Fostering a love of reading in pupils is a must for any primary school teacher.
But not all pupils take to reading like a duck to water, and often it can be a real struggle to engage those pupils with literacy.
So how can you turn those reluctant readers into avid bookworms?
Perhaps with one of these 40 books.
Beanstalk, a literacy charity that recruits, trains and places volunteers in primary schools to provide one-to-one support for children who have fallen behind with their reading, has revealed the 40 books that it finds can engage even the most unwilling of readers.
Ginny Lunn, chief executive Officer of Beanstalk, said: “We also hope that by revealing Beanstalk’s ‘Top 40 ‘, it might help anyone looking for inspiration for a child they know - from parents to grandparents, reading helpers to teaching staff.”
Lower key stage 1 titles:
Some Dogs Do, Jez Alborough
We’re Going on a Lion Hunt, David Axtell
Dear Zoo, Rod Campbell
There’s a Bear on My Chair, Ross Collins
Wriggle and Roar!, Julia Donaldson (Illustrated by Nick Sharratt)
Dave’s Cave, Frann Preston Gannon
You Choose!, Pippa Goodhart (Illustrated by Nick Sharratt)
Peace At Last, Jill Murphy
It’s Okay to be Different, Todd Parr
Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Jungle, Axel Scheffler
Upper key stage 1 titles:
Open Very Carefully, Nick Bromley (Illustrated by Nicola O’Byrne)
A Dark, Dark Tale, Ruth Brown
Tidy, Emily Gravett
Oi Frog!, Kes Gray (Illustrated by Jim Field)
The Great Big Book of Families, Mary Hoffman (Illustrated by Ros Asquith)
Class Two at the Zoo, Julia Jarman
The Book With No Pictures, B.J. Novak
Mixed Up Fairy Tales, Hilary Robinson (Illustrated by Nick Sharratt)
Press Here, Hervé Tullet
That Is Not a Good Idea!, Mo Willems
Lower key stage 2 titles:
The Children Who Smelled a Rat, Allan Ahlberg (Illustrated by Katharine McEwen)
Norman the Norman from Normandy, Philip Ardagh (Illustrated by Tom Morgan Jones)
Window, Jeannie Baker
Little Beauty, Anthony Browne
Eric... the Hero?, Christopher Wormell
Frog and Toad are Friends, Arnold Lobel
Once Upon an Ordinary School Day, Colin McNaughton (Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura)
The Big Book of Magical Mix-Ups, Hilary Robinson (Illustrated by Nick Sharratt)
There’s No Such Thing as a Snappenpoop, Matt Saunders
Lottie Potter Wants an Otter, Jeanne Willis
Upper key stage 2 titles:
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, Janet and Allan Ahlberg
The Tunnel, Anthony Browne
The Covers of My Book Are Too Far Apart, Vivian French (Illustrated by Matt Saunders)
The Wolves in the Walls, Neil Gaiman (Illustrated by David McKean)
Archie’s Unbelievably Freaky Week, Andrew Norris (Illustrated by Hannah Shaw)
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, Liz Pichon
What Are You Playing At?, Marie-Sabine Roger
The Laugh Out Loud Joke Book, Michael Rosen
You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum!, Andy Stanton (Illustrated by David Tazzyman)
Tadpole’s Promise, Jeanne Willis (Illustrated by Tony Ross)
