Tree Tops Non-Fiction Question

[PigeonPie]

DS1 has started on the Stage 10 Tree Tops Non-Fiction books and I'm just wondering what age these books are actually aimed at. He's had Amazing Paint!, How to Make Soil and now Sport is Fun.

What has struck me is the range of words which he would have absolutely no idea about and how to explain them. For instance, Polio is mentioned in passing, 'Nadia Comenechi of Rumania' (how do you decode that?) and Tony Volpentest who in the book's words has 'No lower arms, no feet, NO PROBLEM!' which I do actually have a problem with because there's no backing up with substance.

Do older children manage these books (DS1 is 6 in Year 1) or are they lost on them too? DS1 has so many questions - which is fine, but it's taking us a long time to read them as we have to discuss and look up quite a bit.

Dd1, has bought home amazing paint to read over half term, she's the same age/year as your ds. These books, I believe are designed for yr3 (which is levee pecten average for reading at this level). The content is quite challenging & they are supposed to promote discussion & they do take us a lot longer to read than the same level in fiction. She needs little help when we read the fiction texts but still needs to be on this level for understanding, particularly with the content in these non-fiction books. I know dd gets these books for this reason, to promote discussion etc & she does ask a lot of questions so we usually read less of these in a session & spend more time talking, while with the fiction we do more reading & just a little talking.

I do think an 8 year old would be better able to cope with more themes though, (my ds is yr3 & he would be worldly enough to read about polio,) but I wouldn't feel that comfortable reading that with dd1. It's more about the topic, than the content in this case though, (the paint book seems to be just above her level of understanding, so enough to promote questions but not too confusing iyswim). The topics like polio are things they need to know about, but probably more appropriate for an 8 year old than 6year old.

My ds likes the non fiction ORT and TreeTops. He is year 2 now. In year 1 we had American slavery which was fun to explain. These books do take more time and have very tough words and themes.

DS read How to make soil in yr2 when he too was 6 (Aug born). He managed because he's interested in nature but they are IMO in a completely different league to an ORT story on the same level. Glossaries are at the back to help. Watch out for the WW2 one featuring Adolf's final solution (sent it back unfinished).

Thank you everyone. I think he is getting something out of them, but I suppose we just prefer to go more in depth which often isn't possible at the time we read (at bedtime works for us). Maybe I'll take the iPad up too so we can look things up as we go.

It is going to start to be a problem finding books which hold his interest, but are age-appropriate. He loves non-fiction as well as fiction which is great and we are fortunate to have a lot of books both at home and the library.

^iseenodust wrote
DS read How to make soil in yr2 when he too was 6 (Aug born). He managed because he's interested in nature but they are IMO in a completely different league to an ORT story on the same level. Glossaries are at the back to help. Watch out for the WW2 one featuring Adolf's final solution (sent it back unfinished).^

Have seen this book. The topic is about the Tower of London with lots of illustrations. On part of one page Rudolph Hess is mentioned as being a prisoner in the Tower. Hess is described as being Adolph Hitler's deputy. In the edition I saw there is no mention of The Final Solution. However, some of the other descriptions in the book are a bit grisly for a young child.

Ambersiv Sorry but we are talking about different books. No mention of Tower of London in the one DS had - it's topic was WW2. First few pages had pictures of kids in gas masks & talked about evacuation. "Final solution" was on about p12.

We have had Tower of London one. Ds enjoyed it.
I too would have sent 'Final Solution' one back to school a little crossly if given to my 6 year old!

iseenodust OK. My mistake then. Thankfully, we are unlikely to see the WW2 book as DGC has progressed to a different level.

If we are not happy with the topic in a book, we comment to the teacher. After consideration the book may be withdrawn and a note is made by the teacher in the Reading Diary. But it makes me wonder why books with unsuitable topics are included for young readers.

I didn't learn about the final solution until I was much older.