Reading log instructions
1. You must read a fiction text.
2. Pick a book that you are going to read independently for Spring one half term (January and February). You
can use the recommendations, but you don’t have to. Also, ask your teacher or the Librarians if you are not
sure.
3. Read for a minimum of 25 minutes each week – you should write down the pages you have read and get
someone at home to sign this to show that they have seen you reading.
4. Spend a minimum of 15 minutes completing a summary of what you have read alongside the weekly activity
(bullet points are fine).
5. Hand in the ‘Reading log’ booklet to your teacher each week, who will check it and return it to you with a
brief comment.
Reading list:





Phillip Pullman – ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy.
‘Northern Lights’ is the first of the three books. Imagine a world that is as alike as it is disimilar to our own.
Where huge zeppelins litter the skyline and a persons' soul is a living breathing animal companion or
'daemon'. This is the world of Lyra Belacqua, orphan and carefree child who lives with the musty old scholars
of Jordan College, Oxford. Together with her daemon Pantalaimon, Lyra's uncomplicated life is about to be
turned upside down with an amazing and sometimes terrifying chain of events…
John Green – ‘Will Grayson, Will Grayson’
One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to
cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and
unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most
fabulous high school musical.
James Dashner – ‘The Maze Runner’
Thomas wakes up in a lift and can only remember his name. He can't remember anything else-where he
came from or who his parents were or what happened before he woke up. When he gets out of the lift he
finds himself in the glade. The other gladers are like Thomas-they have no memory of their life before
entering the glade. There is a maze that surrounds the glade, and each day the gladers try to solve the
mystery of the maze to see if there is a way out of the glade.
Marcus Sedgwick – ‘Revolver’
Alone in a remote hut in the Arctic Circle and with only the frozen corpse of his father for company, 15-yearold Sig hears a knock at the door. Behind it is a giant of a man. He's armed, he's come for some gold he
believes the recently deceased owes him, and he isn't leaving without it. As the back story of gold
prospecting and scams unravels, Sig is busy calculating how he will balance his pacifist principles with the
knowledge that his father's gun is near to hand. Sparely written, this is a haunting and atmospheric short
story that bristles with tension.
Jenny Downham – ‘Before I die’
Tessa has a list of 10 things she wants to do before she dies. At just 16 and with only months to live, she
must fit in so many critical teen experiences in a short time. How Tessa makes her choices, how she carries
them out and, above all, how she and those around her cope with living and dying is beautifully and
movingly told.
Other recommended authors:
Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Roald Dahl, E.B White, L.M Montgomery
1
Week one:
Reading summary:
Pages read:
Parent signature:
Activity one:

How does the writer engage the reader and make you want to read on?
2
Week two:
Reading summary:
Pages read:
Parent signature:
Activity two:

Say which character you like most and which you like least, and why.
3
Week three:
Reading summary:
Pages read:
Parent signature:
Activity three:

Choose a descriptive passage and make a list of examples of vivid imagery, e.g. similes, metaphors,
alliteration, personification, noun phrases, etc.
4
Week four:
Reading summary:
Pages read:
Parent signature:
Activity four:

Write about what a character might be thinking or feeling at any stage of the story – you could write it in
the first person.
5
Week five:
Reading summary:
Pages read:
Parent signature:
Activity five:

Predict what might happen when you are about half way through a book, or at any other point in the story.
6
Week six:
Reading summary:
Pages read:
Parent signature:
Activity six:

What seem to be the main themes in the book? What is the author trying to say with these themes?
7
Glossary
New word
Definition
Synonym
Antonym
8