Reading articles

Phonics is likely to play a significant role in your child's primary school journey. It helps many children develop the ability to read and spell accurately, often achieved by the end of their second year. Here, we explain what is covered in Phase 2 phonics.

Creating an environment that promotes inclusivity and diversity at home and in the classroom is incredibly important, but how can we do this? A great place to start is with one of the oldest and most powerful tools for opening minds there is – books!

Classic literature is reimagined, updated, revisited and reinterpreted in each of these brilliant retellings, which expand on traditional tales or use comic-strip illustrations or modern settings to make brilliant stories accessible to a new generation of readers.

With plots to uncover, mysteries to solve and codes to break you'll need to work hard to join the best junior detectives and super-smart sleuths in children's literature. Puzzle your way through our pick of the best detective stories for KS2 kids.

How do poems help with learning, and how can you inspire a love of poetry in primary-school children? Charlotte Hacking, judge of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Awards (CLiPPA), shares her tips.

While dyslexic children have to overcome greater challenges to fall in love with books and become confident expressing themselves through the written word, there are lots of practical tips and aids to make the reading and writing process easier.

Once you’ve encouraged your child's love of stories and boosted their confidence in their reading skills, it’s time to develop those strategies which really make your child ‘a reader’.

Bookseller Valentina Alexander of MyBookbasket.com shares some of her favourite children’s books that celebrate ethnic diversity.

Great ideas for keeping your child engaged with reading and broadening their taste in books.

We've rounded up some of our favourite online resources to support your child's learning at home.

Encourage and develop your child's passion for reading with these brilliant book apps for kids.

It's never been harder for parents and teachers to inspire children to read – we're competing with shiny screens and addictive games, and a child's interest can change like the weather! In How to Raise a Reader, Pamela Paul and Maria Russo describe unexpected, innovative ways to introduce your child to the wonders of the written word.

Are you ready to enter some magical new worlds, exploring the depths of the sea, dark forests, ancient civilisations and weird and wonderful landscapes? On your travels you're sure to meet some strange characters, lots of brave heroes and heroines and a few sinister creatures wrecking havoc... It's time to head somewhere far, far away for roller-coaster adventures with our pick of the best fantasy world books for primary school children.

Get your magnifying glass out and your thinking cap on: our selection of the best detective stories and books for KS1 kids will keep you guessing until the very last page! Packed with illustrations and plot twists, this selection of sleuth reads is perfect for newly confident readers.

Whether you like your fairy stories traditional or twisted, retold for modern readers or classic, the perfect length for bedtime reading or in book form, our selection is packed with great options. Introduce your primary-school child to some tales as old as time – and fall in love with some new favourites, too.

The saying goes that school days are the best of your life. So much so that some of us (like myself!) stay in them and become teachers. Read on to find out if these characters had the best days of their lives in their magical, intergalactic and incredible schools with these suggestions from primary school teacher and avid children's literature reader, Scott Evans.

Is it a bird... is it a plane... no, it's super-books! With a mix of heroes and heroines (and some who do not wear a cape!), this selection from primary school teacher Scott Evans comes to the reading rescue of kids who love superhero adventures, on the page and on screen.

Boo! Feel the chill down your spine as you immerse yourself in these spooktacular reads, chosen by children's literature enthusiast and primary school teacher Scott Evans. The perfect mix of monsters, ghosts and ghouls will have you enjoying these hauntingly-good reads not just at Halloween but all year round.

As the mental health crisis amongst children worsens, new research suggests that books could make a difference to your child's wellbeing.