What Kids Are Reading

What Kids Are Reading:
The Book-Reading Habits of Students in British Schools 2013

An independent study by Professor Keith Topping, Professor of Educational and Social Research, School of Education, University of Dundee.
2013
edition
What Kids Are Reading:

The Book-Reading Habits of Students in British Schools 2013
An independent study by Professor Keith Topping, Professor of Educational and Social Research, School of Education, University of Dundee.
Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Reader Best Practices, Advanced Technology for Data-Driven Schools, AR, AR BookFinder, AR BookGuide, ATOS, NEO 2, Renaissance, Renaissance Learning, the Renaissance Learning logo, and STAR Reading are trademarks of Renaissance Learning, Inc., and its subsidiaries, registered, common law, or pending registration in the United States and other countries. 2013 by Renaissance Learning UK Ltd. All rights reserved. Printed in the United Kingdom. This publication is protected by U.K. and international copyright laws. It is unlawful to duplicate or reproduce any copyrighted material without authorisation from the copyright holder. For more information, contact: RENAISSANCE LEARNING 32 Harbour Exchange Square London E14 9GE 020 7184 4000 www.renlearn.co.uk wkar@renlearn.co.uk
Contents
Introduction: Dirk Foch, Managing Director, Renaissance Learning UK Ltd...................................... vi Foreword: Je Kinney.................................................................................................................................... viii Executive Summary........................................................................................................................................ x
Section One: Books Kids Are Reading Most Often ....................................................... 1

School Spotlight: Hazlegrove Preparatory School ........................................................................................... 2 Books Kids Are Reading Most Often ..................................................................................................................... 3 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 1 ............................................................................................................ 5 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 2 ............................................................................................................ 7 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 3 ............................................................................................................ 8 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 4 ............................................................................................................ 9 Reections on Reading: Julia Donaldson ........................................................................................................... 10 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 5 ............................................................................................................ 13 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 6 ............................................................................................................ 14 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 7 ............................................................................................................ 15 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 8 ............................................................................................................ 17 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Years 9-11 .................................................................................................... 18 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................................ 19
Section Two: Popularity of Authors & Voting for Favourite Books .............................. 21
School Spotlight: Hucknall National Primary School ...................................................................................... 22 Popularity of Authors ............................................................................................................................................... 23 Voting for Favourite Books ...................................................................................................................................... 24 Top 20 Titles in Years 1 and 2 .................................................................................................................................. 25 Top 20 Titles in Years 3 and 4 .................................................................................................................................. 27 Top 20 Titles in Years 5 and 6 .................................................................................................................................. 28 Reections on Reading: Ali Sparkes ..................................................................................................................... 29 Top 20 Titles in Years 7 and 8 ................................................................................................................................. 31 Top 20 Titles in Years 9-11 ....................................................................................................................................... 32 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................................ 32
Section Three: Books High-Achieving Kids Read Most Often ....................................... 33

High-Achieving Top 20 Preferences in Years 3 and 4 ........................................................................................ 35 High-Achieving Top 20 Preferences in Years 5 and 6 ........................................................................................ 36 Reections on Reading: GP Taylor ....................................................................................................................... 37 High-Achieving Top 20 Preferences in Years 7 and 8 ........................................................................................ 39 High-Achieving Top 20 Preferences in Year 9 ..................................................................................................... 40 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................................ 40
Section Four: Books Struggling Readers Read Most Often........................................... 41

School Spotlight: St Johns Catholic Academy .................................................................................................. 42 Top 20 Titles Struggling Readers Read Most Often in Years 5 and 6 ............................................................. 44 Top 20 Titles Struggling Readers Read Most Often in Years 7 and 8 ............................................................. 45 Top 20 Titles Struggling Readers Read Most Often in Year 9 .......................................................................... 46 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................................ 46
Section Five: Most Read Non-ction Books .................................................................. 47

School Spotlight: Holy Family Primary School ................................................................................................. 48 Top 20 Non-Fiction Titles in Years 3 and 4 ........................................................................................................... 50 Top 20 Non-Fiction Titles in Years 5 and 6 .......................................................................................................... 51 Reections on Reading: Cathy Cassidy ............................................................................................................... 52 Top 20 Non-Fiction Titles in Years 7 and 8 .......................................................................................................... 54 Top 20 Non-Fiction Titles in Year 9 ........................................................................................................................ 55 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................................ 55
Section Six: Summary and Discussion ......................................................................... 56

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................. 57 About the Author ....................................................................................................................................................... 58
Section Seven: How it Works ...................................................................................... 59

About Accelerated Reader ....................................................................................................................................... 60 How Accelerated Reader Works ............................................................................................................................... 60 ATOS and Book Levels ............................................................................................................................................... 61 AR BookFinder ............................................................................................................................................................ 61 AR BookGuide ............................................................................................................................................................. 61 The Power of Personalised Practice ......................................................................................................................... 62
Introduction
By Dirk Foch, Managing Director of Renaissance Learning UK
As a company we are encouraged by the impact that our reports have and are delighted to present this years edition containing a wealth of information to which just over 300,000 British schoolchildren representing 1,605 schools have contributed.
Collectively these children read and quizzed almost 4.5 million books containing over 51 billion words. In other words some 25,000 books of appropriate content and diculty were read and understood every single school day. These numbers represent substantial increases over last years Report and emphasise, once again, the power of Reading for Pleasure. Indeed, never has there been a more important time to emphasize the importance of Reading for Pleasure and the impact that it has, not only on academic achievement, but also on childrens attitudes towards learning and school. Literacy is at the heart of learning, and as a nation we depend on creating an educated workforce that is able to compete in the modern era. This report provides a continuing update of which books children recommend together with evidence of the most popular books by age and gender. 2012 saw many initiatives come and go each one hoping to encourage children to pick up a book and read. Few, if any, however have had the impact of Accelerated Reader, which not only creates a stimulating environment to encourage (sometimes reluctant) readers to pick up a book and read, but also provides evidence of engagement and reading progress for pupil, teacher and parent/guardian. In the 2013 Report you will again be able to nd information on the books that children read most often, organised by gender and Year level. Children get to vote on their favourite books and authors plus we have a section on those books that are read most often by struggling readers, as well as those read by high-achieving readers. Interestingly the most read books are not always the most highly recommended books and this suggests that schools may want to consider how they can better access the peer recommendations with AR. Some of the key messages in this years Report are: Students seem to be taking more care over their books and reading with greater accuracy, particularly those of low ability After closing the gap last year, boys are continuing to keep pace with the girls
Dirk Foch is Managing

Director of Renaissance Learning UK Ltd, a leading provider of educational solutions to pupils of all ages and abilities with advanced technology that makes the practice component of a schools reading, maths and writing curriculum more personalised and eective.
Adopted by tens of thousands of schools worldwide and used by over 500,000 children in the UK every day, Renaissance Learnings web-based Accelerated Reader, STAR Reading and STAR Early Literacy software together with equally eective numeracy software are proven to enhance individualised instruction to create a better learning environment for all pupils.
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Introduction By Dirk Foch, Managing Director of Renaissance Learning UK

The more motivating the book, the greater the level of diculty emphasising the importance of access to a wide selection of suitably challenging books and the need for good book knowledge from teachers and librarians on the titles available. Interspersed throughout the Report you will nd exciting contributions from authors known around the world. We are proud to be able to include reections on reading by Je Kinney, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid author; Childrens Laureate and Grualo author Julia Donaldson; GP Taylor, of Mariah Mundi and Shadowmancer fame; Blue Peter Award winner Ali Sparkes, and last but not least, Cathy Cassidy who is one of this years World Book Day (2013) authors. In addition, you will nd contributions by Julie King, KS2 Teacher and Reading Co-ordinator, Hucknall National Primary School; David Edwards, Assistant Headteacher, Hazlegrove Preparatory School; Tommy McDermott, Literacy Co-ordinator, Holy Family Primary School, and Linzi Heads, Librarian, St Johns Catholic Academy who discuss the impact that reading and creating a reading culture has had on their schools. You will also be able to see which books are the most read in their respective schools. The importance of Reading for Pleasure and its positive impact on academic achievement, as identied in the 2011 PISA study, cannot be overstated and we are proud of the role Accelerated Reader (AR) is playing in raising literacy standards amongst students of all ages and abilities across the UK. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Topping and all the contributors to the 2013 report, our literacy partners such as the National Literacy Trust and the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals (CILIP) for their support, and I hope you will enjoy reading it. A copy of this report, together with a Summary of the Key Findings, will be available to view online at:
Accelerated Reader creates a stimulating environment to encourage (sometimes reluctant) readers to pick up a book and read
Literacy is at the heart of learning, and as a nation we depend on creating an educated workforce that is able to compete in the modern era.
Accelerated Reader provides evidence of engagement and reading progress for pupil, teacher and parent/guardian
www.readforpleasure.co.uk/wkar/2013
Dirk Foch
Managing Director, Renaissance Learning UK Ltd.
vii
Foreword
By Je Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kids series
When the notion for Diary of a Wimpy Kid popped into my head in 1998, I was about as far from a childrens book author as I could get.
I had a criminal justice degree and was working as a medical software developer with a dream of becoming a newspaper cartoonist. After suering through a few years of rejection letters from various comics syndicates, I realized I needed to take a dierent approach. I decided Id try to write a book and use it as a sort of Trojan Horse for delivering my comics. Whats more, my cartoons werent intended for children. Ive always seen comics as a medium for adults, with kids coming along for the ride because of the funny pictures. But my publisher had a dierent take on my material, and before I knew it, I was a childrens author. Having come into the writing profession sideways, I didnt have a basic knowledge of the industry, nor did I have a good understanding of my now-target audience. My biggest surprise came early on, when I found out that my potential readership (i.e., boys) didnt, strictly speaking, like to read. The reluctant reader phenomenon was completely alien to me at the time. I say all of this to make it clear that Im not an expert when it comes to child literacy. Im not an educator, nor do I consider myself to be a particularly good writer. So when I answer the question What should kids be reading?, I do so as a regular person who just so happens to be a former kid. Either by design or by accident, my parents turned me into an avid reader. My mother was an early childhood educator, so picture books lled our home. Before I could read on my own, Id ip through the pages and try to imagine what must be happening to Swimmy, or the terrifying beasts in Where the Wild Things Are. My father took it upon himself to teach me to read by the time I entered kindergarten, using the Dick and Jane canon as a syllabus. (In fact, I think those books motivated me to learn to read quickly, because I wanted to escape the strange universe of that brother-sister pair at the rst possible opportunity.) When the training wheels came o, I gobbled up books, leaning toward the large-format Dr. Seuss books like The Sneetches and I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today. Eventually I graduated to Shel Silversteins poetry compilations, A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends. Seuss and Silverstein shared characteristics that spoke to me at that age; a clean line and a wicked sense of humor. Finally, I found my literary nirvana in a bureau drawer by my fathers bedside. He had amassed a stash of comic books
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Je Kinney is an online
game developer and designer, and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. He was named one of Time magazines 100 Most Inuential People in the World. Je spent his childhood in the Washington, DC, area and moved to New England in 1995. He lives in southern Massachusetts with his wife and their two sons.
The way I see it, our goal as parents is to respond to our childrens interests without judgment and to be ready with a new book in hand. The What Kids Are Reading report may serve as a handy resource for nding new titles to interest the reader(s) in your life.
Foreword By Je Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kids series

dating back to his own childhood and jealously protected them, safe from the peanut butter and jelly-smeared hands of his four kids. It was here that I discovered such marvels as Two-Fisted Tales, Little Lulu, and Sad Sack. But when I dug deeper, I found the real treasure: a pile of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics written by Carl Barks, which feature the best storytelling Ive ever read, bar none. I spent years ferreting my fathers comic books into my room, two or three at a time so he didnt notice they were missing. The combination of the artwork, the writing, and the feeling that I was doing something that was forbidden left a deep and lasting mark on me. I didnt know it then, but I know it now: I had no choice but to become a cartoonist. Eventually my shared interest with my father surfaced, and once everything was out in the open, comics created a lasting bond between us. The comics my father read as a kid were now being reprinted, and every week a freshly minted Carl Barks masterpiece arrived at the local 7-Eleven. Exciting times. Whats more, a fresh new wave of cartoons, including The Far Side, Bloom County, and Calvin and Hobbes, began to appear in the newspaper, breathing new life into the comics page and providing me with a steady diet of daily content. If my fate hadnt been sealed up to this point, now it was all but certain. Of course, an eager reader cant survive on comics alone. Sometimes your mind wants to paint its own picture and not have things so spelled out. So when it came to novels, I turned to Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary, who told masterful stories using ordinary materials. Eventually, my adolescent brain needed something a bit more outlandish, and I turned to fantasy. The works of J. R. R. Tolkien, Piers Anthony, and Terry Brooks rounded out my middle and high school years. Knowing what I know now, I should consider it a miracle that as a boy, I came to reading naturally and read without prompting. There were no 15-minutesa-night-of-reading mandates in my house. If anything, my mother had to tell me to put the book down, turn o the lights, and go to sleep. Fast forward to the publication of Diary of a Wimpy Kid in 2007, and my rst exposure to the reluctant reader phenomenon. At the time, my two boys were four and two, and given the ood of e-mails I received from parents who said their kids refused to read anything but my books, I braced myself for the worst. I thought it was a certainty that my boys would need to be prodded, cajoled, and maybe bribed into reading.
And then the unexpected happened when my older son turned eight. In one remarkable summer, he read not only the entire Harry Potter series but the Percy Jackson series as well. Soon, we found that we couldnt keep up with his reading appetite, and he can devour a book a night. My younger son is following his example, perhaps to keep up with his older sibling, but perhaps not. I dont know how this happened and I certainly dont take credit for it. Perhaps it was because we had plenty of books in our home. Perhaps its because Im an author, and my sons have been exposed to plenty of bookstores and a culture of reading. Or maybe it has nothing to do with me at all. As parents, my wife and I are just along for the ride. We do our best to respond to our kids interests and feed their appetites. My older son cant get enough of stories about warrior animals, and my younger son cant get enough of stories about sports. The way I see it, our goal as parents is to respond to their interests without judgment and to be ready with a new book in hand. The What Kids Are Reading report may serve as a handy resource for nding new titles to interest the reader(s) in your life. My answer to the question What should kids be reading? is simple: Whatever captures their interest, in whatever format. Because kids interests will shape the people theyll become.
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Executive Summary
This is the fth consecutive report to provide detailed information on the books school children are actually reading. Using the Accelerated Reader (AR) software oering computerised quizzes on real books, data on the free reading habits of children can be captured. The tables in this report summarise quizzes taken by UK pupils on books read between August 1, 2011 and July 31, 2012. We report the results for 300,144 children in 1,605 schools, who read more than 4,450,990 books or an astonishing 51,081,814,590 words. Thus compared to last year, many more children were participating, and participating children were also quizzing on more books. Slightly more boys than girls yielded data.
Average Book Diculty

The average book diculty rises as pupils get older, but not in proportion to the rate at which the pupils should be improving in reading. A high number of quizzes taken and passed is sustained into the rst two years of secondary school (Year 7, except in Scotland). However, after Year 6 the book diculty level atlines to below the actual age of the pupils, which is alarming. Furthermore, it does so with a step change downwards, rather than a continuation of the gentle decline which is seen in the upper years of the primary school. It appears that there is something seriously amiss with the way secondary schools encourage young people to read. If the older readers challenged themselves more, better reading outcomes could be anticipated. Against this has to be set the tendency for AR to move out of the mainstream in the later years of secondary school, generally being used as an intervention resource.
Diculty of Books Read

The Average Percent Correct on quizzes taken was in every year lower than that recommended by the software manufacturers (0.69 0.79 cf. 0.85), but once tests not passed (<60%) are disregarded, the gure is much nearer the 85% criterion. There are signs of diculty of books rising since last year, which is indeed to be welcomed. In the nine Years, there was an increase in diculty in ve of the Years. This may indicate that teachers are becoming more procient at guiding pupils towards books of an appropriate level of diculty.
After Year 6 the book diculty level declines below the actual age of the pupils
Boys Diculty
Last year we noted that boys' diculty was no longer generally lower than girls'. This year, unfortunately, things have gone back to the way they always were before, with girls performing better, although not by much. In ve of the Years, boys and girls diculty was equal. In three Years boys diculty was lower, and in one Year girls diculty was lower. Whether this dierence is signicant is questionable, and we may be better thinking of boys and girls diculty as being the same. If this is the case, this can still no longer be regarded as a reason for male under-achievement in reading.
Average Percent Correct

Turning to Average Percent Correct (APC), in three early Years 1-3, APC is well above 85%, at 0.90. In the subsequent three Years, APC stays at the 0.90 level on average, but in each Year 1-3 books are noted as failing to meet the 85% criterion. In the
x
nal Years 7-9 of secondary school, the average APC goes down (to 0.87%), but the number of books failing to meet the 85% criterion goes up to 5 in each year. However, in general this is similar to 2012.
Popularity of Authors
Overall, Roald Dahl and Je Kinney were equal for the top author (34 mentions each). This represents an increase from last year by Kinney. However, neither of these authors is in the list of most popular books (see Section Two). Roderick Hunt also had many mentions, all with young children. After this comes Francesca Simon, again proving the popularity of her Horrid Henry series amongst boys. Below this, Suzanne Collins is notable as a new entrant (7 mentions). Allen Ahlberg, J. K. Rowling and Michael Morpurgo all feature lower down the order. Martin Waddell is a newcomer with 4 mentions.
High-Achieving Readers
Books read by high-achieving readers were dened as books read by pupils who were reading at two or more years above their actual chronological year level. The picture regarding diculty of books is mixed. There is evidence of increases in diculty in the lower primary years, but in the upper primary years diculty had stayed the same and in the lower secondary years diculty had declined. Coupling this latter observation with the ndings from the overall table for all readers in the secondary years, the view that teachers and librarians are not successfully encouraging pupils to read harder books is reinforced. APC in general was adequate although this is perhaps not surprising when the diculty of books is declining. In 2013, Rowling has 36 mentions (similar to last year) and Dahl 12 mentions (much less than last year). Splitting them is Je Kinney with a greatly increased 31 mentions. Collins comes next with nine mentions a promising newcomer indeed.
Struggling Readers
Then we consider books read by struggling readers dened as books read by pupils who were reading at two or more years below their actual chronological year level. To some extent struggling readers chose the same books that appeared on the lists for average readers (especially in the later years), but they chose those that appeared for average readers at a lower chronological age. Peter Lancett's Hi-Lo books were very popular, but they continued to be read long after their low readability oered any challenge to the pupils. The diculty of the books read started almost at the right level (two years behind chronological age), but very quickly the diculty fell away until the readers were very much under-challenged. However, this was less so than in previous years, so perhaps there are signs that pupils and/or teachers are becoming more proactive in this regard. There were also encouraging fell below the signs that APC was holding up recommended better, and fewer books fell 85% criterion. below the recommended 85% criterion. This suggests that teachers and librarians are being more careful in encouraging pupils to read, understand and successfully quiz on books.
Fewer books
Non-ction Books
Most read non-ction books were then considered. In Years 3 to 5, diculty was above the chronological age of the pupils, holding up similar to that for average ction books. However, once beyond Year 5 it began to decline, just as with average ction books. Thus there was no evidence that pupils read harder non-ction books than ction. Additionally, APC tended to be lower than was the case for ction and the number of books not read to the criterion of 85% was unacceptably high it seemed that the non-ction books were not read or understood as carefully as the ction books. These results were similar to the previous year. However, from Year 7 onwards, a dierent picture emerged. Books tended to be much less dicult and (perhaps not surprisingly) were read with greater accuracy. However, after secondary transfer books suddenly became dominated by male themes. Additionally, children began to develop preferences for particular non-ction authors.
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Favourite Books by Vote

