I have enjoyed writing my Top 5 favourite items post the past 3 years but this year I thought I would introduce a new version that just focuses on our Top 5 Favourite Books of the Year. We have found quite a few gems this year so here is our absolute favourite new books (in no order).
The Life Cycle Book. Admittedly we already had a few life cycle books but this one is the ultimate life cycle book. Why? Because they take life cycles to a whole new level and talk about things like a tornado life cycle, mountain life cycle, the venus flytrap life cycle, dinosaur life cycle – yip it is not just animal life cycles. Although they do cover animal life cycles and they do cover a lot of amazing animal life cycles. The other thing about this book is the illustrations that they have used are stunning and once the kids start paging through they really do just want to continue looking, reading and asking questions. It really has become our ultimate life cycle book. We love it.
What’s Where in the World. A book that truely amazed me. We first borrowed a copy from our local library but my nine-year was just obsessed with this book so I eventually had to buy us our own copy. It is like a bit of a general knowledge download in a book but done with lots of maps and graphics so the information just becomes that much easier to understand. A truly unique and interesting book.
Sky Hawk. What a story. Both my kids and I loved this story, I mean really loved it. We felt like we were invited into a world and taken on an adventure with the characters of this book. There was a sad moment but oh after getting through that sadness your heart ends up soaring again. This story is beautifully told. It is the first book by this author (Gill Lewis) but it is definitely not going to be our last. Plus an added advantage from a home educator point of view was the book comes with free to download notes and worksheets from the Oxford University Press site.
Romeo and Juliet. Yes I am including Shakespeare but I am including the RSC School version of Romeo and Juliet. My daughter is a fan of Shakespeare, she loves the characters and the way the plot twists and gives you some surprises but reading Shakespeare in its original form can be daunting hence the Royal Shakespeare Company School version. This book has helped her unlock Shakespeare and enjoy it. We worked through the book together but she has since read and re-read sections by herself (the format is on each double page you get one page of Shakespeare’s words and one page with a glossary, information and some activity ideas). It really does make the words more understandable and hence allows the kids to enjoy it more. And she even comes and reads speeches out of the book just because she wants me to hear it.
Spy Dog, Spy Cat and Spy Pups. My son randomly picked up a copy of Spy Dogs at our local library a couple of months again and then he was hooked. We have borrowed every Spy Dog, Spy Cat and Spy Pup book that we could get our hands on and he has read and re-read them. He even comes and tells us about extracts from the book and started writing his own version. I have not read one of these yet but the enjoyment that he gets from them means I just had to include them in this list.
Admin – This is NOT a sponsored post in any shape or form. These are just our own personal Top 5 books of the year.
ofamily learning together 