Welcome to Cambridge

Reading Adventures!
Cambridge Reading Adventures is a brand new series
of delightful books designed to capture your child’s
imagination while guiding them steadily through the
stages to independent reading success.

This reading scheme has been created by Cambridge University

Press in collaboration with the International Literacy Centre (ILC)
at the UCL Institute of Education (IoE). The ILC is an authority
on literacy education for children aged from 3-13 years old.
The Centre develops innovative materials and approaches
to promote child literacy, including Book Banding for
guided reading - a proven way to successfully help your
child become an enthusiastic and confident reader.
Cambridge Reading Adventures has been created
specifically for use in guided reading, and is for young
children learning to read English in countries all over
the world, whatever their language background. It
consists of 90 books categorised into 11 Book Bands
designed to take your child from being a completely
new reader to well on the way to being a fluent and
confident reader.

The series includes both fiction and non-fiction topics, covering a

wide range of subjects. Stories are set in international contexts and
include traditional and modern tales, contemporary and historic
settings, as well as non-fiction reports and explanations.
The Importance of Regular
Reading at Home
It is estimated that around 20% of English speaking children across
the world reach the age of 11 unable to read confidently. This startling
statistic means that there are many children who do not enjoy reading
and do not choose to read for pleasure. Yet we know that the amount
we read and regular reading has a big effect on educational progress
generally. Children who read for pleasure are likely to do better at
school than their peers.

Making time to read regularly with your child is an

investment in their education and in their life chances.
Making Reading Fun
Reading with your child can be a fun, relaxing and
thoroughly enjoyable experience. These suggestions
will help ensure that make your child’s home reading
experiences happy and enriching:

Routine
Set aside 10 or 15 minutes of reading time each day. Little and
often is definitely the best approach with young readers. Soon
your reading time will be something both you and your child
look forward to; the start of a daily reading adventure!

Get comfortable
Find somewhere free from distractions. Your child will benefit
from your complete attention to help them learn how to enjoy
reading and focus on the story or information book.

Keep it positive
While your child is reading, try not to interrupt them if they get
things wrong; let them finish a sentence or paragraph and then
go back over anything you think is important for them to know.
If a story becomes too disjointed with stops and starts your child’s
enjoyment will be limited.
Work it out together
When you do choose to go back over unfamiliar words, support your
child to think about how they could work it out rather than telling
them. You might spell some words out with your child using the letter
sounds or phonics. Good words for doing this use the letter sounds
that your child is learning, like man (/m/a/n) and road (r/oa/d). You
might also show how your child that if they go back to the beginning
of the sentence they can think about what word would make sense or
whether something in the picture would help work it out.

Take turns
With very young readers in particular, it can be helpful to take
turns in reading sentences, paragraphs and pages. This helps to
keep the story flowing while making sure that your child gets
plenty of opportunities to practice.

Build confidence
Make sure the books you read with
your child to read are not too difficult.
The aim is for children to enjoy
reading. So build confidence and
enjoyment by making sure that
your child can read the books with
ease. If it is too difficult, read it to
them. When children lose the
flow of the story and find more
than 1 in ten of the words hard,
they can become reluctant to
read. We want to avoid that.
Read the favourites again and again!
Children love to read stories they have read before again and
again, and young children, especially, will read and re-read their
favourites many times. Soon they will be reading their favourites
with complete independence and read with expression. Rereading
helps to build confidence, speed and accuracy in their reading.

Praise frequently
Children enjoy the feeling of success, and praise for even the
smallest achievements will help to spur them on. If your child
has a school reading diary, write a positive comment in it each
time they read with you. This will reinforce your interest and
pride in their reading progress, while also communicating their
achievements to their teacher. If your child enjoys reading and
gets lots of praise, they are more likely to choose to read as they
got older.
Talk
Talk to your child about the books you read together
- ask questions about the text; study the pictures
together; talk about the different characters and what
happens to them in the story. Not only will this increase
their enjoyment of reading but it will also help to improve their
comprehension skills. There are questions suggested in the back of each
book that you could use to help you talk about the stories with your child.

Read everything around you

Take your reading outside of the home too and encourage children
to read road signs, shop names, street names, food packaging
labels, everywhere they go. This will improve their reading skills
and also their awareness of the world around them.

The Cambridge Reading Adventures series is available in schools

across the world and the stories contain links to a multitude of
curriculum topics which are used as part of project work to support
wider classroom learning.
Our Authors
The contributors to Cambridge Reading Adventures
have been chosen from across the world and include
award-winning authors, carefully selected for their
expertise and experience in children’s education and
teaching, as well as renowned photographers and
illustrators. This prestigious panel includes:

Lauri Kubuitsile
Lauri has published books and short stories
across the world. She has won numerous
prizes including twice winning the Pan-
African prize for children’s stories,
The Golden Baobab Prize and she was
shortlisted for the 2011 Caine Prize.

Ian Whybrow
Ian is a prolific writer of children’s books which
have been translated into many languages and
published worldwide. He is probably best known
for the million-selling series about Harry and the
Bucketful of Dinosaurs, which has been adapted
into an animated television series.
 Claire Llewellyn
Claire was an editor of children’s non-
fiction for over ten years before becoming
an award-winning writer. Claire won the
Times Education Supplement Award as
well as the English 4-11 Book Award and was short-listed for the
Royal Society Science Prize.

