Collins Big Cat reading series

I hadn't come across the Collins Big Cat Series before and was pretty impressed. They apparently have 300 titles, divided equally between fiction and non-fiction books.

Animals on the Move by Deborah Chancellor and Kate Evans and Life Cycles by Sally Morgan are non-fiction and are aimed at children in Key Stage 2.  In fact, I think these books would appeal to a much wider age range. 

Life Cycles concentrates mainly on salmon, though along the way the author also talks about growing stages and life cycles in other animals (frogs, butterflies and even cats and dogs).  There are plenty of beautiful pictures, mainly photographs, which meant that even my three year old enjoyed looking through it and seeing the kitten grow into a cat, but there is also a vast amount of information, (not for reading to a three year old!) and some fairly complex terms, though everything is explained very clearly.  

Animals on the Move deals with migration. It is slightly less dense, but still has a lot of information and similarly engaging pictures and maps.

Overall the books are very nicely presented, each with a clear Glossary and Index, perfect for self-guided "finding things out..."

Mind the Gap is a collection of twenty-odd poems by Roger McGough. There are some humourous ones, some more whimsical, and lots of playing with words. They are all illustrated by Natalie Kilany.

This really is a collection with something for everyone and there's plenty to talk about too, if you're reading it with your child, be it nonsense or loneliness. It's clearly designed with classroom use in mind, and there's a section at the back with ideas about how to approach guided reading.

Cave Wars by Gillian Cross and Marilee Harrald-Pilz is a great book for children gaining in confidence in reading. It is an adventure book, with five chapters, each lasting a few pages, and finishing with a cliff-hanger (in one case literally, it's set on a cliff!) so it's well designed to encourage and engage.

There are also plenty of illustrations, a map showing where the action takes place and again, plenty of suggestions for guided reading.

PWT rating:♥♥♥♥♥

Collins Big Cat books are all availabel from Amazon:

Collins Big Cat - Animals on the Move: Band 12/ Copper
Collins Big Cat - Life Cycles: Band 16/ Sapphire
Collins Big Cat - Mind the Gap: Band 12/ Copper
Collins Big Cat - Cave Wars: Band 13/ Topaz