In addition to completing quizzes on books to assess their understanding, children also have the opportunity to vote for books in terms of whether they enjoyed the book or not. In the rst years, children are reading very dicult books with a high degree of success it is wonderful what reading motivating books does for children. Chief among these are the Harry Potter books J.K. Rowling might have declined in the quiz lists, but among these favourite books she clearly remains a force to be reckoned with (34 mentions, a further increase from 2012). Second is a new face Suzanne Collins with 14. She is closely followed by Christopher Paolini with 13. Next comes Jacqueline Wilson with 9 mentions. Je Kinney does not appear. Some of these books are aligned with the quiz lists, but many of the authors are not (particularly in the early and late years). Why are children reading books in the quiz lists they do not prefer? Possibly because they only know their favourites after the book has been read. Alternatively, children may be constrained by the books available in school which will have been chosen by teachers or librarians and may tend to reect the preferences of those groups rather than the preferences of children. For the Years 1-5 It is wonderful what children are reading reading motivating favourite books at books does for children far above their chronological ability, but still maintaining a high rate of success in terms of high APC. In Year 6 relative diculty declines somewhat, but children are still reading above their chronological level. There is a marked dierence after Year 6 (the year of secondary transfer). Beyond this point the favoured books are no longer above chronological age and a rapid decline in diculty sets in. Whether this has something to do with secondary transfer is a moot point.
The take-home messages of this report are thus:

The good news:
1) The accuracy with which books are read is rising, although less so in the upper Years 2) The accuracy of reading by low ability readers is rising 3) Boys are performing almost equally to girls 4) Children read highly motivating books at a far higher level of diculty, with accuracy 5) Struggling readers are reading with greater accuracy 6) Many more pupils are quizzing with Accelerated Reader.
The not so good news:

1) There is a marked downturn in diculty of books at secondary transfer. Secondary teachers and librarians need to get better at encouraging children appropriately 2) The diculty even of highly motivating books declines in secondary school 3) Struggling readers are seriously under-challenged 4) High-ability readers are seriously under-challenged 5) Non-ction readers are seriously under-challenged, especially in secondary school where they choose male-dominated books.
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Section One:
Books Kids Are Reading Most Often

School Spotlight: Hazlegrove Preparatory School .................................................................................................. 2 Books Kids Are Reading Most Often .............................................................................................................................. 3 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 1 ................................................................................................................ 5 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 2 ................................................................................................................ 7 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 3 ................................................................................................................ 8 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 4 ................................................................................................................ 9 Reections on Reading: Julia Donaldson ..................................................................................................................... 10 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 5 ................................................................................................................ 13 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 6 ................................................................................................................ 14 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 7 ................................................................................................................ 15 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 8 ................................................................................................................ 17 Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 9-11 ......................................................................................................... 18 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................... 19
School Spotlight
Hazlegrove Preparatory School
It is always disappointing to read, in the press and in the recent National Literacy Trust report, that boys reading appears to be in decline; that boys are turning away from books and that the gender gap is widening. Long experience tells me that this is NOT inevitable, and it is possible and indeed relatively straight-forward to generate and develop a vibrant and exciting culture where reading is seen by boys as fun, cool, and integral to their lives. The Library has become the vibrant heart of the school and every inch of space is regularly covered with children reading their books. Most recently investment in new books has gone into providing a good range of ction for the boys who are now amongst the strongest readers in the school.
David Edwards,
Assistant Headteacher at Hazlegrove Preparatory School in Somerset, explains how the wealth of data available from Renaissance Learnings Accelerated Reader software can be used to motivate even the most reluctant readers.
I think there are two strands to the secret of our success. The rst is that I believe publishers have woken up splendidly to what makes boys tick. The second vital ingredient is competition. Using Accelerated Reader gives us a huge capability to run several competitions: words read, books read, targets met etc. with the most important being our Millionaires' Club. Every child who reads a million words over the term receives a badge, their photo is displayed in the library, and they are invited to a formal millionaires' lunch. In the Terms when we run the club, boys reading goes through the roof, only to dip again when we do something else, and Im not talking a small percentage change: the dierence is radical and astonishing. Of course, having a dedicated and committed librarian is crucial: ours is a wonder, but I would say that we should not accept, at all, what we are led to believe that boys reading is something to worry about. Through hard work, and above all a commitment to instilling a competitive element into the mix, all libraries can be full of boys who see reading as very much the highlight of their day.
The Library has become the vibrant heart of the school and every inch of space is regularly covered with children reading their books.
Top10MostReadTitles:01/08/11-31/07/12 Rank
1 2
BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3)
Rank
6 7 8 9 10

Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) GangstaGranny David Walliams (4.9) PointBlanc Anthony Horowitz (4.8) Shadow Michael Morpurgo (4.9) Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz (5.1)
World Book Day at Hazlegrove Preparatory School
3 4 5

The tables in this book summarise quizzes taken by UK pupils between August 1, 2011 and July 31, 2012 in 1,605 schools across the UK (compared to 1,237 schools over the same period last year).
Table1:TotalandAverageQuizzesTakenandPassed
All Students 1,734 5,539 17,035 20,809 24,147 24,156 106,979 70,623 22,967 4,611 1,292 154 98 300,144 Total Quizzes Taken 30,140 140,209 469,399 546,639 573,080 441,534 1,336,207 693,571 178,637 32,053 7,393 1,356 772 4,450,990 Avg. Quizzes Taken 17.4 25.3 27.6 26.3 23.7 18.3 12.5 9.8 7.8 7 5.7 8.8 7.9 Total Quizzes Passed 26,676 123,657 400,737 466,389 488,228 375,791 1,024,067 533,325 135,735 25,000 5,693 1,056 684 3,607,038 Avg. Quizzes Passed 15.4 22.3 23.5 22.4 20.2 15.6 9.6 7.6 5.9 5.4 4.4 6.9 7 Avg.Book Difficulty Level 2 2.5 2.8 3.3 3.6 4 3.9 4.1 4 3.8 3.3 4.2 4.6 TotalWords Read 22,195,424 173,094,142 1,075,461,376 2,495,736,431 4,420,222,830 5,817,404,047 20,144,826,049 12,818,588,396 3,385,653,223 591,719,303 68,962,845 36,776,739 31,173,785 51,081,814,590 Average Total Words Read 12,800 31,250 63,132 119,935 183,062 240,856 188,309 181,514 147,433 128,327 53,376 238,809 318,099 170,197 APCon Quizzes Taken 0.78 0.79 0.76 0.77 0.78 0.78 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.73 0.72 0.72 0.80
Year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Total
Compared to the previous report, many more children participated in this research (300,144 compared to 213,527) (see Table 1). Slightly more boys than girls yielded data (131,540 cf. 123,917; some genders unknown). The total quizzes taken (= books read) was 4,450,990 as compared to 2,886,920 last year. Thus many more children were participating, but participating children were also quizzing on more books. Pupils in Years 1 to 6 took substantially more quizzes on average than those in later years, although this was tending to aect Year 7 also. This would to some extent be expected as older pupils read longer and harder books, but the sharpness of the division is quite striking. However, Year 7 pupils took the largest number of quizzes overall and Year 8 was also high on this factor. Very small numbers of pupils in Years 12 and 13 took quizzes, and their results can eectively be disregarded. The average book diculty rises as pupils get older, but not in proportion to the rate at which the pupils should be improving in reading. After Year 9 the average book diculty level declines, which is alarming. The Average Percent Correct (APC) on quizzes taken was in every year lower than that recommended by the software manufacturers (0.72 0.80 cf. 0.85) (see Table 1). Overall, the pupils read a total of 51,081,814,590 words, which is indeed impressive, and considerably higher than the 32,463,869,100 reported last year.

Pupil numbers in Years 1-2 and Years 10-13 are small and therefore caution is needed when interpreting these gures. The youngest children take fewer quizzes, then total quizzes taken and passed increases each year up to Year 7 (with a dip in Year 6), after which quizzes taken declines sharply after Year 9. However, this pattern is more favourable than previous years, when the decline in quizzes taken and passed started earlier. The peak school Year for books read is still Year 7, as it was in previous years. This year there is again evidence that the number of quizzes taken and passed is sustained into the rst two years of secondary school (Year 7 and 8, except in Scotland). The average book diculty level rises to Year 9 but the increase is much greater in Years 15 than in Years 6-9. This is just as it was in previous years. The diculty of books read actually declines after Year 9. However, this is more positive than reports from two years ago, in which the diculty declined after Year 6. True, there is something of a plateau from Year 6 to Year 9, but at least no decline. However, it is still the case that if the older readers challenged themselves more, better reading outcomes could be anticipated. Against this has to be set the possibility that AR moves out of the mainstream in the later years of secondary school, potentially being used as an intervention resource. More worrying is the eectiveness with which pupils are taking the quizzes: 4,450,990 were taken but only 3,607,038 passed (81.03%). This is a slight but steady increase from 80.8% the previous year and 80.0% the year before that. The Average Percent Correct on these quizzes varied from 0.72 to 0.80 (average 0.75), a slight improvement on the previous year, but still well below the APC of 85% recommended by the software producers. Again this is higher amongst pupils up to Year 6 than it is for those beyond this level. However, as we shall see later, this APC gure is depressed by the inclusion of the quizzes which were not passed. If only those quizzes which were passed are considered, the APC holds up to the 85% level recommended. We can now ask what books do children in each Year Group read most often overall, while simultaneously considering the diculty level of those books and dierences in reading habits between the genders.
Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

Year 1
As was the case in the last two years, the impressive performance of Roderick Hunt must be noted, with 19 of the 20 choices in the overall category (see Table 2). However, boys and girls tended to read dierent books by Roderick Hunt (although the top three The Magic Key, The Dragon Tree and Castle Adventure were in the top ve for both boys and girls). Reversing the trend from the previous year, girls read somewhat harder books than boys this year (girls had 5 Years in which ATOS was above boys; boys were above girls only twice). Readers will notice that the gender-specic books are somewhat dierent from the general rankings this is because there was a large number of "gender unassigned" pupils. Generally, the Average Percent Correct (APC) was high (0.87 0.91), averaging 0.89, suggesting these pupils were reading these books successfully, much in line with the recommendations of the software producers (although these gures were a little lower than the previous year).
4
The APC was high even on some books of high readability for this Year. There were some interesting changes from the previous year. Average ATOS level of diculty of books was 1.5 (In UK terms, 2.5), suggesting pupils were reading at one and a half years above their chronological age or natural reading ability. This is about the same as in 2012. The Dragon Tree has leapt up the rankings, and Village in the Snow and Were Going on a Bear Hunt (the only book not by Roderick Hunt) has shown considerable advances. The Outing, A Monster Mistake and Christmas Adventure have also improved in the overall rankings.

