The Primary English Encyclopedia: The Heart of the Curriculum, Third Edition
See also adventure stories, animal, fantasy, fiction, historical novels, history of children’s literature, narrative, realism, school stories
As they move through the primary years children become able to enjoy longer stories or ‘novels’. Like novels for adults, children’s novels are sustained fictional narratives, long enough for the development of characters and a series of events. For suggestions for different age groups I recommend Stuart Marriott’s Read On and, particularly for older children, Gervase Phinn’s Young Readers and Their Books. Children’s novels are very varied and include classics like Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden, historical novels like Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth, adventures like Nina Bawden’s The White Horse Gang and the rather surrealist and slightly disturbing kind of book, for instance, The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan. Some children greatly enjoy reading novels independently. The shared reading of a novel is a deeply educative experience.
Amongst the benefits are that children:
• enjoy an imaginary experience
• learn from hearing the teacher’s reading and discussion as a mature reader
• experience interactive learning as they discuss and enjoy the text together
• are exposed to different kinds of book language
• are introduced to a wide range of fiction that they might not have read on their own – adventure, historical novels, fantasy, realism
• develop empathy and understanding
• are helped to make links made between text and life and vice versa
• are helped to enjoy a building momentum and to develop cumulative insights over several sessions
• have the others in the class to provide a good audience for drama, writing etc.
• have their literacy developed in the widest sense.
In addition, teachers often find that children with special literacy needs can be encouraged to contribute and young learners of English as a second or additional language are placed in a supportive context.
Eight-year-old Cormac was not a bookish child but after hearing the teacher read Dick King-Smith’s The Sheep-pig he remarked:
Marriot, S. (1995) Read On: Using Fiction in the Primary School. London: Paul Chapman (despite its publication date this is still one of the best books on the subject).
Phinn, G. (2004) Young Readers and their Books. London: David Fulton.
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