Teach Primary Issue 18.7

world and what understand about the human condition. Such books pass on an eternal truth about what it means to be human. They are the sort of book that will be important as an informed or imagined experience forever. Choices, choices Every year of my teaching career, I would spend time deciding which books I should read to my new class, and I published my first suggested reading spine about 25 years ago. For Key Stage 2, I selected six core novels a year, plus one picture book. I chose that number because it leaves space for new publications, novel enthusiasms and books that speak to the moment. I magine a school where, from Foundation to Year 6, children experience a minimum core of about 80 carefully selected books. These ‘essential reads’ would be the finest literature available, and would create a living library inside each child’s mind, providing a common, profoundly conceptualised set of literary experiences. In many settings, their teacher is the only person in a child’s life who reads to them. So, although time in school is limited, if we don’t read great books to some of our pupils, then, sadly, no one else will. And by ‘great books’, we mean quality literature – books that are beautifully written and so deeply imagined that they stay with the reader forever, altering how they see the The idea is for schools to choose a core that ensures every child access to the best books available. However, it is important to leave some leeway and space in the programme – certainly, one picture book a year is not sufficient at Key Stage 2. For EYFS and Key Stage 1, I selected 12 core picture books a year plus some suggested early chapter books. This number should be increased considerably by careful selection of ‘essential reads’. When I created the first spine for a school, I spent six weeks of the summer holidays with piles of books on the sitting room floor. At first, there were too many in each year group. I found that setting myself a target of only six novels or 12 picture books a year forced me to make choices. Every book had to justify its place, so I asked myself the following questions: ⋅ First of all, is each title an outstanding book that every child should experience? ⋅ Has each book been tried and tested in the classroom, and is it a story that children still love? (Many of the so-called ancient classics such as Treasure Island bit the dust at this point.) ⋅ Am I selecting a range of quality authors, avoiding over-emphasis on any single writer? ⋅ Am I including books written in a range of writing styles about different themes? ⋅ Are there links across the years so that children revisit core literary themes? ⋅ Have I ensured diversity of authors, writing from a range of cultures about varying experiences of life? A library of one’s own I strongly suggest you discuss these questions and criteria with colleagues, and develop a reading spine for your own school. Once the spine has been agreed, then the school can resource the core texts with at least a half-class set of each book. Given limited budgets, this may take several years to work towards, but the aim is that children can at least share a book. BACKBONE! Grow a Pie Corbett shares his expert advice on how to create a reading spine T E ACH RE AD I NG & WR I T I NG “Pupils would encounter books that are beautifully written and so deeply imagined that they stay with the reader forever” www.teachwire.net | 57