Table2:Top20TitlesforBoysandGirlsinYear1 2013 Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
3 42 10 6 4 17 8 41 2 15 12 21 56 55 7 28 19 1 23 31
Overall*
TheMagicKey Roderick Hunt (1.3) WereGoingonaBearHunt Michael J. Rosen (1.3) VillageintheSnow Roderick Hunt (1.5) KipperandtheGiant Roderick Hunt (2.0) IntheGarden Roderick Hunt (1.8) CastleAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.5) LandoftheDinosaurs Roderick Hunt (2.0) PirateAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.4) TheDragonTree Roderick Hunt (1.2) TheSecretRoom Roderick Hunt (1.1) RobinHood Roderick Hunt (2.2) Gran Roderick Hunt (1.4) LandoftheDinosaurs Roderick Hunt (2.0) UndergroundAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.3) ChristmasAdventure Roderick Hunt (2.1) TheStorm Roderick Hunt (1.0) AMonsterMistake Roderick Hunt (1.6) AFrightintheNight Roderick Hunt (1.8) ThePlay Roderick Hunt (1.0) TheOuting Roderick Hunt (2.0)
Boys
TheMagicKey Roderick Hunt (1.3) PirateAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.4) IntheGarden Roderick Hunt (1.8) KipperandtheGiant Roderick Hunt (2.0) TheDragonTree Roderick Hunt (1.2) CastleAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.5) RobinHood Roderick Hunt (2.2) LandoftheDinosaurs Roderick Hunt (2.0) ChristmasAdventure Roderick Hun (2.1) VillageintheSnow Roderick Hunt (1.5) TheOuting Roderick Hunt (2.0) AMonsterMistake Roderick Hunt (1.6) Gran Roderick Hunt (1.4) TheShinyKey Roderick Hunt ( 2.1) Noah'sArkAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.7) TheGo-kartRace Roderick Hunt (1.9) AFrightintheNight Roderick Hunt (1.8) TheTreasureChest Roderick Hunt (2.5) We'reGoingonaBearHunt Michael J. Rosen (1.3) TheStorm Roderick Hunt (1.0)
Girls
TheMagicKey Roderick Hunt (1.3) VillageintheSnow Roderick Hunt (1.5) TheDragonTree Roderick Hunt (1.2) CastleAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.5) Gran Roderick Hunt (1.4) LandoftheDinosaurs Roderick Hunt (2.0) IntheGarden Roderick Hunt (1.8) UndergroundAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.3) KipperandtheGiant Roderick Hunt (2.0) PirateAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.4) We'reGoingonaBearHunt Michael J. Rosen (1.3) ChristmasAdventure Roderick Hunt (2.1) TheNewBaby Roderick Hunt (1.6) TheSecretRoom Roderick Hunt (1.1) AFrightintheNight Roderick Hunt (1.8) AMonsterMistake Roderick Hunt (1.6) TheWhatsit Roderick Hunt (1.3) ANewClassroom Roderick Hunt (1.7) TheOuting Roderick Hunt (2.0) RobinHood Roderick Hunt (2.2)
* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Year 2
In Year 2, The Grualo is uniformly top, closely followed by Owl Babies, while Michael Rosen's We're Going on a Bear Hunt does well. Again Roderick Hunt does very well with 11 books (up from last year, although these are not the most popular), while Martin Waddell has two (see Table 3). Again, the APC is high (0.85 0.97), for both boys and girls (average APC 0.90 for both), suggesting these pupils were reading these books successfully, and it was also high even on some books of high diculty for this Year. Average ATOS was 2.0 (UK 3.0), slightly higher than in 2012, suggesting pupils were reading a year above their chronological age. Boys chose 13 Roderick Hunt books while girls chose only 10 less of a dierential than last year, with girls reading more Roderick Hunt. Girls were no longer choosing books more closely aligned to female role models, and girls choices were no harder than boys, a change from previous years. Books had not changed their positions overmuch from previous years, although The Broken Roof and Christmas Adventure showed considerable increase in popularity.
Year 3
For Year 3, Allan Ahlberg does well with ve books, while Roald Dahl has four (see Table 4). The diculty level is high at 2.8 (3.8 if converted to UK Years) this is similar to last year. Children were reading books well above their actual Year level. APCs are still high (0.85 0.94, although not as high as last year), with an average of 0.90, slightly higher for girls. Boys chose 15 books that were dierent from those chosen by girls. Girls preferred books that depicted female role models. Boys and girls choices were of equivalent diculty, unlike last year, when girls choices were more dicult. There has not been a great deal of change from last year in books chosen, although Horrid Henrys Underpants by Francesca Simon does seem to have shot up the list.
Year 4
In Year 4, Roald Dahl does extremely well with ve books in the top six (see Table 5). Francesca Simon has 10, similar to last year. Again, APC is generally high, but beginning to decline, with three books quizzing below the 85% criterion overall (although three for boys and only one for girls). Nonetheless the overall average APC is little dierent between boys and girls (0.88, 0.89). Diculty overall had risen to 3.8, an improvement on last year. However, the average diculty of books chosen by boys was slightly higher than that for girls (boys' average ATOS 3.8, girls' 3.6). The top three books were common to both boys and girls after that there was more divergence. Boys chose only ve books that were not chosen by girls, who also chose Horrid Henry books in considerable numbers (boys 10, girls 7). Boys had begun reading books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, which have a high level of diculty for this age, while girls only read one. Overall, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books showed a sizeable upward shift in popularity.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
1 3 2 5 7 6 4 17 12 13 10 26 28 16 32 9 8 47 70 35
Overall*
TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) OwlBabies Martin Waddell (2.4) We'reGoingonaBearHunt Michael J. Rosen (1.3) VillageintheSnow Roderick Hunt (1.5) CastleAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.5) TheVeryHungryCaterpillar Eric Carle (2.9) PeaceatLast Jill Murphy (1.9) RobinHood Roderick Hunt (2.2) KipperandtheGiant Roderick Hunt (2.0) FarmerDuck Martin Waddell (2.2) LandoftheDinosaurs Roderick Hunt (2.0) RedPlanet Roderick Hunt (2.4) WinnietheWitch Valerie Thomas (2.8) Handa'sSurprise Eileen Browne (1.7) TheDragonTree Roderick Hunt (1.2) NotNow,Bernard David McKee (1.4) IntheGarden Roderick Hunt (1.8) ChristmasAdventure Roderick Hunt (2.1) TheBrokenRoof Roderick Hunt (2.4) LostintheJungle Roderick Hunt (2.3)
Boys
TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) CastleAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.5) OwlBabies Martin Waddell (2.4) VillageintheSnow Roderick Hunt (1.5) RobinHood Roderick Hunt (2.2) TheVeryHungryCaterpillar Eric Carle (2.9) LandoftheDinosaurs Roderick Hunt (2.0) We'reGoingonaBearHunt Michael J. Rosen (1.3) RedPlanet Roderick Hunt (2.4) KipperandtheGiant Roderick Hunt (2.0) TheLostKey Roderick Hunt (2.7) NotNow,Bernard David McKee (1.4) PeaceatLast Jill Murphy (1.9) TheDragonTree Roderick Hunt (1.2) TheRainbowMachine Roderick Hunt (2.6) TheTreasureChest Roderick Hunt (2.5) Gran Roderick Hunt (1.4) FarmerDuck Martin Waddell (2.2) ChristmasAdventure Roderick Hunt (2.1) TheBrokenRoof Roderick Hunt (2.4)
Girls
TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) OwlBabies Martin Waddell (2.4) PeaceatLast Jill Murphy (1.9) We'reGoingonaBearHunt Michael J. Rosen (1.3) WinnietheWitch Valerie Thomas (2.8) TheVeryHungryCaterpillar Eric Carle (2.9) VillageintheSnow Roderick Hunt (1.5) FarmerDuck Martin Waddell (2.2) RobinHood Roderick Hunt (2.2) CastleAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.5) Handa'sSurprise Eileen Browne (1.7) KipperandtheGiant Roderick Hunt (2.0) IntheGarden Roderick Hunt (1.8) ChristmasAdventure Roderick Hunt (2.1) MrsWobbletheWaitress Allan Ahlberg (2.5) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) TheOuting Roderick Hunt (2.0) AFrightintheNight Roderick Hunt (1.8) LandoftheDinosaurs Roderick Hunt (2.0) TheDragonTree Roderick Hunt (1.2)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
1 2 6 8 14 10 16 3 7 5 25 12 35 26 21 29 70 11 4 32
Overall*
TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) OwlBabies Martin Waddell (2.4) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) HorridHenryandtheSecretClub Francesca Simon (3.2) MrsWobbletheWaitress Allan Ahlberg (2.5) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) MrBifftheBoxer Allan Ahlberg (2.2) TheVeryHungryCaterpillar Eric Carle (2.9) FarmerDuck Martin Waddell (2.2) MasterMoneytheMillionaire Allan Ahlberg (3.1) HorridHenryMeetstheQueen Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry...BogeyBabysitter Francesca Simon (3.2) MasterBuntheBakers'Boy Allan Ahlberg (3.0) MrCosmotheConjuror Allan Ahlberg (2.4) HorridHenry'sUnderpants Francesca Simon (3.3) TheTigerWhoCametoTea Judith Kerr (3.2) MrCool Jacqueline Wilson (2.6) We'reGoingonaBearHunt Michael J. Rosen (1.3)
Boys
TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) OwlBabies Martin Waddell (2.4) HorridHenryandtheSecretClub Francesca Simon (3.2) MrBifftheBoxer Allan Ahlberg (2.2) HorridHenry...BogeyBabysitter Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry...FootballFiend Francesca Simon (3.6) RedPlanet Roderick Hunt (2.4) LostintheJungle Roderick Hunt (2.3) HorridHenryMeetstheQueen Francesca Simon (3.2) RobinHood Roderick Hunt (2.2) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) HorridHenry'sStinkbomb Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry Francesca Simon (3.3) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) NotNow,Bernard David McKee (1.4) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) HorridHenry'sUnderpants Francesca Simon (3.3) KipperandtheGiant Roderick Hunt (2.0) FarmerDuck Martin Waddell (2.2)
Girls
TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) OwlBabies Martin Waddell (2.4) MrsWobbletheWaitress Allan Ahlberg (2.5) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) TheTigerWhoCametoTea Judith Kerr (3.2) MasterMoneytheMillionaire Allan Ahlberg (3.1) MrsVoletheVet Allan Ahlberg (2.1) MasterBuntheBakers'Boy Allan Ahlberg (3.0) MrsPlugthePlumber Allan Ahlberg (2.6) TheVeryHungryCaterpillar Eric Carle (2.9) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) MrsLather'sLaundry Allan Ahlberg (2.9) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) MissDirttheDustman'sDaughter Allan Ahlberg (2.7) We'reGoingonaBearHunt Michael J. Rosen (1.3) TheMonsterStory-Teller Jacqueline Wilson (3.0) WinnietheWitch Valerie Thomas (2.8) MrCool Jacqueline Wilson (2.6) MrCosmotheConjuror Allan Ahlberg (2.4)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2012 Rank
2 3 4 1 19 5 9 29 8 53
Overall*
FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) HorridHenryMeetstheQueen Francesca Simon (3.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) HorridHenry'sHauntedHouse Francesca Simon (3.7) HorridHenry...FootballFiend Francesca Simon (3.6) HorridHenry...BogeyBabysitter Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry...Mummy'sCurse Francesca Simon (3.5) HorridHenryandtheSecretClub Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenryandtheMega-Mean TimeMachine Francesca Simon (3.4) HorridHenry'sNits Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry Francesca Simon (3.3) HorridHenry'sUnderpants Francesca Simon (3.3)
Boys
FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) HorridHenry...FootballFiend Francesca Simon (3.6) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) HorridHenryandtheMega-Mean TimeMachine Francesca Simon (3.4) HorridHenry'sHauntedHouse Francesca Simon (3.7) HorridHenryMeetstheQueen Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry...Mummy'sCurse Francesca Simon (3.5) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) HorridHenryandtheSecretClub Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry Francesca Simon (3.3) HorridHenry'sStinkbomb Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry...BogeyBabysitter Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry'sNits Francesca Simon (3.2)
Girls
TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) TheDinosaur'sPackedLunch Jacqueline Wilson (3.2) TheDiaryofaKillerCat Anne Fine (3.3) HorridHenry'sNits Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenryMeetstheQueen Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry...BogeyBabysitter Francesca Simon (3.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) HorridHenryandtheSecretClub Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry'sUnderpants Francesca Simon (3.3) LizzieZipmouth Jacqueline Wilson (3.5) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) Funnybones Janet Ahlberg (3.6) HorridHenry'sHauntedHouse Francesca Simon (3.7) TheMonsterStory-Teller Jacqueline Wilson (3.0) HorridHenry Francesca Simon (3.3)
11
44
12 13 14 15 16
26 7 10 15 6
17
20
18 19 20
16 11 18
Reflections on Reading: Julia Donaldson

When my oldest child was seven, I volunteered to help in his school. My task each week was to shepherd a little reading group into the cookery room, where I was supposed to hear them read one by one while the others got on with their work.
It wasnt a great success: the readers were expressionless and the non-readers mucked about till it was their turn. I racked my brains for a way of involving and interesting everyone, and hit on the idea of plays. As Christmas was approaching, I wrote a short play a sketch, really about Father Christmas, his reindeer and a monster called the Sockosaurus. It had the right number of parts for the reading group, and at the initial read-through I cast the most able readers as Father Christmas and the Sockosaurus, with the weaker ones reading the reindeer. But then we rotated the parts and read the play through again. After a couple more rotations I cast the play denitively and the excited actors emerged from the cookery room to present the rest of the class with a dramatic rehearsed reading of Father Christmas and the Sockosaurus. After that I started to write a play each week for a dierent reading group. The childrens reading denitely improved. In particular, I noticed: - They started to read with much greater expression - They also became better at silent reading because they couldnt drift o into a daydream when it was someone elses turn: they had to read along in order to keep up and come in on cue - New words sank in thanks to the repeated readings. But the repetition was not boring (the way re-reading a story can be) because we kept swapping the parts round. - They began to see reading as something fun to do; there was a buzz each week among the group whose turn it was to do the play reading, and the anticipation of the performance kept them keen. - Sometimes children in the audience would be amazed when they saw a child theyd thought of as a non-reader doing a good job in a role, which was of course wonderful for that childs self-condence. A few years later my rst book was published, and once again I found myself in a classroom, this time doing my rst ever author visit. The idea of talking about my books to a class of seven-year-olds was a bit daunting, so I decided to act out A Squash and a Squeeze. It was easy. I just got the children in a circle, with two of them lifting their arms to form an arch, then chose four animals and a wise old man to stand outside the circle while I, as the little old lady, stayed in the middle. Some of the children in the circle were the curtains and some were the food, and they all joined in the chorus. This was a very dierent kind of dramatic activity from the readinggroup playlets. Whereas the playlets were intended to actually
Julia Donaldson is
the author of over 120 books and plays for children and teenagers, including The Grualo, Room on the Broom, Stick Man, Cave Baby, Freddie and the Fairy and What the Ladybird Heard and the award-winning teenage novel Running on the Cracks. In 2010, Julia was the most borrowed children's author from UK libraries and she became Childrens Laureate in 2011.
Play-acting, besides helping children to read and write, work wonders for their self-condence.
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improve childrens reading ability (in a fun way), the picture-book plays for a whole class involved little actual reading, but nevertheless helped children enjoy the books and thus motivated them to want to read. When I became the childrens laureate in 2011 I determined to make classroom drama one of my priorities. In my acceptance speech I said that I would love to create a whole series of playlets such as the ones Id written for my sons school. I am delighted to say that the educational publisher Pearson rose to the bait and that a series of 36 such short plays is now available, written both by such esteemed authors as Geraldine McCaughrean, Jeanne Willis, Viv French and the two Steves (Skidmore and Barlowe), as well as by myself.
Children love watching other children act, and perhaps never so much as when they have written the plays themselves. Whereas it can be really hard for a child (or for an established author!) to write an original story with a convincing plot, a play can be based on an existing story, and the children can have fun concentrating on the dialogue and characterisation. When I was a writer in residence in Glasgow, I worked with an inspirational teacher who encouraged her class to write their own versions of The Three Little Pigs. They had to start with a cast list and choose an adjective to describe each character, for instance: Mother Pig: bossy Pig 1: shy Pig 2: adventurous Pig 3: clever Man with straw: clumsy Man with sticks: jokey Man with bricks: cunning It was amazing how many dierent versions of the original story emerged, and the children then enjoyed performing the most successful plays to each other. I cant help feeling that in Britain we have a built-in resistance to acting, somehow associating it with showing o: its just not done to draw attention to yourself. I think this attitude needs combatting. Play-acting, besides helping children to read and write, work wonders for their selfcondence. Ive sat through countless dreary almost inaudible powerpoint presentations by adults who were once reticent children. Perhaps more classroom drama will make that experience a thing of the past.
Geraldine McCaughrean
Viv French
Jeanne Willis
The two Steves (Skidmore and Barlowe)
I also was keen to see whole classes act out picturebook plays, the way Id been doing on my visits to schools and libraries, and so I spent much of last year creating a website where teachers and children can get and share tips, pictures and videos of dramas based on over a hundred picture books. Its called www.picturebookplays.co.uk. In addition, I have helped Pearson to turn six well-known picture books into printed play versions, which were published earlier this year. (These are called Plays to Act, to distinguish them from the 36 playlets which are Plays to Read.)
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Year 5
In Year 5, boys and girls performed equally well in term of sustaining APC (0.90 average), but three books for boys and three for girls tested below the 85% criterion. The diculty level of girls books was a little higher than that for boys (4.6 vs. 4.4). Adding the extra year for UK conversion, these pupils were still reading at a 5.5 year level of reading. This is a considerable increase compared to last year, which is good. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books have moved rmly to the top of the ratings, especially for boys, for whom they occupy the rst six places. The new Wimpy Kid books are strong entrants to the ratings, but otherwise little has changed from previous years. Below that, Roald Dahl does well with seven books. For boys Francesca Simons Horrid Henry books are still popular, while girls continue to prefer Jacqueline Wilson (see Table 6). However, there is even less divergence between genders than last year.
Year 6
Year 6 pupils show identical average diculty (boys 4.7, girls 4.8), and almost identical Average Percent Correct (0.90). Amazingly, the Wimpy Kid books occupy the rst six places in the table for both boys and girls. This represents a considerable shift of interest for girls, but girls are still also enjoying Jacqueline Wilson and Roald Dahl, as last year (see Table 7). Little has moved from last year, apart from the new Wimpy Kid book. David Walliams two new books also make a strong showing. Michael Morpurgos War Horse shoots into the table, and Anthony Horowitzs Stormbreaker has also risen sharply. Dav Pilkey is showing strongly among boys. Diculty has increased slightly from last year (to 4.9). This is the last year at which pupils are reading at their natural age level. APC has shown an improvement again, with only one book for boys and one for girls being below the criterion of 85%. Nine of the top 10 books were common to both boys and girls, an increase over last year. After that there was more divergence.
Year 7
Year 7 is the rst secondary year (except in Scotland). Average Percent Correct takes a downward turn in this Year. Overall, ve books have an APC of less than 85%, (7 for boys and 5 for girls, similar to last year). APC remains just satisfactory at 0.87 (0.86 for boys and 0.87 for girls). The diculty of books averages at 4.8 (5.8 in UK terms) for both boys and girls, suggesting these pupils are reading at over a year below their chronological age. This is the same as last year. The ATOS scores have not risen at all from the previous year. Je Kinney again dominates the rankings, especially for boys (for whom he takes the rst six places again), but also for girls (for whom he appears six times in the rst 14 places). This is even better than last year, when he was also high. Roald Dahl has ve but not in such high places (similar to last year). New books include Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games (up from 745!), and new books from Je Kinney and Lincoln Pierce (see Table 8). Otherwise there are not too many changes. Jacqueline Wilson continues to have a strong presence for girls with 10 books, similar to last year, and she even has two in the boys list. Boys also liked Dav Pilkey (three books, like last year).
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
2012 Rank
1 3 5 2 9 6 4 NA 11 7 8 10 12 19
Overall*
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) TheGiraffeandthePellyandMe Roald Dahl (4.7) HorridHenry'sHauntedHouse Francesca Simon (3.7) HorridHenry'sNits Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry...Mummy'sCurse Francesca Simon (3.5) HorridHenry...FootballFiend Francesca Simon (3.6) HorridHenryandtheSecretClub Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry Francesca Simon (3.3) HorridHenryandtheMega-Mean TimeMachine Francesca Simon (3.4)
Boys
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) Charlie....ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) HorridHenry...FootballFiend Francesca Simon (3.6) CaptainUnderpantsandtheAttackoftheTalkingToilets Dav Pilkey (4.7) TheAdventuresofCaptain Underpants Dav Pilkey (4.3) HorridHenryandtheSecretClub Francesca Simon (3.2) HorridHenry'sHauntedHouse Francesca Simon (3.7) HorridHenry...Mummy'sCurse Francesca Simon (3.5) HorridHenryandtheMega-Mean TimeMachine Francesca Simon (3.4) TheGiraffeandthePellyandMe Roald Dahl (4.7)
Girls
TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) TheGiraffeandthePellyandMe Roald Dahl (4.7) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) TheSuitcaseKid Jacqueline Wilson (4.9) Matilda Roald Dahl (5.0) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Sleepovers Jacqueline Wilson (4.2) TheDiaryofaKillerCat Anne Fine (3.3) LizzieZipmouth Jacqueline Wilson (3.5) BestFriends Jacqueline Wilson (4.5) DoubleAct Jacqueline Wilson (4.1)
15
20
16 17 18
16 13 15
19
25
20
21
13

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2012 Rank
1 2 3 4 NA 6 5 7 9 8 10 17
Overall*
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) TheGiraffeandthePellyandMe Roald Dahl (4.7) GangstaGranny David Walliams (4.9) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) Kensuke'sKingdom Michael Morpurgo (4.7) BillionaireBoy David Walliams (4.1) Matilda Roald Dahl (5.0) Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz (5.1) WarHorse Michael Morpurgo (5.9)
Boys
Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz (5.1) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) CaptainUnderpantsandthe AttackoftheTalkingToilets Dav Pilkey (4.7) TheAdventuresofCaptain Underpants Dav Pilkey (4.3) BillionaireBoy David Walliams (4.1) PointBlanc Anthony Horowitz (4.8) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) HorridHenry...FootballFiend Francesca Simon (3.6) GangstaGranny David Walliams (4.9) TheGiraffeandthePellyandMe Roald Dahl (4.7)
Girls
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) TheSuitcaseKid Jacqueline Wilson (4.9) LilyAlone Jacqueline Wilson (4.6) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) Sleepovers Jacqueline Wilson (4.2) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) BestFriends Jacqueline Wilson (4.5) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) Candyfloss Jacqueline Wilson (4.5) Matilda Roald Dahl (5.0) DoubleAct Jacqueline Wilson (4.1) Cookie Jacqueline Wilson (4.4) HettyFeather Jacqueline Wilson (5.1)
13
13
14
NA
15 16 17 18 19 20
14 11 NA 20 34 116
14

1 2 3 4 5 6
2012 Rank
1 2 4 6 7 NA
Overall*
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) Skellig David Almond (3.5) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) BigNate:TheBoywiththe BiggestHeadintheWorld Lincoln Peirce (3.3) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) Holes Louis Sachar (4.6) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) Cookie Jacqueline Wilson (4.4) Candyfloss Jacqueline Wilson (4.5)
Boys
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney ( 5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) BigNate:TheBoywiththe BiggestHeadintheWorld Lincoln Peirce (3.3) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) CaptainUnderpantsandthe AttackoftheTalkingToilets Dav Pilkey (4.7) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) Skellig David Almond (3.5) TheAdventuresofCaptain Underpants Dav Pilkey (4.3) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz (5.1) Holes Louis Sachar (4.6) PercyJackson...LightningThief Rick Riordan (4.5) CaptainUnderpants...Perilous PlotofProfessorPoopypants Dav Pilkey (4.7) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0)
Girls
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) Cookie Jacqueline Wilson (4.4) LilyAlone Jacqueline Wilson (4.6) Candyfloss Jacqueline Wilson (4.5) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) Skellig David Almond (3.5) BestFriends Jacqueline Wilson (4.5) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) HettyFeather Jacqueline Wilson (5.1) TheStoryofTracyBeaker Jacqueline Wilson (4.4) LittleDarlings Jacqueline Wilson (4.8) TheSuitcaseKid Jacqueline Wilson (4.9) Sleepovers Jacqueline Wilson (4.2) DoubleAct Jacqueline Wilson (4.1)
8 9
5 9
10
745
11
NA
12
10
13
14 15 16 17
11 18 19 12
18
13
19 20
14 16
15

