questions when I just wanted to read. I was reading Little Women at home and progressed to Jane Austen by Year 7 while my class then was struggling with 101 Dalmations. It was boring and frustrating in English lessons but it never put me off reading and now I'm an English teacher!

Finally, pity the poor teachers/ writers/ librarians - first they get criticised for not catering for the boys' needs and interests and thus blamed for boys' getting switched of English and falling behind girls - then they get criticised when they try (admittedly badly) to encourage boys to read more 'boy- friendly' books. Gender and reading is such a complex area and I don't think there are any easy solutions. Just get a diologue going with your ds's teacher is what I suggest. Usually they want the same thing for your kids as you do - for them to be happy, motivated, challenged and supported - and obviously you know your kids better than they do so help them to get it right.

I meant the 'Boys Rule' books as being 'boy-friendly' obviously not the 'Girls Rule' ones though it does seem a) unnecessary to appeal to one gender by mocking the other and b) really weird to give a Girls Rule book to a boy when it does a.

marthamoo, and anyone else who wants some more ideas for good challenging school reading: ds has been started on a series called Historical Storybooks and they are quite something.

This week we've had the story of Guy Fawkes, told from his own point of view in flashback from the scaffold (new words: oath taunt sacred smuggle Protestant Catholic "fame and fortune" "or die in the attempt" etc.); last week we had the boyhood of Henry VIII as told by a childhood companion (by Geoffrey Trease, and with a cameo appearance by Erasmus). Fave scene-to-discuss in latter: Henry's older brother Arthur's marriage by proxy to Catherine of Aragon, during which a courtier "inserted a fully-clothed leg into the marriage bed. 'It's a symbol' we were told. How we all howled."

They're about 50 pages in four chapters, and ds and I want to stop and go into depth about things on every page. Brilliant.

The link is refusing to work, sorry. But if you go to Amazon book search & put "historical storybooks" in the key words bit a great long list will appear.

They are fab Binkie. Have you seen the Ginn biographies that I mentioned earlier on the thread? If he likes those sorts of books he will enjoy these too. They come in two levels and include Roald dahl, Churchill, Eric the Red, Elizabeth I.

Have you also seen the hisory books set out like newspapers? Also very good. Inc. The Tudor Times and The Roman Gazette. They cover actual events like Anne Boelyn having her head chopped off and the murder of Ceaser.