Jonathan and Angela Scott

Jonathan and Angela have won many
awards such as the prestigious Wildlife
Photographer of the Year competition.
They have been named as Canon
Ambassadors in recognition of their
photographic expertise. Their titles and
photographs feature in the Gold Band.
Three reasons to choose Cambridge
Reading Adventures
Book Banding is the most effective way for

1 children to progress their reading and will help

to guide your child along an enjoyable and
successful journey to literacy

These delightful books are beautifully written,

2 designed and illustrated by outstanding authors,

illustrators and photographers from around
the world

3
The series was developed by Primary reading
experts, Sue Bodman and Glen Franklin from the
world renowned UCL Institute of Education
What is Book Banding?
Book Banding guides young readers on their reading journey
through different colour bands.

There are 11 coloured Book Bands in total which benchmark the

titles included within each band, to help you assess your child’s
progress before moving them up within the colour bands.

The flexible approach of Book Banding focusses on the individual

child - books within each band do not need to be read in a particular
order and your child does not need to read all the books in a band
before progressing to the next colour band.

Colour Band No. of titles Features of the Colour Bands

Pink A 9
§ The Pink-Green bands specify high
frequency words.
Pink B 9

Red 10 § All books include a word count and

interest words.
Yellow 8
§ Resources within each book band
Blue 9 will include specific links to CIE,
IPC, PYP – detailed within the teacher
Green 8 notes found in the back of each book.

Orange 8 § Every book, as a minimum, includes

coverage of 2 Cambridge International
Turquoise 8 Examinations syllabus requirements.

Purple 7 § Other books within the individual bands,

where not directly applicable to other
Gold 7 syllabuses, will support students’ wider
learning in other primary subjects.
White 7
Pink A and Pink B Band
Pink A and Pink B books are carefully designed to support a
child learning how to use a book. They use colourful illustrations
to support young readers, as well as predictable text of about
30-60 words.
Books in the Pink Band include:
Jamila Finds a Friend; Leela can Skate; The Last Lemon

Red Band
Within the Red band books, the sense of story begins to be developed.
There are more complex sentence structures and less repetition than
in the Pink band but still lots of supportive illustrations. The non-
fiction books within the Band reinforce familiar language patterns
through themes that appeal to the interests and understanding
of young children. These books are also slightly longer than
Pink books, so that children can extend their high frequency
word knowledge.
Books in the Red Band include:
Look! it’s Baby Duck; The Enormous Watermelon; Omar can Help
Yellow Band
Books in the Yellow Band have longer story plots to
support young readers in developing the skills to link
and relate subject matter. They include longer sentences
and a wider range of vocabulary, and place more emphasis on
children’s understanding through reading rather than relying
on illustrations to convey meaning. Repetition in Yellow books
is used as a dramatic device rather than a support for building
vocabulary knowledge.
Books in the Yellow Band include:
Little Tiger Hu can Roar; Diego Fandango; Oh Bella!

Blue Band
Blue Band stories involve several characters and episodes within
one story to support the development of comprehension skills.
The books have a greater variation in sentence patterns to support
meaning and help students to self-correct independently. The
vocabulary in the books is more technically specific and the
illustrations are used to support less commonly used words,
giving opportunities for readers to build word-reading power and
knowledge of spelling patterns.
Books in the Blue Band include: My First Train Trip; Making a Car
Green Band
The longer sentence structures in the Green band fiction
books make the use of punctuation for precise message
deliver a focus. There are several characters and well developed
story events in each book. The longer and more complex words
require readers to apply word-solving skills flexibly. There are also
more non-fiction titles in the Green band.
Books in the Green Band include:
The Lion and the Mouse; Turtle is a Hero; Hide and Seek

Orange Band
Stories in Orange band books are longer than in previous
bands, feature more events and greater complexity. There
is more text on each page and a more complex sentence
structure, with some use of conditional tense. A high percentage
of high frequency words helps children become fluent and develop
their understanding. Illustrations are used to support just one
aspect of the story meaning on each page.
Books in the Orange Band include:
The Best Little Bullfrog in the Forest; For Today, For Tomorrow
Turquoise Band
Turquoise books include extended descriptions of
places and people offering challenges with phrasing
and expression for young readers. They feature less
common vocabulary that requires children to use their
knowledge and or spelling patterns. The non-fiction books in the
band introduce maps, charts and diagrams, as well as glossaries
and indexes for children to navigate information alphabetically.
Books in the Turquoise Band include:
Sang Kancil and the Tiger; The Great Jewelled Egg Mystery;
How Chocolate is Made

Purple Band
In Purple band books, children are introduced
to the characters’ viewpoint, giving them the
opportunity to consider motivation and response.
Children are introduced to traditional story-telling phrases such as
‘Long, long ago’ and ‘Once upon a time’. The band includes simple
chapter books for the first time and non-fiction books provide
more in-depth information and technical vocabulary.
Books in the Purple Band include: Pterosaur!; King Fox; Sandstorm
 Gold Band
Gold Band books are designed for children who are
approaching independence in predicting and evaluating
story development. The band features longer books to
match children’s growing reading stamina, and more
complex language structures. The chapter books in this band build
tension and promote sustained reading with complex storylines.
Books in the Gold Band include:
Yu and the Great Flood; Animals of the Ice Age; Giants of the Ocean

White Band
White band books are designed for children who are becoming
confident independent readers. The stories are engaging and more
complex than those in previous bands, provoking children to ask
and explore ‘why’. Sentences include several clauses with a wide
range of conjunctions and elisions such as we’re and there
are introduced.
Books in the White Band include:
The Silk Road; The Great Escape; The Great Migration