Year 8
Year 8 is the second secondary year (rst in Scotland). Je Kinneys likelihood of taking the rst six places has been rudely interrupted by the arrival of Suzanne Collins Hunger Games, which appeals more strongly to girls (although it is still enjoyed by boys). Je Kinney has six highly placed books, Roald Dahl has three books (less than last year), and J. K. Rowling three (as last year) (see Table 9). Holes by Louis Sachar, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne and Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo are also sustaining popularity with both boys and girls. Boys like Horowitz and Muchamore, girls still like Jacqueline Wilson. Interestingly, the only non-ction book seen so far appears in 20th place in the boys lists Wayne Rooney by Roy Apps. Overall APC for both genders indicated ve books with APC below 85% (ve for boys and three for girls) slightly higher than last year. Overall APC was 0.87 (boys 0.88, girls 0.89). For average ATOS, the overall gure was 5.2, slightly increased on the previous year, with boys a little below girls (5.2 cf. 5.0). Pupils were reading almost two years below their chronological ages. Twelve books were common to both boys and girls. New entrants included the new Je Kinney book, a new Jacqueline Wilson book, and two books by Suzanne Collins one new and one coming from a previous very lowly position.
Years 9-11
As numbers of pupils are smaller for Years 9-11, these years have been combined into one table (see Table 10). APC averaged 0.88 (the same for boys and girls). There were ve books which did not meet the 85% criterion (six for boys and six for girls). ATOS was at 5.3 overall, but 5.0 for boys and 5.3 for girls. This showed no change from the previous year. The presence of Steinbecks Of Mice and Men at the top of the list for both boys and girls is surprising, but possibly suggests it is a set text for many GCSE age pupils. Suzanne Collins books appeal to both boys and girls. Beyond that, at this age the Je Kinney books do appeal more to boys than girls. Overall there were six of these in the list, a considerable increase. However, Michael Morpurgos Private Peaceful, Boynes The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Swindells Stone Cold remain strong for both boys and girls. Boys are attracted more to Muchamore and Horowitz. Major new entrants included two books by Suzanne Collins (one of them new), Morpurgos War Horse and a new Je Kinney book. Fifteen books were dissimilar between the boys and girls lists.
16

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
2012 Rank
205 2 1 5 4 6 7 3 NA 10 8 9 511 12
Overall*
TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Holes Louis Sachar (4.6) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) StoneCold Robert Swindells (4.3) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) Twilight Stephenie Meyer (4.9) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7)
Boys
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Holes Louis Sachar (4.6) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) TheRecruit Robert Muchamore (4.5) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) ClassA Robert Muchamore (5.0) CaptainUnderpantsandthe AttackoftheTalkingToilets Dav Pilkey (4.7) Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz (5.1) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) CirqueDuFreak Darren Shan (4.8) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) WayneRooney Roy Apps (4.3)
Girls
TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8) Holes Louis Sachar (4.6) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Twilight Stephenie Meyer (4.9) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) LilyAlone Jacqueline Wilson (4.6) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) BreakingDawn Stephenie Meyer (4.8) Candyfloss Jacqueline Wilson (4.5) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Cookie Jacqueline Wilson (4.4) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) DiaryofaWimpyKid:TheUgly Truth Jeff Kinney (5.5)
15 16 17 18 19 20
26 15 NA 18 13 22
17

Table10:Top20TitlesforBoysandGirlsinYears9-11 2013 Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
2012 Rank
1 78 2 4 257 8 3 9 18 NA 11 21 13 44 10 5 7 54 NA
Overall*
OfMiceandMen John Steinbeck (4.5) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) StoneCold Robert Swindells (4.3) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) Holes Louis Sachar (4.6) Twilight Stephenie Meyer (4.9) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) WarHorse Michael Morpurgo (5.9)
Boys
OfMiceandMen John Steinbeck (4.5) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) StoneCold Robert Swindells (4.3) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) TheRecruit Robert Muchamore (4.5) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Holes Louis Sachar (4.6) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) ClassA Robert Muchamore (5.0) Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz (5.1) WayneRooney Roy Apps (4.3) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1)
Girls
TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) OfMiceandMen John Steinbeck (4.5) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) Twilight Stephenie Meyer (4.9) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) BreakingDawn Stephenie Meyer (4.8) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) StoneCold Robert Swindells, (4.3) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) WarHorse Michael Morpurgo (5.9) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) NewMoon Stephenie Meyer (4.7) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) Eclipse Stephenie Meyer (4.5) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) TheCuriousIncidentoftheDog intheNight-Time Mark Haddon (5.4)
20
653
18
Conclusions
In Year 1, Roderick Hunt is an extremely successful author. The Average Percent Correct is well above what is appropriate for the age. High APC was found on hard as well as easy books. Unlike last year, diculty of books was higher for girls than for boys. Choices were largely dierent between boys and girls, although many books on both sides were by Roderick Hunt. In Year 2, Roderick Hunt again does well, although not as successfully as in Year 1. APC was high, even on books of high readability. Girls were no longer choosing books more closely aligned to female role models, and their choices were no harder than boys, a change from previous years. In Year 3, Allan Ahlberg and Roald Dahl did well. The diculty level is high and similar to last year. Boys chose 15 books that were dierent from those chosen by girls. Girls preferred books that depicted female role models. Boys and girls choices were of equivalent diculty, unlike last year, when girls choices were more dicult. In Year 4, Roald Dahl and Francesca Simon again did very well amongst boys, as last year. APC was generally high, but is beginning to decline, with three books quizzing below the 85% criterion overall. Diculty is high and has risen to 3.8, an improvement on last year. The diculty of boys books was slightly higher than for girls. There was much commonality of choice between boys and girls, with only ve dierent choices. In Year 5, Je Kinney has eclipsed Roald Dahl. For boys Francesca Simons Horrid Henry books are still popular, while for girls Jacqueline Wilson is still popular and Francesca Simon also does well. Diculty level has increased and is above what is age-appropriate. As last year, girls and boys chose books at the same level of diculty. APC remains high, with only two titles falling below the 85% recommendation, although there are slight signs of a decline. Three books for boys and three for girls tested below the 85% criterion. The diculty level of girls books is a little higher than that for boys. These pupils are still reading at a 5.5 year level of reading, a considerable increase compared to last year. In Year 6, the Wimpy Kid books occupy the rst six places in the table for both boys and girls. This represents a considerable shift of interest for girls, but they are still also enjoying Jacqueline Wilson and Roald Dahl, as last year. Diculty has increased slightly from last year. This is the last Year at which pupils were reading at their natural age level. APC has improved again, with only one book for boys and one for girls below the criterion of 85%. Nine of the top ten books were common to both boys and girls, an increase over last year. Boys and girls showed identical average book diculty and Average Percent Correct. In Year 7 (the rst secondary year), Average Percent Correct and Diculty of books take a sharp downward turn. Overall, ve books had an APC of less than 85%, similar to last year. The diculty of books averaged at 4.8 (5.8 in UK terms) for both boys and girls, suggesting these pupils were reading at over a year below their chronological age. This is a major dierence from the previous Year 6 in primary school. Je Kinney again dominates the rankings, especially for boys, but also for girls. This was even more pronounced than the previous year. Roald Dahl has ve. Jacqueline Wilson has a strong presence for girls, and she even has two books in the boys list. In Year 8, Je Kinney has six highly placed books, but Suzanne Collins was the rising star. Roald Dahl has declined to three books, while J. K. Rowling still had three. The only non-ction book in these lists appeared in 20th place in the boys lists Wayne Rooney by Roy Apps. Overall APC indicated ve books overall with APC below 85%. APC and ATOS were similar between boys and girls, and little dierent from previous years. Pupils were reading almost two years below their chronological ages. Twelve books were common to both boys and girls.
19
Conclusions continued
In Years 9-11, there were again ve books which did not meet the 85% criterion. Diculty was lower for boys than girls, but low for both. Suzanne Collins books showed new appeal to both boys and girls. The Je Kinney books appealed more to boys than girls. Fifteen books were dissimilar between the boys and girls lists.
Overall, Roald Dahl and Je Kinney were equal for the top author (34 mentions each). Roderick Hunt also had many mentions, all with young children. After this comes Francesca Simon, again proving the popularity of her Horrid Henry series amongst boys. Below this, Suzanne Collins is notable as a new entrant (7 mentions). Allen Ahlberg, J. K. Rowling and Michael Morpurgo all feature lower down the order. Martin Waddell is a newcomer with 4 mentions.
There are signs of diculty rising since last year, which is indeed to be welcomed. This may indicate that teachers are becoming more procient at guiding pupils towards books of an appropriate level of diculty. However the sudden decline in book diculty when pupils transfer to secondary school continues to be a matter for alarm. Are we to believe that their ability has suddenly declined? clearly not. Are we to believe that only secondary pupils with reading problems are using Accelerated Reader? so why do we have more pupils in Year 7 than any other Year? It seems that secondary teachers and librarians are not encouraging pupils to attack more dicult books to a sucient degree.
In all these most popular books, only one non-ction book appears (although that does appear in two separate Years). Are teachers and librarians in both primary and secondary schools giving children enough encouragement to read non-ction books? Once we have children reading nonction books, of course the next trick is to have them read those books carefully and with high accuracy and comprehension. Last year boys diculty moved ahead of girls, and this was greeted with some relief. This year however, the trend is reversed and is back to the normal pattern of things, with the girls again ahead of boys in diculty levels. Are boys less good readers than girls? or are they just lazier? Looking at the pattern of data, boys seem more inclined to be gripped by a series of books than girls. Where the books are quite hard (as in the Je Kinney books) this has a positive eect. However, boys may be inclined to sit back and read easy books perhaps they desire immediate easy gratication rather than the challenge of more complex or interesting titles.
20
Section Two:
Popularity of Authors & Voting for Favourite Books

School Spotlight: Hucknall National Primary School ................................................................................................ 22 Popularity of Authors ........................................................................................................................................................ 23 Voting for Favourite Books .............................................................................................................................................. 24 Top 20 Titles in Years 1 and 2 ..................................................................................................................................... 25 Top 20 Titles in Years 3 and 4 ..................................................................................................................................... 27 Top 20 Titles in Years 5 and 6 ..................................................................................................................................... 28 Reections on Reading: Ali Sparkes .............................................................................................................................. 29 Top 20 Titles in Years 7 and 8 ..................................................................................................................................... 31 Top 20 Titles in Years 9-11 .......................................................................................................................................... 32 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................... 32
School Spotlight
Hucknall National Primary School
Accelerated Reader (AR) makes it easier for us to challenge able readers by motivating and encouraging them to read increasingly dicult texts, whilst still allowing them to be independent book choosers. It's all about getting pupils into a regular daily habit and making them procient enough to be able to access, and more importantly understand, any book they wish to choose to read. Reading is like any learnt skill - it needs lots of practice. We encourage pupils to read at least 20 minutes per day and have many that read double this. During the school year we read over 80 million words, had over 20 pupils who became Rich Readers by reading 1 million plus words, and one pupil who read a record breaking 5 million words.
Julie King, KS2

Teacher and Reading Co-ordinator at Hucknall National Primary School in Nottingham, talks more about the schools approach to teaching reading and the role of Renaissance Learnings Accelerated Reader software in raising standards.
Our weekly recognition assemblies celebrating those gaining certicates, reaching word milestones or passing a quiz at 85%+ motivate pupils; even the teachers vie enthusiastically for the weekly class highest Average Percent Correct challenge. This is very powerful as 100% correct on a quiz is accessible to all pupils regardless of ability due to their personalised reading level ranges. This can be very powerful to struggling readers and builds their reading condence and self-esteem. I believe AR helps pupils to discover the magic and pleasure that is to be found through reading when they choose from a range of books at a level where they can comprehend. It also allows informed intervention by our teachers to keep pupils on track for improved comprehension and growth. Our pupils who genuinely read for pleasure most often are usually much more organised (and empathetic too) as their higher order thinking skills are more developed. Some parents support school reading by accessing pupil reading results at home via our Home Connect link and some even work together using the link to www.arbooknd.co.uk to choose suitable books their children might like to read next.
During the school year we read over 80 million words, had over 20 pupils who became Rich Readers by reading 1 million plus words, and one pupil who read a record breaking 5 million words.
1 2 3 4 5

DaftJackandtheBeanStack: SeriouslySillyStories Laurence Anholt (4.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) MrBifftheBoxer Allan Ahlberg (2.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) TheBogeyMan Shoo Rayner (2.8)
Rank
6 7 8 9 10

DiaryofWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) TheCatintheHat Dr Suess (2.1) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) MrCosmotheConjuror Allan Ahlberg (2.4)
22
Popularity of Authors
Considering those authors mentioned more than once in the overall top 20 in each Year Group, we nd they add up as follows (numbers of appearances in brackets - see Table 11). Roald Dahl and Je Kinney are now equal top authors with 34 mentions. In Kinneys case this is remarkable as he has only six books published, while Dahl has many more. On the other hand, Kinneys narrow series of similar books may well have endeared him to serialists, while Dahls books are much more diverse. For this year, girls have really begun to read Kinney, following the lead of boys. Dahls books appeal to a wide age-range of children and to both boys and girls, although less so to very young and very old pupils.
Next is Roderick Hunt (30) with an improved performance, although his results are inated by his excellent performance in Years 1 and 2 with relatively few children. Francesca Simon comes next with 21, in a similar position but increasing her mentions every year with the Horrid Henry series. Next comes a newcomer Suzanne Collins with seven mentions. This is a truly distinguished performance by a relative newcomer. J. K. Rowling is still at fth, as last year, but with many fewer mentions. Her books appeal to a narrower age range of older children, but they are more dicult and challenge younger readers. On the same level is Michael Morpurgo, improving his position from last year. Next is Allen Ahlberg with only ve mentions, who seems to be slipping back more every year. Then comes another new entrant, Martin Waddell, with four mentions. On the same level is Julia Donaldson, which is truly remarkable as she only has one book The Grualo. Jacqueline Wilson ties for last place, losing position and mentions year by year. Louis Sachar is equal tenth, again remarkable for only one book Holes. Stephenie Meyer and Dav Pilkey have slipped out of this list.
Table11:MostPopularAuthorsOverall:2011,2012and2013 Rank
1 1= 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9= 10
2011Author
RoaldDahl(38)
2012Author
RoaldDahl(38)
2013Author
RoadDahl(34) JeffKinney(34)
RoderickHunt(25) AllanAhlberg(23) FrancescaSimon(12) StephenieMeyer(11) LaurenceAnholt(8) JacquelineWilson(7) J.K.Rowling(6) MichaelMorpurgo(4) JeffKinney(4) DavPilkey(3)
RoderickHunt(29) JeffKinney(23) FrancescaSimon(18) J.K.Rowling(11) AllenAhlberg(9) StephenieMeyer(4) JacquelineWilson(4) MichaelMorpurgo(4)
RoderickHunt(30) FrancescaSimon(21) Suzanne Collins (7) J.K.Rowling(6) MichaelMorpurgo(6) AllanAhlberg(5) Martin Waddell (4) JuliaDonaldson(4) JacquelineWilson(3)
DavPilkey(3)
Louis Sachar (3)
Names new for 2013 are italicised.

