Children sitting the 11+ exams should be reading for forty-five minutes to an hour daily. This will improve their general comprehension of passages and extend their vocabulary. It is a good idea for students to follow this process when they come across unfamiliar vocabulary:
- List the words that they do not know the meanings of.
- Look up and write down the dictionary definition of each word.
- Use a thesaurus to look up four or five similar word.
- Finally, the student should write the original word in a sentence.
This process ensures they fully understand how to use that word and thus it becomes a part of their vocabulary.
Recommended English Reading List and Authors
| Hurricane Summer | Robert Swindells |
| A Long Way Home | Ann Turnbull |
| Fireweed | Jill Paton Walsh |
| Scribbleboy | Phillip Ridley |
| Johnnie’s Blitz | Bernard Ashley |
| The Bolphin Crossing | Jill Paton Walsh |
| Tom’s Private War | Robert Leeson |
| Carrie’s War | Nina Bawden |
| The Endless Steppe | Esther Hautzig |
| Billy the Kid | Michael Morpurgo |
| Stormchaser | Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell |
| No Friend of Mine | Ann Turnbull |
| Red, White and Blue: Finding Out the Hard Way | Robert Leeson |
| When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit | Judith Kerr |
| Tom’s War Patrol | Robert Leeson |
| Beyond the Deepwoods | Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell |
| Midnight Over Sanctaphrax | Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell |
| Tess of the d”Urbervilles | Thomas Hardy |
| Snow Geese | William Fiennes |
| Mill on the Floss | George Eliot |
Reading Comprehension Task
In addition to daily reading, it is essential to ensure that your child has a good understanding of the books that they are reading. The following exercise is a great way to develop comprehension, grammar and vocabulary skills:
Suggested Author List
- Charlotte Bronte
- HG Wells
- H H Munro
- Thomas Hardy
- Anthony Trollope
- Bronte Sisters
- Charles Dickens
- Charles Kingsley
- Elizabeth Gaskell
- George Eliot
- Graham Greene
- Herman Melville
- R D Blackmore
- R L Stevenson
- Robert Graves
- Rudyard Kipling
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Previous Book Extracts
Extracts from the following books have been used in previous years:
- The Road to Wigan Pier
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- Jane Eyre
- Kipps
- Far from the Madding Crowd
- Tobermory
- Silas Marner
- The Snow Geese
- The Mill on The Floss
- Tess of the d’Urbervilles
- The Destructors
- Longitude – Dava Sobel
- Bleak House
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
It would be a good idea to include these on your child’s reading list.