tutoring blog series

11 Brilliant Books For 11+ Boys Who Hate Reading

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Click the play button below to listen to the list of recommended books as well as additional tips for helping your son with his reading.

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Happy bank holiday weekend!

I hope you’re having a wonderful Monday and are enjoying the warm weather.

As we prepare for our 11+ summer course, I am inundated with messages and calls from parents asking for tips on how to help their sons with reading. 

Generally, it seems that reading is the domain of girls and I’m always amazed by how much my female students tend to love reading whilst the majority of my male students hate it. There are so many potential reasons for this but if I start on them, I’ll be writing forever.  

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As a proud bookworm, I’m constantly looking for the best books and stories for children aged 8-12 and always become incredibly excited when I stumble across a great undiscovered book. It’s like finding a hidden gem.

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If you have a son who absolutely hates reading, then hopefully this quick list of 11 of my favourite reading books will be helpful. It’s not a definitive list but it should act as a starting point and hopefully inspire you and your son to keep hunting for more great stories.

Without further ado, here we go:

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  1. Storm Breaker by Anthony Horowitz 

  2. HIVE by Mark Walden 

  3. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (this trilogy is especially great for helping children to come up with clever ideas for cliffhangers, inspire their creative thinking skills and improve their story writing structure. I’m a huge fan!)

  4. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

  5. Shadow jumper by JM Forster

  6. The Maze Runner by James Dashner 

  7. Thieves Like Us by Stephen Cole

  8. Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks

  9. Traitor Series, Andy McNab

  10. The Door or No Return by Sarah Mussi

  11. Sure Fire by Jack Higgins

There are a few other great finds such as The Cherub Series by Robert Muchamore.

Has your child read any of the above books? Which was their favourite? Are there any other great books that you love?

Let us know by leaving a comment below.

 

Compound Words List (Ideal For 11+ Exams)

If you've been looking for a compound word list to help your child prepare for their 11+ or SATs exams, you're in the right place.

I've created one which includes 100 of the most popular compound words.

Many of these words have appeared on 11+ Verbal Reasoning and English papers over the past few years so it's important for your child to familiarise themselves with these words.

Here are some examples of popular 11+ compound words to help your child get started.

Food Words

  • Pancakes

  • Pineapple

  • Gingerbread

  • Butterscotch

  • Watermelon

  • Cupcakes

  • Popcorn

Plants, nature and herbs

  • Peppermint

  • Sunflower

  • Gooseberry

  • Strawberry

  • Blueberry

  • Bayberry

Sports

  • Football

  • Basketball

  • Netball

  • Baseball

  • Skateboarding

  • Snowball

  • Volleyball

Click here to download the full 100 compound word list .

If you'd like me to create more free 11+ resources, tell me what you'd like to see by leaving a comment below.

Christmas wishes,

The Tutoress