23
Voting for Favourite Books

In addition to completing quizzes on books to assess their understanding, children also have the opportunity to vote for books in terms of whether they enjoyed it or not. Of course, degree of understanding is not the same as personal preference, and the two measures should not be confused.
The voting system enables pupils to select one of four ratings of a book: One of the best books I have ever read; A very good book; An OK book and Not a good book. The ratings are used to generate an Average Book Rating, but it was felt that this did not represent the degree of variation in the data. Consequently, the ratings were weighted using a Bayesian estimate: Weighted Rating = (v (v+m)) R + (m (v+m)) C (where R = Average Rating, v = Count Read, m = minimum number of votes required [in this case, 10], and C = the average rating of all books for each particular Year). The following tables give the Weighted Rating for each book.
Voting on Favourite Books

Year 1
The numbers voting in this Year are low, so the results may not be reliable. However, the books listed (see Table 12) here are a wonderful celebration of what has not been read before, only two of these books having appeared in the previous list. Many of these are new books (12), and ve of the others were previously far outside the top 20. Roderick Hunt has two books and Allan Ahlberg two books, but otherwise the authors are completely diverse. In terms of diculty, the average ATOS is 2.5 (UK 3.5), indicating the pupils were reading at a level two and a half years above their chronological age and natural reading ability. Were they reading these books accurately? average APC was 0.92 and only one book fell below the 85% criterion so the answer is yes.
Year 2
In Year 2 numbers voting were again quite low, so results again should not be taken as reliable. It is immediately evident that this list (see Table 13) is radically dierent from the list of books that are read most often. The list of authors is quite various and features many that do not gure in the regular quiz lists. Roderick Hunt is a major feature of the quiz lists, but here does not appear at all. The average ATOS rating is 3.4 (UK Years 4.4), even higher than last year, indicating that these books were on average well over two years harder than those merely quizzed on. Popular authors were Roald Dahl (2), Paul Shipton (2), Roger Hargreaves (2), Francesca Simon (2) and Rose Impey (2). All of these books were new to this list not a single one had featured last year! Average APC was 0.90 and three books fell below the 85% criterion although these were certainly not the highest diculty books. This reinforces the view that understanding is not the same as favouritism.
24

Table12:VotingonFavouriteBooks:Year1 2013 Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 2 3 4
2012 Rank
NA 81 NA 162 NA 426 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 307 48 NA 20 19 48 53
Overall
TitchyWitchandtheStrayDragon Rose Impey (2.8) Missing! Jonathan Langley (2.2) ArthurtheKing Karen Wallace (2.5) HiddenGold Roderick Hunt (2.4) AlligatorTails...CrocodileCakes Nicola Moon (2.8) MasterMoneytheMillionaire Allan Ahlberg (3.1) WinnieattheSeaside Valerie Thomas (2.4) Isabel'sNoisyTummy David McKee (2.5) Dolphins Carol K. Lindeen (1.5) Tarzanna! Babette Cole (2.5) TheElephantom Ross Collins (2.1) FergusGoesQuackers! Tony Maddox (2.4) AliensLoveUnderpants Claire Freedman (2.9) MrsHippo'sPizzaParlour Vivian French (2.2) TheFlyingMachine Roderick Hunt (2.5) MrsLather'sLaundry Allan Ahlberg (2.9) BeGentle! Virginia Miller (2.0) Camouflage Terry Jennings (2.1) Dogger Shirley Hughes (3.1) TheFishWhoCouldWish John Bush (2.3)
2012 Rank
NA NA 496 NA
Overall
Petey Paul Shipton (3.8) Matilda Roald Dahl (5.0) Mr.Funny Roger Hargreaves (3.0) TheButterflyLion Michael Morpurgo (4.6) HorridHenry'sBirthdayParty (EarlyReader)* Francesca Simon (2.8) KittenCrowd Lucy Daniels (3.3) FreyatheFridayFairy Daisy Meadows (4.4) AMedalforPoppy:ThePluckiest PigintheWorld! Rose Impey (2.9) Fireflies Margaret Hall (1.5) Laura'sStar Klaus Baumgart (3.9) HorridHenryGetsRichQuick (EarlyReader)* Francesca Simon (2.9) ScoutandAce:TalkingTables Rose Impey (2.2) Mr.Impossible Roger Hargreaves (2.9) CrystaltheSnowFairy Daisy Meadows (3.9) MrGumandtheGoblins Andy Stanton (5.0) Rumpelstiltskin Anne Walter (2.8) TheGiraffeandthePellyandMe Roald Dahl (4.7) TheUltimateTrainers Paul Shipton (3.6) JosieandthePuppy Monica Hughes (1.9) Arthur'sSword Sophie McKenzie (2.6)
NA
6 7
NA NA
NA
9 10
NA 1735
11
NA
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
1076 211 82 NA NA 210 NA 296 NA
* Early Readers is a special series for emergent readers published by Orion, which are designed to be stepping stones from picture books to reading books.
25

Year 3
This list has a more regular look to it, including more books which also appear in the general quiz lists. J. K. Rowling has increased her previous four books to six (see Table 14). Linda Chapman has two books, Daisy Meadows two, Dav Pilkey two and Cressida Cowell two. The average ATOS rating is 5.6 (UK Years 6.6), a substantial increase and considerably increased from 2011, indicating that these books were three and a half years harder than those merely quizzed on! Five books were new and ve had come from a long way down the list in the previous year. Average APC was 0.88 and four books fell below the 85% criterion, again not the most dicult ones. This is a worse result than last year.
Year 4
J. K. Rowling has eight books (two more than last year), Jacqueline Wilson four, Anthony Horowitz two, Michael Morpurgo two and Enid Blyton two. Je Kinney has disappeared from the list (see Table 15). This is much more aligned with the quiz lists, albeit the quiz lists of older children (and not always with the same books as on the quiz lists, as in the case of Jacqueline Wilson). The strong showing of J. K. Rowling is of particular interest. Also fascinating is the presence of the much maligned Enid Blyton among the children's favourites. Four new books feature, as do four from well down the list in previous years. However, the average ATOS rating is 5.5 (UK Years 6.5), actually slightly lower than for Year 3. While these books were still two and a half years harder than those merely quizzed on, this marks the beginning of ATOS staying about the same for all subsequent years (at between 5.5 and 5.8). Consequently by Year 7 the diculty is on a par with the age of the pupils, and after it begins to fall below that. Average APC was 0.91 and only one book fell below the 85% criterion.
Year 5
Seven books stem from J. K. Rowling, ve from Jacqueline Wilson, two from Suzanne Collins and two from Rick Riordan (see Table 16). Six books are new, but only one comes from well down the list. These are aligned with the quiz list of older children. The average ATOS rating is 5.7 (UK Years 6.7), slightly down compared to 2012, and not really increased compared to Year 4. Nonetheless these books were a year and a half harder than chronological age. Average APC was 0.92 and no books fell below the 85% criterion, a better result than last year.
Year 6
J. K. Rowling remains the top author with seven books, while Suzanne Collins had three, Anthony Horowitz had three and Christopher Paolini have two (see Table 17). Four books were new, and two emerged from low down the list in the previous year. The average ATOS rating is 5.8 (UK Years 6.8), again considerably higher than in last years report, but still not signicantly above Years 4 and 5. These books were less than a year above actual chronological age. Average APC was 0.93 and no books fell below the 85% criterion (as last year).
26

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
2012 Rank
11 58 1 31 NA 59 NA 57 NA
Overall
HarryPotter...GobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) TheWitches Roald Dahl (4.7) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) FlyingHigh Linda Chapman (4.0) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) Woof! Allan Ahlberg (4.7) HowtoTrainYourDragon Cressida Cowell (6.6) DiaryofaWimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) CaptainUnderpantsandtheWrath oftheWickedWedgieWoman Dav Pilkey (4.4) HowtoTwistaDragon'sTale Cressida Cowell (6.9) HettyFeather Jacqueline Wilson (5.1) PointBlanc Anthony Horowitz (4.8) PaigethePantomimeFairy Daisy Meadows (4.8) FiveGoAdventuringAgain Enid Blyton (4.5) StarlightSurprise Linda Chapman (4.0) HarryPotter...Half-BloodPrince J.K. Rowling (7.2) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) MorgantheMidnightFairy Daisy Meadows (4.8) CaptainUnderpants...Big,BadBattle oftheBionicBoogerBoy,PartI:The NightoftheNastyNostrilNuggets Dav Pilkey (5.2)
2012 Rank
5 1 2 67 16 NA 6 168 31 NA 21 27 65 35 8 38 85 33
Overall
HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) Scorpia Anthony Horowitz (5.0) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) SapphireBattersea Jacqueline Wilson (5.3) HarryPotter...GobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) KasparPrinceofCats Michael Morpurgo (5.2) FiveRunAwayTogether Enid Blyton (4.5) LilyAlone Jacqueline Wilson (4.6) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) BorntoRun Michael Morpurgo (5.2) PercyJackson...LastOlympian Rick Riordan (4.3) HettyFeather Jacqueline Wilson (5.1) HarryPotter...Half-BloodPrince J.K. Rowling (7.2) PointBlanc Anthony Horowitz (4.8) TheMagicFarawayTree Enid Blyton (4.1) MySisterJodie Jacqueline Wilson (4.4) SkulduggeryPleasant/Scepterof theAncients Derek Landy (4.9) ThanksforTellingMe,Emily Deirdre Madden (4.9)
10
17
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
67 NA 301 206 168 258 46 9 NA
19
NA
20
NA
20
222
27

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
11 12 2 13 1 21 NA 4 NA 91 NA NA NA 9 10 NA 45 32 45 16
Overall
HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotter...GobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) HarryPotter...Half-BloodPrince J.K. Rowling (7.2) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) MySisterJodie Jacqueline Wilson (4.4) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) ScorpiaRising Anthony Horowitz (5.6) TheSonofNeptune Rick Riordan (4.7) TheHobbit J.R.R. Tolkien (6.6) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) GangstaGranny David Walliams (4.9) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) LilyAlone Jacqueline Wilson (4.6) Candyoss Jacqueline Wilson (4.5) TheLostHero Rick Riordan (4.5) Cookie Jacqueline Wilson (4.4) HettyFeather Jacqueline Wilson (5.1)
2012 Rank
23 2 104 NA 3 56 49 46 NA NA 9 36 10 11 12 NA 13 14 48 103
Overall
TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) ScorpiaRising Anthony Horowitz (5.6) ClassA Robert Muchamore (5.0) Brisingr Christopher Paolini (7.8) Eragon Christopher Paolini (5.6) TheSonofNeptune Rick Riordan (4.7) GangstaGranny David Walliams (4.9) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotter...GobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) HettyFeather Jacqueline Wilson (5.1) DeathBringer Derek Landy (4.3) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) HarryPotter...Half-BloodPrince J.K. Rowling (7.2) ArkAngel Anthony Horowitz (5.0) Scorpia Anthony Horowitz (5.0)
28
Reflections on Reading: Ali Sparkes

THE DOOR NOT OPENED
Two doors in a high brick wall. One of them is studded with brilliant ashing LED lights, emitting loud funky music and has a plasma screen running a high denition lm of laughing, whooping people on assorted adventure rides. The other one has an interesting picture of a jungle on it.
Of course, youre heading for the LED lights job and as soon as you get to the other side you nd that there is, in fact, a brilliant theme park with loads of rides. OK, so you have to pay for the rides and queue for quite a long time but they are brilliant.
be a superstar singer and actress by now, but that never quite happened probably because this was in the olden days before Strictly-Pop-XTalent-Idol. She insists she could have done it otherwise. Her rst stand-alone novel, Frozen In Time, won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2010 and her books, including the SWITCH series, have been translated into many languages from French to Japanese, Polish to Korean... You can nd out more about her books and her public events at www.alisparkes.com. And for fun and games with SWITCH go to www.switch-books.co.uk.
Ali Sparkes MEANT to
The door you didnt open actually has a jungle behind it. With a heart-poundingly thrilling adventure waiting for you. Really, all it needed was for someone to say, Hang on, before you do the rides, just check out this actual jungle and push the door ajar. And youd have been gone. Lost in that jungle for hours, maybe days, having the most intense, memorable and personal experience. Youd have met fascinating characters, made some extraordinary discoveries and learned things that would stay with you for years to come. And the next time you saw that door with just a nice picture on it youd probably open it yourself. This is the thing with reading. A quite brilliant book is still a just a closed door when left alone on a shelf. How can it possibly compete with the instant access thrill of computer games? But it can. It can even share the same space. Think about books like the Harry Potter and James Bond series - now also fantastic games for X Box and PS3. And what about Halo and World of Warcraft - now also in gripping adventure novel format! You dont have to choose one or the other. You can have BOTH! But sometimes we need reminding. I remember being in Year 6 (yes I do!) at Beechwood Middle School when Miss White read to the class. She chose a book called The Hiding Place. It was a gripping and often harrowing account of one familys experiences during the holocaust in Nazi Germany. We were all - at just 10 or 11 - so incredibly aected by the story, we organized a vote to persuade her to keep reading it during a lesson when we should have been doing something else. Scenes from that story have never left me. Like the scenes from My Side Of The Mountain, read to us by Miss Meyrick when I was in Year 3. Teachers, librarians, parents, brothers or sisters who love books are SO important. These people are crucial in our lives if we too are to become lovers of reading and writing - with all the extra layers of joy and achievement which come with that across a lifetime. These are the people who point out the door with the interesting picture when weve been dazzled by LED lights. Could you let someone into a jungle today?
29

Year 7
Three books are new, and ve emerged from lower down the list in the 2012 (see Table 18). Christopher Paolini (four), J. K. Rowling (four), Suzanne Collins (three) and Stephenie Meyer (three) were the chief protagonists. Three books were new and ve from low on the list in 2012. The average ATOS rating is 5.4 (UK Years 6.7), again higher than in 2012, but not signicantly greater than Years 6, 5 and 4. These books were six months less dicult than chronological age. The decline in diculty is accelerating. Average APC was 0.91 and one book fell below the 85% criterion.
Year 8
Christopher Paolini has three books, Suzanne Collins three and Derek Landy two (see Table 19). Four books are new, and eight from low down the list previously. The average ATOS rating is 5.5 (UK Years 6.5), indicating a substantial increase from the previous year, but no signicant dierence from Years 7, 6, 5 and 4. These books were a year and a half less dicult than chronological age. Average APC was 0.93 and no book fell below the 85% criterion.
Years 9-11
Four books are new to the list and six have emerged from lower down the list (see Table 20). Featured authors were Christopher Paolini (four), Suzanne Collins (three), Stephenie Meyer (two), J. K. Rowling (two) and Rachel Caine (two). The average ATOS rating was 5.5 (UK Years 6.5), slightly higher than 2012, but not indicating a signicant dierence from Year 4 or in between. These books were over three years easier than chronological age. In terms of APC, none of these books was below the 85% criterion and the average APC was 0.93. However, we should bear in mind that the reading age needed to read The Times is 12.7 years, so if Year 10 pupils were reading The Times, they would still be reading 3.3 years below their proper reading level. This may not seem so bad! On the other hand, the purpose of AR is not to oer relaxed reading as from a newspaper, but to accelerate pupils' growth in reading.
30

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
2012 Rank
10 6 13 2 NA 3 5 NA 7 68 NA 156 145
Overall
Brisingr Christopher Paolini (7.8) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) BreakingDawn Stephenie Meyer (4.8) Eragon Christopher Paolini (5.6) DeathBringer Derek Landy (4.3) Eldest Christopher Paolini (7.0) TheDead Charlie Higson (4.5) Inheritance Christopher Paolini (7.5) TheAmberSpyglass Philip Pullman (6.7) Roxy'sBaby Catherine MacPhail (4.3) MaximumRide:TheAngel Experiment James Patterson (4.6) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) Twilight Stephenie Meyer (4.9) HarryPotter...Half-BloodPrince J.K. Rowling (7.2) PercyJackson...LastOlympian Rick Riordan (4.3) Eclipse Stephenie Meyer (4.5)
2012 Rank
21 NA 22 50 67 NA 7 1 97 145 63 2 335 24 NA
Overall
Brisingr Christopher Paolini (7.8) Inheritance Christopher Paolini (7.5) Eldest Christopher Paolini (7.0) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) BreakingDawn Stephenie Meyer (4.8) TheAmberSpyglass Philip Pullman (6.7) Eragon Christopher Paolini (5.6) DarkDays Derek Landy (5.0) TheLostHero Rick Riordan (4.5) BoysDon'tCry Malorie Blackman (4.2) MortalCoil Derek Landy (4.7) TheSonofNeptune Rick Riordan (4.7) GlassHouses:TheMorganville Vampires Rachel Caine (4.3) DeathBringer Derek Landy (4.3) TheDead Charlie Higson (4.5) TheDaVinciCode Dan Brown (6.4) TheFellowshipoftheRing J.R.R. Tolkien (6.1)
14
45
15 16 17 18 19 20
15 72 17 74 22 4
16
18
17 18 19 20
NA 167 130 193
31

Table20:VotingonFavouriteBooks:Years9-11 2013 Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2012 Rank
NA 13 8 72 80 1 2 NA 24 NA
Overall
Inheritance Christopher Paolini (7.5) MortalCoil Derek Landy (4.7) Hush,Hush Becca Fitzpatrick (4.5) Eldest Christopher Paolini (7.0) Brisingr Christopher Paolini (7.8) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) BreakingDawn Stephenie Meyer (4.8) CarpeCorpus Rachel Caine (4.7)
2013 Rank
11 12 13 14
2012 Rank
3 7 85 9
Overall
HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) NoughtsandCrosses Malorie Blackman (4.0) Eclipse Stephenie Meyer (4.5) GlassHouses:TheMorganville Vampires Rachel Caine (4.3) Gone Michael Grant (4.3) Evermore Alyson Nol (5.8) Frostbite Richelle Mead (4.8) Eragon Christopher Paolini (5.6) Shadow Michael Morpurgo (4.9)
15
23
16 17 18 19 20
21 137 61 57 NA
Conclusions
In the rst years, children are reading very dicult books with a high degree of success it is wonderful what reading motivating books does for children. Chief among these are the Harry Potter books J. K. Rowling might have declined in the quiz lists, but among these favoured books she clearly remains a force to be reckoned with (34 mentions, a further increase from 2012). Second is a new face Suzanne Collins with 14. She is closely followed by Christopher Paolini with 13. Next comes Jacqueline Wilson with 9 mentions. Anthony Horowitz and Stephenie Meyer follow with 5 each. After that there are many authors with two books each. Rick Riordan, Dav Pilkey and P. C. Cast have almost disappeared compared to the 2012 report. Je Kinney does not appear. Some of these books are aligned with the quiz lists, but many of the authors are not (particularly in the early and late years). Why are children reading books in the quiz lists they do not prefer? Possibly because they only know their favourites after the book has been read. Alternatively, children may be constrained by the books available in school which will have been chosen by teachers or librarians and may tend to reect the preferences of those groups rather than the preferences of children. For the Years 1-5 children are reading favourite books at far above their chronological ability, but still maintaining a high rate of success in terms of high APC. In Year 6 relative diculty declines somewhat, but children are still reading above their chronological level. There is a marked dierence after Year 6 (the year before secondary transfer). Beyond this point the favoured books are no longer above chronological age and a rapid decline in diculty sets in. Whether this has something to do with secondary transfer is a moot point.
32
Section Three:
Books High-Achieving Kids Read Most Often

Books High-Achieving Kids Read Most Often ............................................................................................................. 34 Top 20 Most Popular Titles for Boys and Girls in Years 3 and 4 ......................................................................... 35 Top 20 Most Popular Titles for Boys and Girls in Years 5 and 6 ......................................................................... 36 Reections on Reading: GP Taylor ................................................................................................................................. 37 Top 20 Most Popular Titles for Boys and Girls in Years 7 and 8 ......................................................................... 39 Top 20 Most Popular Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 9 ...................................................................................... 40 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................... 40
Books High-Achieving Kids Read Most Often

In this section we consider the books read by high-achieving readers - dened as books read by pupils who were reading at 2 or more years above their actual chronological Year level. Again, numbers in the lower and the highest years were insucient, so Years 1-2 and 10-13 are excluded. The books preferred by the most able readers were of interest. Did they show a dierent pattern from regular readers, and how did the children sustain a high diculty level, especially in the later years?
What High-Achieving-Kids Are Reading: Top 20 Preferences

