Children reading at Red level will be able to synthesise information from different places in a text. They are beginning to recognise how layers of meaning allow for the build-up of humour or tension and are able to discuss how the author has achieved the effects.

How to support your child reading Red level books

The books at this level are written in a much more subtle way than in previous levels which means that it is important that the reader is fully engaged with the process of reading and alert to the language and vocabulary the writer is using. This level is more advanced than many books that are sold to adults but these stories are not intended to be just ‘leisure reads’. Although your child should enjoy them, the books need the reader to be fully alert and willing to learn.

You can help them by:

· continuing to make a time available for regular quiet reading sessions, and reading your book while your child reads.
· Suggest that your child invites friends who are also reading the book to a ‘Book Group’. If you skim-read the book first – or ask your child’s teacher – you can prepare some questions for the book group to discuss.
· Before a reading session, ask your child to find and note down some particular information. It could relate to the plot or it could be something like: a really good descriptive passage; three words which are adventurous; two words you want to use in your next piece of writing; an example of something typical a character does or says; how one character’s reaction to another shows their relationship … There are lots of questions you can ask which don’t mean you have to know the book yourself, but just serve to alert your child to its possibilities.