Year 3
In previous years this list was dominated by Roald Dahl, and this is still the case (see Table 21). Dahl has 12 books, including the top four. However, Je Kinney is making a stronger showing, and Francesca Simon is there with two books as last year. Three books show considerable gain in position from last year, and two of these are Kinney books. The average ATOS diculty equivalent has increased substantially to 4.6 (UK years 5.6), indicating these pupils were reading well above two years above their actual Year (of course, their ability was at least two years above). This is another considerable increase from last year. All but three books were at or above the Year 3 + 2 level of diculty (similar to last year). The Average Percent Correct was 0.92 for all books, but there was one book where the APC slipped below the 85% criterion.
Year 4
The average ATOS diculty equivalent is 5.2 (UK years 6.2), as high as in the previous year (see Table 22). These pupils were reading at more than two years above their age. APC was 0.94 (very high), with no book falling below the 85% criterion. Kinney has in this Year taken over as most read author, occupying the rst four places. Otherwise it is a battle between Roald Dahl (nine books, as last year) and J. K. Rowling (four books), although has declined somewhat from last year. David Walliams makes an appearance with a relatively new book, but otherwise there are few surprises.
Year 5
Je Kinney dominates this table, taking the top six places (see Table 23). This popularity is perhaps slightly unfortunate, since the ATOS for all but one of the Kinney books is below the average for this table. It would be good if these books were more popular with younger pupils and less popular with these pupils. Then comes J. K. Rowling, with seven books in the remaining 11 places, displaced from last year. This takeover had begun last year. Roald Dahl has now decreased to two books, and David Walliams makes a strong showing with three books. Lemony Snicket has declined to one book. The average ATOS diculty equivalent is 5.7 (UK years 6.7), higher than last year, and indicating these pupils were reading more than one and a half years above their actual Year (although their ability was at least 2 years above). The APC gures are high, each book well above 85% and the average 0.94. Apart from new books, there are few positional surprises.
34
What High-Achieving Kids Are Reading: Top 20 Preferences

Table21:MostPopularTitlesfor High-AchievingBoysandGirlsinYear3 2013 Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
4 2 3 1 109 9 5 6 62 27 18 13 10 60 180 113 15 11 192 12
Overall
TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) George'sMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) TheGiraffeandthePellyandMe Roald Dahl (4.7) Matilda Roald Dahl (5.0) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) HorridHenry...FootballFiend Francesca Simon (3.6) Danny,theChampionoftheWorld Roald Dahl (4.7) TheBFG Roald Dahl (4.8) TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) HorridHenry'sHauntedHouse Francesca Simon (3.7) TheEnormousCrocodile Roald Dahl (4.0) TheHundred-Mile-an-HourDog Jeremy Strong (4.8) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) JamesandtheGiantPeach Roald Dahl (4.8)
2012 Rank
2 21 14 6 4 11 10 1 3 7 38 15 16 9 NA 8 12 25 244 17
Overall
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) CharlieandtheChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) Matilda Roald Dahl (5.0) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) HarryPotterandtheGobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) EsioTrot Roald Dahl (4.4) FantasticMrFox Roald Dahl (4.1) DiaryofaWimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) TheBFG Roald Dahl (4.8) TheGiraffeandthePellyandMe Roald Dahl (4.7) TheWitches Roald Dahl (4.7) Mr.Stink David Walliams (4.7) Danny,theChampionoftheWorld Roald Dahl (4.7)
35

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
2 1 3 6 NA 21 4 5 7 18 9 15 NA 13 8 10 11 NA 149 21
Overall
Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotterandtheGobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) Matilda Roald Dahl (5.0) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) GangstaGranny David Walliams (4.9) TheBadBeginning Lemony Snicket (6.4) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) HarryPotter...Half-BloodPrince J.K. Rowling (7.2) BillionaireBoy David Walliams (4.1) Mr.Stink David Walliams (4.7) Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz (5.1)
2012 Rank
NA 4 1 2 3 314 7 5 6 9 11 31 10 871 14 12 15 8 20 NA
Overall
Diary...WimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz (5.1) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) WarHorse Michael Morpurgo (5.9) HarryPotter...GobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) PointBlanc Anthony Horowitz (4.8) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) TheBadBeginning Lemony Snicket (6.4) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) SkeletonKey Anthony Horowitz (4.9) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3)
36
Reflections on Reading: GP Taylor

So, what are children reading for pleasure? The truthful answer, despite what the more optimistic say is, not a lot
As a writer I have been visiting schools for the last ten years. In that time I have spoken to at least seventy thousand children and walked through the doors of six hundred schools. My mission is to enthuse children that reading is fun, cool and is not a chore. As a former reluctant reader myself, I always ask how many students read for pleasure. The replies always vary and are dictated by social class, geography and whether the school is part of a reading scheme such as Accelerated Reader. There will only be three per cent of children at an inner city school in a socially deprived area that read for pleasure - that is want to read other than in class. That number goes up in the leafy suburbs and by the time we reach the dizzy heights of a commuter belt prep school there will be a pleasure reading of ten per cent. To me that is still not enough. It would indicate that on average only ve percent of children read for pleasure. I would dare to say that the number drops in years nine to eleven as the exam factory takes hold and crushes any seed of true creativity from the curriculum. We have to face the fact that books for many children are boring and are seen as tools for learning and not instruments of pleasure. Even book awards where children read from the shortlisted titles put children o. The choices of adults are often not those that children would choose to read. In the multi media age we insist on producing Victorianesque tomes of pages lled with words. In contrast, the Internet brings pictures and text bonded together and at the touch of a button. Books and reading are losing out to movies and the Internet and even new reading techniques are failing to ght o the decline. Sadly, I feel that the Government has buried its head in the sand and is in complete denial over the lack of real reading taking place in the lives of children. Thankfully, committed teachers and librarians around the country are trying their hardest to reverse the trend. Many are unsupported and some even use their own money to bring in authors to schools to tempt children back into books. School budgets are being spent on such things as iPads instead of books or reading schemes to the detriment of the pupil in a bid to be trendy and score brownie points with Ofsted. So what would be an answer? For me, there is no better start or end to the school day than the communal act of silent reading. It may sound old fashioned, but it really works. It is almost a spiritual experience to walk into a school where every head is buried in a book for ten minutes at the start of the day. It is a workout for the mind and a habit that can endure for life and in one school I visited took the library from issuing twenty ve books per year to well over two thousand...
37
York Times best selling author. His book Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box is being released worldwide later this year as an all-star Hollywood movie.
GP Taylor is a New
www.gptaylor.info

Year 6
In Year 6 we see very little increase in diculty, so the pupils in this year are now reading only at the 5.8 (6.8 in the UK) level, barely more than 6 months above their chronological age. This was the same as last year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, APC remains high at 0.94, no book falling below the 85% criterion. Je Kinney takes the rst ve places (and almost the rst six!), a better result than last year. J. K. Rowling is still in there with ve books (fewer than last year - see Table 24). A bright new face is Suzanne Collins with three books. Anthony Horowitz has declined to three books (from six last year). There is little positional change other than the arrival of Suzanne Collins books.
Year 7
Je Kinney still has six of the rst 11 places, but Suzanne Collins has taken top place and another two in the rst 12. J. K. Rowling is still a force, with seven books in the top 16 (see Table 25). Positionally, there is little change apart from the arrival of Suzanne Collins and a new book from Je Kinney. The average ATOS has not increased at all from Year 6 (still 5.8, 6.8 in UK terms), indicating that these pupils who could read at least two years above their age are actually reading below their age. APC has also started to decline, with average APC now being 0.91 and one book being below the 85% criterion.
Year 8
The diculty of books read has actually declined in this year, to 5.7 (UK 6.7). This is worse than in 2012. These pupils were reading more than a year and a half below their actual Year (although their ability was at least two years above). APC stays at the same level as the previous year, with no book having an APC below 85%. Suzanne Collins has the rst three places and J. K. Rowling almost the next three, although she has six books altogether, as last year (see Table 26). Je Kinney has dropped lower down the order, and only four of his books appear in the top 20. Again, not much positional change.
Year 9
In Year 9, ATOS showed little change (back to 5.8, UK 6.8). Pupils were reading more than two years below their chronological age, when their ability was to read two years above it. APC average was 0.93 and no book was below the 85% criterion. Suzanne Collins again has the top three places. J. K. Rowling has ve books. Robert Muchamore also has ve books, better than last year (see Table 27). Christopher Paolini makes an appearance with two books. New entrants Walden and Paolini showed positional movement, as did a new book by Muchamore.
38

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
100 2 4 171 6 13 3 5 9 22 NA NA 8 1 7 12 19 11 18 10
Overall
TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotterandtheGobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) Diary...WimpyKid:TheUglyTruth Jeff Kinney (5.5) DiaryofaWimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) HarryPotter...Half-BloodPrince J.K. Rowling (7.2) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz (5.1) ClassA Robert Muchamore (5.0)
2012 Rank
40 63 NA 1 7 4 5 9 12 3 2 8 19 16 13 6 NA 22 15 26
Overall
TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) Holes Louis Sachar (4.6) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9) HarryPotter...GobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) TheRecruit Robert Muchamore (4.5) ClassA Robert Muchamore (5.0) Twilight Stephenie Meyer (4.9) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid:CabinFever Jeff Kinney (5.8) HarryPotter...Half-BloodPrince J.K. Rowling (7.2) HarryPotter...OrderofthePhoenix J.K. Rowling (7.2) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2)
39

Table27:MostPopularTitlesforHigh-AchievingBoysandGirlsinYear9 2013 Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2012 Rank
20 47 NA 6 17 11 3 10 14 2
Overall
TheHungerGames Suzanne Collins (5.3) CatchingFire Suzanne Collins (5.3) Mockingjay Suzanne Collins (5.3) OfMiceandMen John Steinbeck (4.5) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) HarryPotter...Philosopher'sStone J.K. Rowling (6.0) HarryPotter...ChamberofSecrets J.K. Rowling (6.7) TheRecruit Robert Muchamore (4.5) ClassA Robert Muchamore (5.0) HarryPotter...DeathlyHallows J.K. Rowling (6.9)
2013 Rank
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
2012 Rank
19 15 7 NA 60 4 75 8 22
Overall
MaximumSecurity Robert Muchamore (6.6) StoneCold Robert Swindells (4.3) HarryPotter...GobletofFire J.K. Rowling (6.8) Inheritance Christopher Paolini (7.5) Eragon Christopher Paolini (5.6) Twilight Stephenie Meyer (4.9) Manvs.Beast Robert Muchamore (6.5) HarryPotter...PrisonerofAzkaban J.K. Rowling (6.7) PercyJackson...LightningThief Rick Riordan (4.5) H.I.V.E.:HigherInstituteof VillainousEducation Mark Walden (7.5)
20
52
Conclusions
In 2013, Rowling has 36 mentions (similar to last year) and Dahl 12 mentions (far fewer than last year). Splitting them is Je Kinney with a greatly increased 31 mentions. Collins comes next with nine mentions a promising newcomer indeed. Robert Muchamore is fourth with seven mentions (fewer mentions than last year, but a similar position overall). After that come Horowitz, Morpurgo and Walliams (4-5 mentions). The picture regarding diculty of books is mixed. There is evidence of increases in diculty in the lower primary years, but in the upper primary years diculty had stayed the same and in the lower secondary years diculty has declined. Coupling this latter observation with the ndings from the overall table for all readers in the secondary years, the view that teachers and librarians are not successfully encouraging pupils to read harder books is reinforced. APC in general was adequate although this is perhaps not surprising when the diculty of books is declining.
40
Section Four:
Books Struggling Readers Read Most Often

School Spotlight: St Johns Catholic Academy ........................................................................................................... 42 Books Struggling Readers Read Most Often ................................................................................................................ 43 Top 20 Most Popular Titles for Boys and Girls in Years 5 and 6 ......................................................................... 44 Top 20 Most Popular Titles for Boys and Girls in Years 7 and 8 ......................................................................... 45 Top 20 Most Popular Titles for Boys and Girls in Year 9 ....................................................................................... 46 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................... 46
School Spotlight
St Johns Catholic Academy
Its easy to see the massive impact Accelerated Reader has had on reading for pleasure amongst both students and sta at St Johns Catholic Academy, everywhere the students are literally buzzing about books. Every morning and during breaks I am greeted by eager students desperate to inform me that they have read the best book ever and are ready to take a quiz. The same is evident in the weekly LRC Reading Lesson for all Year 7 and 8 students. LRC loans have dramatically increased, and the students enthusiasm has also had a positive impact on sta. Students are keen to see what their teachers are reading and share their love of books with them. The introduction of Kindles and iPads has enriched the reading experience of our more reluctant learners, who request the latest ebooks and thoroughly enjoy completing quizzes using the Accelerated Reader App. Reading is no longer thought of as the English Departments sole responsibility, the whole school is now involved. We are so committed to raising literacy standards and encouraging reading for pleasure that after an extremely popular and successful six week pilot, the whole school day was altered to accommodate 25 minutes engaged reading time, three times a week for every student in Years 7 and 8. Every September I look forward to welcoming reluctant readers into the LRC, usually boys, who immediately inform me that they dont like reading. After they have completed a STAR Reading test, picked a book from their level, realised that they can read it and score 100% on a quiz, their attitude magically changes! These are the same students who I see in Year 11 with their heads now buried in books! I am condent that AR is one of the main reasons why Reading for Pleasure is so successful here and why reading ages and literacy standards are improving on a daily basis, transforming the learning process for each and every individual.
Linzi Heads, Librarian

at St Johns Catholic Academy in County Durham, explains how a whole school reading culture has developed following the introduction of Renaissance Learnings Accelerated Reader software.
I am condent that AR is one of the main reasons why Reading for Pleasure is so successful here and why reading ages and literacy standards are improving on a daily basis
1 2 3 4 5

Changes Anthony Browne (1.9) TheBoyintheDress David Walliams (4.2) BillionaireBoy David Walliams (4.1) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) GangstaGranny David Walliams (4.9)
Rank
6 7 8 9 10

DiaryofaWimpyKid:Cabin FeverJeff Kinney (5.8) TheDarkFireofDoom Peter Lancett (1.6) GeorgesMarvellousMedicine Roald Dahl (4.0) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) MrStink David Walliams (4.7)
42

In this section we consider the books read by struggling readers - dened as books read by pupils who were reading at two or more years below their actual chronological year level. Again, numbers in the lower and the highest years were insucient, so Years 1-4 and 11-13 are excluded. The books preferred by struggling readers were of interest. Did they show a dierent pattern from regular readers, and how did these children sustain interest, especially in the later years?

Year 5
Average APC was 0.88. One book did not reach the 85% criterion. Diculty averaged 1.7 (UK 2.7) i.e. the pupils were reading about two and a half years below their actual age. This was slightly up on last year. The books chosen by struggling readers were almost completely dierent to those chosen by average readers, even those at the same level of ability. This suggests struggling readers at this age have a very dierent orientation to choosing books. Roderick Hunt had nine books in this list, while Allan Ahlberg and Jillian Powell both had two (see Table 28).
Year 6
Average APC was 0.89%. Two books fell below the 85% criterion (considerably better than last year). ATOS diculty level averaged 2.6 (UK 3.6), increased again compared to last year, indicating these pupils were reading at two and half years below their chronological age. The choices of struggling readers in Year 6 show more commonality with average readers, albeit of a lesser age. Many books by Allan Ahlberg were chosen (8), with two each from Roderick Hunt and Martin Waddell (see Table 29).
Year 7
In Year 7, Peter Lancett had nine books, David Orme had six, and Paul Blum had two (see Table 30). This is very similar to last year. Peter Lancett's high placing can be attributed to his books being Hi-Lo readers of high interest but require a low level of reading ability. Thus they are not 'average' readers. The average diculty was ATOS 2.3 (UK 3.3), actually a decline on the previous year, suggesting these pupils were reading at a level 4 years and 9 months below their chronological age. Average APC was 0.87, not signicantly dierent from Years 6 and 5. Two books were under the 85% criterion (better than last year).
Year 8
Happily, diculty showed some signs of recovering in this year, to 3.5 (UK 4.5), a substantial increase on last year. Thus these pupils were reading three and a half years behind their chronological age. Three books were below the 85% criterion. Average APC was 0.87. Peter Lancett and Je Kinney both had four books in this list (Peter Lancett has declined and David Orme has disappeared). Jonny Zucker, Alison Hawes, and Roald and Michael Dahl all had two each (see Table 31). Many of these books also feature in average reader lists.
43

Table28:BooksStrugglingReadersReadMost Often:Year5 2013 Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
64 10 33 8 9 50 1 2 32 46 18 6 15 5 7 36 24 34 27 31
Overall
TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) Bill'sBaggyTrousers Susan Gates (1.4) CastleAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.5) PeaceatLast Jill Murphy (1.9) TheCheekyMonkey Anne Cassidy (1.5) VillageintheSnow Roderick Hunt (1.5) TallTilly Jillian Powell (1.6) GreenEggsandHam Dr. Seuss (1.5) MrsVoletheVet Allan Ahlberg (2.1) TheNaughtyPuppy Jillian Powell (1.9) KipperandtheGiant Roderick Hunt (2.0) IntheGarden Roderick Hunt (1.8) PirateAdventure Roderick Hunt (1.4) RobinHood Roderick Hunt (2.2) TheOuting Roderick Hunt (2.0) We'reGoingonaBearHunt Michael J. Rosen (1.3) TheDragonTree Roderick Hunt (1.2) MrsWobbletheWaitress Allan Ahlberg (2.5) Jack'sParty Ann Bryant (1.7) TheMagicKey Roderick Hunt (1.3)
2012 Rank
105 54 7 2 111 9 35 34 30 16 12 29 33 146 77 3 63 42 4 64
Overall
TheMagicFinger Roald Dahl (3.1) TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) OwlBabies Martin Waddell (2.4) LostintheJungle Roderick Hunt (2.3) TheMonsterStory-Teller Jacqueline Wilson (3.0) MrsWobbletheWaitress Allan Ahlberg (2.5) TheCatintheHat Dr. Seuss (2.1) TallTilly Jillian Powell (1.6) MrBifftheBoxer Allan Ahlberg (2.2) MrTicktheTeacher Allan Ahlberg (2.7) FarmerDuck Martin Waddell (2.2) VictorianAdventure Roderick Hunt (2.4) AlligatorTails...CrocodileCakes Nicola Moon (2.8) TheVeryHungryCaterpillar Eric Carle (2.9) Funnybones Janet Ahlberg (3.6) MrsPlugthePlumber Allan Ahlberg (2.6) MasterMoneytheMillionaire Allan Ahlberg (3.1) MissDirttheDustman'sDaughter Allan Ahlberg (2.7) MrCosmotheConjuror Allan Ahlberg (2.4) MrsVoletheVet Allan Ahlberg (2.1)
44

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
1 30 4 20 7 9 10 13 8 29 14 2 23 12 43 16 11 3 17 5
Overall
TheDarkNeverHides Peter Lancett (1.7) TheGoodStudent Alison Hawes (2.4) TheDarkDreamsofHell Peter Lancett (2.0) BoffinBoy...ForestoftheNinja David Orme (2.5) FearintheDark Peter Lancett (2.1) BoffinBoy...MonstersfromtheDeep David Orme (2.3) BoffinBoy...InvadersfromSpace David Orme (2.5) BoffinBoy...QuestforWisdom David Orme (2.8) TheDarkGlass Peter Lancett (2.4) BoffinBoyandtheWizardofEdo David Orme (2.5) FaceintheCrowd Paul Blum (2.2) TheFaceintheDarkMirror Peter Lancett (1.9) NightoftheCrash Paul Blum (2.4) TheDarkWatersofTime Peter Lancett (2.5) PoisonPages Michael Dahl (2.7) BoffinBoyandtheTimeWarriors David Orme (2.6) TheShadowintheDark Peter Lancett (2.3) DangerintheDark Peter Lancett (1.7) FootballSmash Jonny Zucker (1.9) TheDarkFireofDoom Peter Lancett (1.6)
2012 Rank
7 15 23 2 10 93 46 3 47 41 9 18 3 12 30 31 29 208 14 109
Overall
DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) TheGoodStudent Alison Hawes (2.4) Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) Holes Louis Sachar (4.6) TheDarkDreamsofHell Peter Lancett (2.0) DiaryofaWimpyKid:DogDays Jeff Kinney (5.2) Diary...WimpyKid:TheLastStraw Jeff Kinney (5.4) SummerTrouble Jonny Zucker (3.4) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) TheShadowintheDark Peter Lancett (2.3) FearintheDark Peter Lancett (2.1) FaceintheCrowd Paul Blum (2.2) TheDarkNeverHides Peter Lancett (1.7) TheBookThatDrippedBlood Michael Dahl (3.2) PestControl Alison Hawes (3.0) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) TheGoldenBookofDeath Michael Dahl (3.5) IntheZone Tony Norman (2.2) FootballSmash Jonny Zucker (1.9) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8)
45

Year 9
APC was similar again (average 0.88). Six books were below the 85% criterion. Unfortunately, diculty did not rise at all in this Year, but actually declined to 3.4 (4.4 UK), although this was higher than the last year. Thus pupils were reading books at a level over four and half years below their actual ages. Peter Lancett had ve books (a considerable decline), Je Kinney two, Alison Hawes two and Roald Dahl two (see Table 32). Many of these books appear for average readers at a lower age level.
Table32:BooksStrugglingReadersReadMostOften:Year9 2013 Rank

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2012 Rank
4 2 1 3 92 144 48 10 12 31
Overall
OfMiceandMen John Steinbeck (4.5) TheBoyintheStripedPyjamas John Boyne (5.8) StoneCold Robert Swindells (4.3) TheDarkDreamsofHell Peter Lancett (2.0) TheGoodStudent Alison Hawes (2.4) AttackofthePaperBats Michael Dahl (3.5) DiaryofaWimpyKid Jeff Kinney (5.2) Charlie...ChocolateFactory Roald Dahl (4.8) EscapefromtheDark Peter Lancett (1.7) TheShadowintheDark Peter Lancett (2.3)
2013 Rank
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
174 25 149 22 8 11 6 13 172 61
Overall
Diary...WimpyKid:RodrickRules Jeff Kinney (5.2) PrivatePeaceful Michael Morpurgo (5.2) BoffinBoyandtheWizardofEdo David Orme (2.5) Dumped Dee Phillips (1.8) TheDarkFireofDoom Peter Lancett (1.6) PestControl Alison Hawes (3.0) TheFaceintheDarkMirror Peter Lancett (1.9) TheTwits Roald Dahl (4.4) TheGoldenBookofDeath Michael Dahl (3.5) TheGhostHouse Keith West (1.6)
Conclusions
To some extent struggling readers chose the same books that appeared on the lists for average readers (especially in the later years), but they chose those that appeared for average readers at a lower chronological age. Peter Lancett's Hi-Lo books were very popular, but they continued to be read long after their low readability oered any challenge to the pupils. The diculty of the books read starts almost at the right level (two years behind chronological age), but very quickly the diculty fell away until the readers were very much under-challenged. However, this was less so than in previous years, so perhaps there are signs that pupils and/or teachers are becoming more proactive in this regard. There were also encouraging signs that APC is holding up better, and fewer books fall below the recommended 85% criterion. This suggests that teachers and librarians are being more careful in encouraging pupils to read and understand and successfully quiz on books.
46
Section Five:
Most Read Non-fiction Books

School Spotlight: Holy Family Primary School ........................................................................................................... 48 Most Read Non-ction Books ........................................................................................................................................ 49 Top 20 Most Read Non-ction Titles in Years 3 and 4 .......................................................................................... 50 Top 20 Most Read Non-ction Titles in Years 5 and 6 .......................................................................................... 51 Reections on Reading: Cathy Cassidy ......................................................................................................................... 52 Top 20 Most Read Non-ction Titles in Years 7 and 8 .......................................................................................... 54 Top 20 Most Read Non-ction Titles in Year 9 ....................................................................................................... 55 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................... 55
School Spotlight
Holy Family Primary School
We have been using Accelerated Reader (AR) for ve years and now cannot envisage our literacy programme without it. It has helped pinpoint for us the areas where we needed more books and over the years our library has been transformed to meet the demand from our pupils. Last year over 10,000 books were read and 13 pupils became word millionaires. Each September all our pupils complete the STAR Reading test, which provides details of their reading age and the book level they should be reading. As a former assessment co-ordinator I was delighted to nd that the test had received a positive evaluation by NFER. In my experience there are certain things that teachers must do to achieve maximum success with AR: 1. Check the STAR Reading test results carefully and immediately investigate if any are surprising. Finding the proper baseline for the pupil is important if you want to measure progress. 2. Give the children time to read every day. 3. Monitor what the children are reading and how successful they are. 4. Check the Diagnostic Report weekly. 5. Celebrate the childrens success. AR has helped create positive attitudes towards reading to the extent that we even open our computer suite at 8.30am to allow the pupils to quiz before classes start. We operate a reward system and monitor which child in each class has read the most words on a weekly basis and present them with a trophy. Children can also set personal targets and receive homework passes when they have been achieved. All teachers can access important information provided by AR, which simply doesnt exist elsewhere. The data informs us about the children who are doing well but more importantly those who are not engaged in reading. As professionals it is our task to identify these pupils and improve their performance. The Diagnostic Report is vital as we can monitor not only the quantity of reading but also the quality.
Tommy McDermott,
Literacy Co-ordinator at Holy Family Primary School in Derry, Northern Ireland, introduced Renaissance Learnings Accelerated Reader software to encourage the pupils to spend more time reading for pleasure.
All teachers can access important information provided by AR which simply doesnt exist elsewhere...we can monitor not only the quantity of reading but also the quality.
1 2 3 4 5

TheGruffalo Julia Donaldson (2.3) TheLazyScarecrow Jillian Powell (1.8) TheCryingPrincess Anne Cassidy (1.7) TheBestSnowman Margaret Nash (1.3) TheBossyCockerel Margaret Nash (1.5)
Rank
6 7 8 9 10

OneTedFallsOutofBed Julia Donaldson (1.5) Recycled! Jillian Powell (2.3) NobodyGotWet Roderick Hunt (0.6) TheCheekyMonkey Anne Cassidy (1.5) TheNaughtyPuppy Jillian Powell (1.9)
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Most Read Non-fiction Books

It will not have escaped the reader's attention that almost all the books in these lists are ction storybooks. Children like ction, but they also like non-ction. We know that boys in particular are interested in non-ction. So why is it that so many ction books are chosen? Is it something to do with the reading preferences of school teachers and librarians, who might tend to encourage pupils to read ction but not non-ction?
This is likely to result in higher performance by girls, who are known to favour ction. Is this a gendered preference, so that the predominantly female primary school teachers and the half of secondary school teachers who are female prefer ction and are unconsciously promoting ction at the expense of nonction and disadvantaging boys? Of course, Accelerated Reader is neutral on this point, as it oers quizzes on a great many non-ction books. These are interesting questions, and the data available here gives us the opportunity to explore it.
Non-fiction Books Read Most Often

Year 3
Five books were below the 85% criterion, although the average APC was 0.88. ATOS was 2.7 (UK 3.7), indicating these pupils are reading books above their natural reading ability, which might account for the high number of books read below criterion. This is very similar to last year. There were two books by Judy Allen, but otherwise every author is dierent (see Table 33). Five books are very new to this list, but most of them were old favourites from last year. Interestingly, these non-ction books are more likely to be written by females than by males. Many of the books are nature books.
Year 4
Eleven of these books were below the 85% criterion, although the average APC was 0.85 - just equalling it. Diculty was only a little higher than for Year 3 at 3.1 (UK 4.1), indicating that these books are almost exactly on a par with the pupils natural ability. Consequently, there is no reason why they should have been read so carelessly. This picture is worse than last year. Seven books seem radically new to this list. There are two books by David Orme, Alison Hawes and Dick King-Smith, but otherwise all authors are dierent (see Table 34). Perhaps three books seem likely to appeal more to boys.
Year 5
Six of these books are below the 85% criterion, better than last year. Average APC was 0.86. Average ATOS showed a big leap from Year 4, and averaged 4.3 (UK 5.3). This is a big advance on last year. Thus these pupils are reading books a little above their natural reading ability. Alison Hawes had three books, Nicola Davies two, and Dick King-Smith two (see Table 35). Five books were complete newcomers to the list, including three books by Alison Hawes. Only three books seemed strongly male-oriented, less than last year.
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Table33:Non-fictionBooksReadMostOften: Year3 2013 Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
2 1 28 5 123 23 6 10 3 7 29 4 633 136 26 12 78 704 24 332
Overall
GrowingFrogs Vivian French (3.5) ThinkofanEel Karen Wallace (3.5) Dinosaur! David Orme (2.9) I'mShy Karen Bryant-Mole (2.6) AwesomeAnimals Alison Hawes (2.9) AnimalsandtheEnvironment Jennifer Boothroyd (2.3) AreYouaLadybird? Judy Allen (2.4) TheTinySeed Eric Carle (2.7) Camouflage Terry Jennings (2.1) ToughTrucks Tony Mitton (2.9) Apes Monica Hughes (2.4) AreYouaButterfly? Judy Allen (2.7) AnimalMagic Mick Gowar (1.9) FindingThings John Malam (3.1) BigBlueWhale Nicola Davies (4.2) TheEmperor'sEgg Martin Jenkins (4.1) BarnOwls Patricia Whitehouse (1.6) WhenAnimalsInvade Chloe Rhodes (2.4) AnimalFeet Greg Pyers (1.6) DragonHunter Claire Llewellyn (2.7)
2012 Rank
1 3 2 15 4 9 31 6 71 319 100 349 5 17 234 24 304 403 132 27
Overall
GrowingFrogs Vivian French (3.5) TheEmperor'sEgg Martin Jenkins (4.1) ThinkofanEel Karen Wallace (3.5) I'mShy Karen Bryant-Mole (2.6) BigBlueWhale Nicola Davies (4.2) AllPigsAreBeautiful Dick King-Smith (4.3) Football David Orme (3.1) Dinosaur! David Orme (2.9) AwesomeAnimals Alison Hawes (2.9) CoolBuildings Mick Gowar (3.4) Big,FastRides Alison Hawes (3.0) TheWaterCycle Steve Parker (2.9) ToughTrucks Tony Mitton (2.9) ILoveGuinea-Pigs Dick King-Smith (4.5) Yuck! Mick Manning (1.2) Camouflage Terry Jennings (2.1) Ants Sue Barraclough (2.0) Rubbish! Chloe Rhodes (2.6) Apes Monica Hughes (2.4) WhatIsaWall,AfterAll? Judy Allen (3.8)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1 2 3 4
2012 Rank
4 5 2 3 35 1 76 9 367 391 6
Overall
TheEmperor'sEgg Martin Jenkins (4.1) Boy:TalesofChildhood Roald Dahl (6.0) AllPigsAreBeautiful Dick King-Smith (4.3) GrowingFrogs Vivian French (3.5) BigBlueWhale Nicola Davies (4.2) ThinkofanEel Karen Wallace (3.5) Big,FastRides Alison Hawes (3.0) JackyDaydream Jacqueline Wilson (6.2) AwesomeAnimals Alison Hawes (2.9) TheBiggestLiesEver! Alison Hawes (3.1) ILoveGuinea-Pigs Dick King-Smith (4.5) TheWimpyKidMovieDiary:How GregHeffleyWentHollywood Jeff Kinney (6.5) SharkAttack Tom Jackson (4.0) Football David Orme (3.1) I'mShy Karen Bryant-Mole (2.6) IceBear Nicola Davies (4.4) GoingSolo Roald Dahl (6.1) IWonderWhytheSeaIsSalty Anita Ganeri (4.6) Predators Jillian Powell (3.3) DangerousStunts Jonny Zucker (5.6)
2012 Rank
2 1 10 13
Overall
Boy:TalesofChildhood Roald Dahl (6.0) JackyDaydream Jacqueline Wilson (6.2) TheEmperor'sEgg Martin Jenkins (4.1) BigBlueWhale Nicola Davies (4.2) TheWimpyKidMovieDiary:How GregHeffleyWentHollywood Jeff Kinney (6.5) GoingSolo Roald Dahl (6.1) Big,FastRides Alison Hawes (3.0) AnneFrank Harriet Castor (4.3) SharkAttack Tom Jackson (4.0) Football David Orme (3.1) MonsterCrocs Tom Jackson (3.7) GrowingFrogs Vivian French (3.5) AllPigsAreBeautiful Dick King-Smith (4.3) TheBlitzedBrits Terry Deary (5.4) Comets David Orme (3.3) TheTerribleTudors Terry Deary (5.7) Goalkeepers Jonny Zucker (4.5) IWonderWhySnakesShedTheir Skin Amanda O'Neill (5.0) Dinosaur! David Orme (2.9) FormulaOne David Orme (3.2)
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
60 25 9 67 17 49 15 6 12 24 112 19
12
12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
93 18 19 63 33 50 10 155
18
11
19 20
40 52
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Reflections on Reading: Cathy Cassidy

Reading is my favourite kind of magic. No fairy dust is required, no midnight spells, no eye of newt or pickled cats claw its the kind of magic that is achievable by just about everyone.
All you have to do is curl up, open the pages of a book and let the magic begin. A book can oer you a magic carpet to faraway places, a time machine to the past or future, a rollercoaster ride of adventure and thrills and the chance to see the world though someone elses eyes who could resist? Back when I was seven years old, money was tight and there was none to spare for books. A brave junior school teacher marched my whole class along to the local library and signed us all up for library tickets; that evening my dad took me back to the library and helped me to choose an armful of books. The libraries of my childhood were denitely magic - plain, unlikely, modern rooms stacked with secret knowledge, hidden colour, wild stories, endless possibilities. It was a no-risk activity - if you didnt like the book, you just returned it and chose another, until you found the ones opened your eyes, red your imagination. A lifetime habit of reading was born, plus a library addiction. Reading showed me what the world could be and encouraged me to forge and follow my own plans to be an illustrator and author. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, taught me to aim high, work hard, dare to dream. Back in the days when a Jackie Annual was the only book I was ever likely to actually own, libraries opened the doors to a brighter future for me. Britain is in recession again and money is tight. At a time when we are cutting back on luxuries, lets not forget that libraries are the only way that many children can access the magic of reading for pleasure. Yes, we have Kindles now, and X-box and iPadsbut in an age of technology there must still be room for imagination and creativity. Lets be proud of the things we do well - our ability to dream, to imagine, to think outside the box and achieve. Lets value our libraries and keep them safe, as gateways to knowledge and imagination for every member of our society, regardless of age, income or ability. There is nothing to beat the feeling of falling in love with a book, of nding the perfect story for you. Reading is good, we all know that - it boosts your school marks, broadens your general knowledge, helps with grammar and teaches you a whole lot about using the English language without you even noticing the lesson. All that is fantastic, but the real reason reading for pleasure is so important is more elusive. It helps us work out who we are, where we t into the world. It shows us that although we are unique and individual we are not alone; others have felt as we do, others have loved, lost, dreamed, hoped, escaped into stories. Its a particular kind of magic, of course, and if someone asked me if I honestly believed in magic I am not sure I would admit to it. I know one thing, though - I believe in reading, and I always will.
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and illustrated her rst book at 8 years old for her little brother and has been writing and drawing ever since.
Cathy Cassidy wrote
Cathy has worked as an editor on Jackie magazine, a teacher and as agony aunt on Shout Magazine. Lucky Star is her fth book for Pun, following the success of Dizzy, Indigo Blue, Driftwood and Scarlett. Cathy Cassidy is one of the 2013 World Book Day 1 Book authors, with her novel, Bittersweet. www.cathycassidy.com

Year 6
Unfortunately the big surge in diculty from Year 5 is not sustained in this year, which only sees ATOS rise to 4.5 (although this was the same as last year). Thus pupils are reading at six months below their age level. Average APC was 0.86, but eight books were below the 85% criterion. David Orme had four books, Terry Deary two and Tom Jackson two (see Table 37). Very few books had showed big leaps from outside the top 50 to enter this list. Only four books had an obvious male theme.
Year 7
Year 7 is the rst secondary year. Here the average ATOS actually declines to 4.2, indicating pupils are reading almost two years below their natural ability. Nonetheless this is higher than the previous year! APC holds up well enough at 0.88, and indeed only three books are below the 85% criterion, similar to last year. Perhaps this is not surprising when these books are so easy for these pupils. Roy Apps has ve books, Jonny Zucker two, Ann Rooney two, Tom Jackson two and Alison Hawes two (see Table 38). This shows a greater tendency to pursue favourite authors. None of these books appeared very new to this list. Furthermore, 12 of these books have a male-oriented theme strong evidence of a male preference. Why should this become so prominent so immediately after transfer to secondary school?
Year 8
Year 8 shows many similarities to Year 7, including that the diculty showed absolutely no change (4.2). Thus these pupils are now reading at almost three years behind their reading ability. APC was high at 0.89, and only two books fell below the 85% criterion. Four books are new to the list. Roy Apps (seven), Jonny Zucker (three), Alison Hawes (two), Tom Jackson (two) and Anne Rooney (two) were all favoured authors, meaning 16 places were taken by highly chosen writers (see Table 39). Again, 14 of these books seem male-oriented.
Year 9
For the third year, diculty does not rise at all (4.2). This means that these pupils are reading at almost four years below their ability. Average APC was 0.87. Five books were below the 85% criterion, much worse than in 2011. Authors featured are Roy Apps (six books), Jonny Zucker (three), Tom Jackson (two) and John Townsend (two). Fifteen or more of these books have a male-oriented theme (see Table 40).
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
9 3 4 12 6 1 5 2 55 29 45 8 10 13 7 37 11
Overall
WayneRooney Roy Apps (4.3) DavidBeckham Roy Apps (3.8) AndyMurray Roy Apps (4.2) ChrisHoy Roy Apps (4.8) LewisHamilton Roy Apps (3.9) Boy:TalesofChildhood Roald Dahl (6.0) Big,FastRides Alison Hawes (3.0) Goalkeepers Jonny Zucker (4.5) ZombiesontheLoose Anne Rooney (3.9) SharkAttack Tom Jackson (4.0) Motocross Ben Johnson (3.8) TheBiggestLiesEver! Alison Hawes (3.1) Football David Orme (3.1) JackyDaydream Jacqueline Wilson (6.2) MadAboutMoney! Alison Hawes (3.7) VampireCastle Anne Rooney (3.7) GoalScorers Jonny Zucker (4.7) TheWimpyKidMovieDiary:How GregHeffleyWentHollywood Jeff Kinney (6.5) FootballWorldCup Clive Gifford (3.9) MonsterCrocs Tom Jackson (3.7)
2012 Rank
7 4 2 8 6 1 3 22 12 54 77 5 91 20 9 11 57 21 14 43
Overall
WayneRooney Roy Apps (4.3) ChrisHoy Roy Apps (4.8) AndyMurray Roy Apps (4.2) LewisHamilton Roy Apps (3.9) DavidBeckham Roy Apps (3.8) Goalkeepers Jonny Zucker (4.5) Big,FastRides Alison Hawes (3.0) SharkAttack Tom Jackson (4.0) Boy:TalesofChildhood Roald Dahl (6.0) FootballWorldCup Clive Gifford (3.9) Motocross Ben Johnson (3.8) GoalScorers Jonny Zucker (4.7) ZombiesontheLoose Anne Rooney (3.9) MichaelPhelps Roy Apps (4.7) DangerousStunts Jonny Zucker (5.6) Football David Orme (3.1) MonsterCrocs Tom Jackson (3.7) RebeccaAdlington Roy Apps (4.4) TheBiggestLiesEver! Alison Hawes (3.1) VampireCastle Anne Rooney (3.7)
18
21
19 20
48 53
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Table39:Non-fictionBooksReadMostOften:Year9 2013 Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2012 Rank
6 2 18 1 8 3 42 52 4 43
Overall
WayneRooney Roy Apps (4.3) AndyMurray Roy Apps (4.2) LewisHamilton Roy Apps (3.9) Goalkeepers Jonny Zucker (4.5) DavidBeckham Roy Apps (3.8) ChrisHoy Roy Apps (4.8) SharkAttack Tom Jackson (4.0) FootballWorldCup Clive Gifford (3.9) GoalScorers Jonny Zucker (4.7) C.S.I.BoneDetectives John Townsend (4.3)
2013 Rank
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
2012 Rank
17 5 152 88 15 25 36 11 19 98
Overall
C.S.I.BankRobbery John Townsend (4.1) Big,FastRides Alison Hawes (3.0) MonsterCrocs Tom Jackson (3.7) Motocross Ben Johnson (3.8) DangerousStunts Jonny Zucker (5.6) MichaelPhelps Roy Apps (4.7) KillerPets Tony Hyland (4.6) MilitaryMachines Jane A.C. West (4.3) Basketball Tony Norman (3.9) Fishing Gary Newman (4.0)
Conclusions
In Years 3 to 5, diculty was above the chronological age of the pupils, holding up at a level similar to that for average ction books. However, once beyond Year 5 it began to decline, just as with average ction books. Thus there was no evidence that pupils read harder non-ction books than ction. Additionally, APC tended to be lower than was the case for ction and the number of books not read to the criterion of 85% was unacceptably high it seemed that the non-ction books were not read or understood as carefully as the ction books. These results were similar to the previous year. However, from Year 7 onwards, a dierent picture emerged. Books tended to be much less dicult and (perhaps not surprisingly) were read with greater accuracy. However, after secondary transfer books suddenly became dominated by male themes it seemed as girls stopped reading non-ction in the secondary school. Additionally, children began to develop preferences for particular non-ction authors, and so the same author names were repeated in table after table. Thus there is evidence of a male orientation to non-ction, which becomes pronounced after transfer to secondary school. However, there is no evidence that pupils read more dicult non-ction than ction. Furthermore, up to Year 6 pupils seemed to read non-ction with less understanding than ction. After this they are more accurate but the books are much easier.
55
Section Seven:
Conclusion
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................................... 57 About the Author ................................................................................................................................................................ 58
Conclusion
Overall, there are some modest changes in the most popular author lists from the 2012 report, with Je Kinney now on a par with Roald Dahl. Diculty of books continues to increase gently (which is good), but there is little sign of APC rising (although the fact that it is not falling as diculty rises is good).
There is a marked decline at the point of transfer which is not explained by dierences in numbers of pupils in the sample.
Boys are no longer ahead of girls, but probably equal to them in terms of diculty, meaning this is still not a reason for boys doing less well. The most striking disparity is certainly the dierence between performance in reading in primary school and performance in secondary school. There is a marked decline at the point of transfer which is not explained by dierences in numbers of pupils in the sample. Exactly the same decline is found for high-ability readers.
Non-ction needs to be read more widely but pupils need better guidance on reading at a level of diculty which challenges them, as the diculty of much non-ction read in the later years is extremely low.
Struggling readers need similar guidance, since again in the later years they are reading at a level which is very much below what they were capable of although the good news is that teachers and librarians had found books that pupils wanted to read and on which they could maintain adequate APC. In general, it is clear that AR is eective in helping a greatly increased number of pupils maximise their reading capability. Of course, without the software, none of these data would be available.
AR is eective in helping a greatly increased number of pupils maximise their reading capability
Teachers should be aware of the very dierent pupil preferences for reading over time
Recommendations for the future seem clear. Pupils should be encouraged to: pass all quizzes; sustain a higher level of challenge in their reading, especially on transfer to secondary school; and sustain Average Percent Correct at or above the 85% level on every book. Teachers should be aware of the very dierent pupil preferences for reading over time and the marked dierences in preferences between boys and girls.
Even high-achieving readers need encouragement to sustain high challenge in their reading, especially in the later years. Boys might profess more interested in non-ction but need encouragement to read it carefully. Books popular with children should guide school purchasing decisions in the future, but even on these books diculty eventually declines.
High-achieving readers need encouragement to sustain high challenge in their reading
57
The take-home messages of this report are thus:

The good news:
1) The accuracy with which books are read is rising, although less so in the upper Years 2) The accuracy of reading by low ability readers is rising 3) Boys are performing almost equally to girls 4) Children read highly motivating books at a far higher level of diculty, with accuracy 5) Struggling readers are reading with greater accuracy 6) Many more pupils are quizzing with Accelerated Reader.
The not so good news:

1) There is a marked downturn in diculty of books at secondary transfer. Secondary teachers and librarians need to get better at encouraging children appropriately 2) The diculty even of highly motivating books declines in secondary school 3) Struggling readers are seriously under-challenged 4) High-ability readers are seriously under-challenged 5) Non-ction readers are seriously under-challenged, especially in secondary school where they choose male-dominated books.
About the Author

Keith Topping is Professor of Educational and Social Research at Dundee University. His published works exceed 300 (books, chapters, peer reviewed journal papers and distance learning packages), with translations into 12 languages. Prior to entering Higher Education he worked for a number of local Education authorities and for Social Services and Health.
Keiths own main research focus is Peer Learning (including peer tutoring, cooperative learning and peer assessment) and other forms of non-professional tutoring (e.g. by parents, assistants or volunteers) - in core skills (e.g. reading, spelling, writing, thinking skills, science, mathematics, information technology) and across subject boundaries, in all sectors and contexts of education and lifelong learning. He also has interests in computer aided assessment and formative assessment.
58
Section Six:
How it Works
About Accelerated Reader ............................................................................................................................................... 60 How Accelerated Reader Works ..................................................................................................................................... 60 ATOS and Book Levels ....................................................................................................................................................... 61 AR BookFinder ..................................................................................................................................................................... 61 AR BookGuide ...................................................................................................................................................................... 61 The Power of Personalised Practice .............................................................................................................................. 62
About Accelerated Reader

The data on which this report is based is made available from the worlds most popular reading management software, Accelerated Reader (AR). Currently used in thousands of UK schools, AR oers personalised practice and immediate feedback for both teachers and students, whilst motivating and encouraging them to read more books for pleasure. How Accelerated Reader Works
To begin with, each student completes a STAR Reading computer-adaptive baseline assessment, which takes approximately 10 minutes and determines their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development). The results are also used by teachers to estimate actual reading ages and estimated National Curriculum levels in reading.
Developed in accordance with Vygotskian theory, the ZPD is a range of readability levels from which a student should select ction and non-ction books to read. It is a range that is neither too hard nor too easy, within which students who complete daily reading practice can experience optimal growth with their reading skills. Once a student has read a book of their individual choice they then take an online AR quiz on the title, which checks that they have understood what they have just read. Over 23,500 quizzes are currently available in the UK on the most popular ction and non-ction titles, from Spot the Dog via the Roald Dahls and Harry Potter to the Classics. In addition to the reading practice quizzes, vocabulary practice quizzes test students understanding of particular words and literacy skills quizzes analyse 24 dierent areas of higher order thinking skills. AR quizzes can be taken in school using a computer, the Student App or on a NEO 2. On completion of a quiz, both the student and teacher receive immediate feedback, whilst the Home Connect feature of AR also noties parents/ guardians. By collating the data available for all quizzes and the results of termly STAR assessments, the formative feedback provided by AR helps inform reading instruction, guide and motivate both individual and groups of students to continue reading. AR is thus an accurate and eective progress-monitoring system that monitors not only the quantity, but also the quality of individual book-reading.
60
ATOS and Book Levels

Accelerated Reader uses the ATOS readability formula to measure the text diculty of each book for which a quiz is available.
It uses four factors to determine a books readability level: average sentence length, average word length in number of letters, word diculty level and total number of words in the book. The ATOS is level is based on the full book, rather than a 100-word sample sometimes used to measure readability by makers of other formulas. The book diculty level is determined by the ATOS formula and also considers the interest level of the title, which is particularly important when identifying hi-lo books that require a low level of reading ability but contain more adult themes, for example. ATOS can be applied to all publications (see www.renlearn.co.uk/atos). In order to relate ATOS levels to the British system, 1 would have to be added to bring the diculty level up to English, Welsh and Northern Irish Years and 2 added to bring it up to Scottish P years. The interpretation takes this into account.
AR BookFinder
AR BookFinder (www.arbooknd.co.uk) is an online book-searching tool that is freely available to anyone with a love of reading.
It makes book selection easy for students, teachers, librarians and parents by providing descriptions about each title along with their interest and book level.
AR BookGuide
AR BookGuide can be used by teachers and librarians to create recommended reading lists using specially assigned keywords that a student can access from within AR BookFinder.
61
The Power of Personalised Practice

In studies conducted across the globe, practice and hard work, rather than xed intelligence, is very often cited as benecial to both motivation and performance (Willingham and Mueller & Dweck ). When looking at reading in particular, research indicates that time spent actually reading books is the best predictor of overall academic achievement, even more so than socio-economic status or ethnicity (Kirsch et al ).
Reading practice not only helps build and develop vocabulary, uency, comprehension, writing and high-order thinking skills (Greeneld ), but also enhances other more general abilities, such as visual information processing and speech perception (McBride-Chang et al ). Although it could be argued that reading in all its forms is benecial, it is most eective when personalised and guided that is, when it is coupled with feedback and instructional support that is tailored to the needs of the individual (Paul ). It is precisely this approach that, when properly implemented, makes AR so eective at motivating reluctant readers and raising standards of literacy amongst all students. In this way, to achieve the best results teachers are encouraged to plenty of opportunities for in-class reading practice in which they:
l l l
Furthermore, the importance of daily personalised reading practice cannot be overstated. Indeed, recent studies indicate that when students spend 25 minutes a day reading not selecting, opening or closing their books, but actually reading suitably challenging books (i.e. within their individual ZPD) which they successfully comprehend (demonstrated by achieving over 90% on an AR quiz on the title), then they will achieve optimal reading age growth (Renaissance Learning ). This is the power of personalised practice.
help students identify appropriate books monitor students progress intervene to provide instruction or adjust recommendations as and when needed.
Willingham, D.T. (2009). Why dont students like school: A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Mueller, C.M. & Dweck, C.S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine childrens motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 75(1), 33-52. Kirsch, I., de Jong, J., Lafontaine, D., McQueen, J., Mendelovits, J. & Monseur, C. (2002). Reading for change: Performance and engagement across countries. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Greeneld, P.M. (2009). Technology and informal education: What is taught, what is learned. Science, 323 (5910). 69-71 McBride-Chang, C., Zhou, Y., Cho, J.R., Aram, D., Levin, I. & Tolchinsky, L. (2011). Visual spatial skill: A consequence of learning to read? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 109(2). 256-262. Paul, T. D. (2003). Guided independent reading: An examination of the Reading Practice Database and the scientic research supporting guided independent reading as implemented in Reading Renaissance. Madison, WI: Renaissance Learning, Inc. Renaissance Learning. (2012). Text Complexity: Accurate Estimates and Educational Recommendations. Wisconsin Rapids, WI: Author.
4 5
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Notes
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To share your thoughts with us about this report please email wkar@renlearn.co.uk
Renaissance Learning UK Ltd.

32 Harbour Exchange Square, London E14 9GE T: 020 7184 4000 W: www.renlearn.co.uk
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What Kids Are Reading:

The Book-Reading Habits of Students in British Schools 2013

What Kids Are Reading:

Section One: Books Kids Are Reading Most Often ....................................................... 1

Section Three: Books High-Achieving Kids Read Most Often ....................................... 33

Section Four: Books Struggling Readers Read Most Often........................................... 41

Section Five: Most Read Non-ction Books .................................................................. 47

Section Six: Summary and Discussion ......................................................................... 56

Section Seven: How it Works ...................................................................................... 59

Dirk Foch is Managing

Introduction By Dirk Foch, Managing Director of Renaissance Learning UK

Foreword By Je Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kids series

Average Book Diculty

Diculty of Books Read

Average Percent Correct

Favourite Books by Vote

The take-home messages of this report are thus:

The not so good news:

Books Kids Are Reading Most Often

Hazlegrove Preparatory School

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

World Book Day at Hazlegrove Preparatory School

Books Kids Are Reading Most Often

Books Kids Are Reading Most Often

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Reflections on Reading: Julia Donaldson

The two Steves (Skidmore and Barlowe)

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Top 20 Titles for Boys and Girls

* Includes gender unassigned pupils

Popularity of Authors & Voting for Favourite Books

Hucknall National Primary School

Julie King, KS2

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

RoderickHunt(29) JeffKinney(23) FrancescaSimon(18) J.K.Rowling(11) AllenAhlberg(9) StephenieMeyer(4) JacquelineWilson(4) MichaelMorpurgo(4)

Louis Sachar (3)

Names new for 2013 are italicised.

Voting for Favourite Books

Voting on Favourite Books

Voting on Favourite Books

Table13:VotingonFavouriteBooks:Year2 2013 Rank

1076 211 82 NA NA 210 NA 296 NA

Voting on Favourite Books

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

RoderickHunt(29) JeffKinney(23) FrancescaSimon(18) J.K.Rowling(11) AllenAhlberg(9) StephenieMeyer(4) JacquelineWilson(4) MichaelMorpurgo(4)

Table13:VotingonFavouriteBooks:Year2 2013 Rank

Table15:VotingonFavouriteBooks:Year4 2013 Rank

Table17:VotingonFavouriteBooks:Year6 2013 Rank

Table19:VotingonFavouriteBooks:Year8 2013 Rank

Table22:MostPopularTitlesfor High-AchievingBoysandGirlsinYear4 2013 Rank

Table24:MostPopularTitlesfor High-AchievingBoysandGirlsinYear6 2013 Rank

Table26:MostPopularTitlesfor High-AchievingBoysandGirlsinYear8 2013 Rank

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

Table29:BooksStrugglingReadersReadMost Often:Year6 2013 Rank

Table31:BooksStrugglingReadersReadMost Often:Year8 2013 Rank

Table32:BooksStrugglingReadersReadMostOften:Year9 2013 Rank

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

BookTitle Author (ATOS Book Level)

Table34:Non-fictionBooksReadMostOften: Year4 2013 Rank

Table36:Non-fictionBooksReadMostOften: Year6 2013 Rank

Table38:Non-fictionBooksReadMostOften: Year8 2013 Rank