Astrid and Apollo's family is excited for their trip to Laos to attend a family wedding. But bad weather cancels their plans, and the twins' parents are disappointed to miss seeing their home country. Some brainstorming and a messy painting project inspire an idea: If their parents can't go to Laos, Astrid and Apollo will bring Laos to them! But can they keep their plan a surprise?

Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds features exciting fiction and non-fiction decodable readers to enthuse and inspire children. They are fully aligned to Letters and Sounds Phases 1-6 and contain notes in the back. The Handbooks provide support in demonstration and modelling, monitoring comprehension and expanding vocabulary. Zain is having a sleepover at Jack's house but feels worried when the lights are turned off. What can he do to help him feel better? Red B/ Band 2B offers emergent readers simple but varied text with familiar objects and actions, combined with simple story development and a satisfying conclusion. The focus sounds in this book are: /ee/ /igh/ /oo/ /oo/ /ur/ /er/ /ai/ /ear/ Pages 14 and 15 allow children to re-visit the content of the book, supporting comprehension skills, vocabulary development and recall. Reading notes within the book provide practical support for reading Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds with children, including a list of all the sounds and words that the book will cover.

Folk tales are stories full of adventure, courage, daring, fighting dragons, trolls, and giants, and overcoming challenges. How many of them have girls as the main heroic characters though? These twelve folk tales from all over the world have been specially selected as they feature strong, adventurous heroines. Some are funny, some make you think, and some - like the story of Fearless Mary - keep you on the edge of your seat with scares and surprises. Meet Louisa Freya, the brave dragon slayer, funny and clever Sigrun, and honest and humble Scarface as well as other heroines from Serbia, Norway, China, Japan, South Africa, and Indonesia. Amy Scott Robinson's distinctive voice, expertise and experience as a performance storyteller makes this a unique and fascinating collection, aimed at readers aged 7-9 years. At the end of each story, Amy shares a bit about where the story comes from, how she has retold it, and what the tale makes her think about when she is hearing or telling it, including Bible verses. These folk tales deserve to be told as often as the more famous and well-known ones. After all, why should boys defeat all the dragons? Enjoy the adventure!

This story is part of Reading Champion, a series carefully linked to book bands to encourage independent reading skills, developed with Dr Sue Bodman and Glen Franklin of UCL Institute of Education (IOE) Reading Champion offers independent reading books for children to practise and reinforce their developing reading skills. Fantastic, original stories are accompanied by engaging artwork and a reading activity. Each book has been carefully graded so that it can be matched to a child's reading ability, encouraging reading for pleasure.

Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised has been developed in collaboration with Wandle Learning Trust and Little Sutton Primary School. It comprises classroom resources to support the SSP programme and a range of phonic readers that together provide a consistent and highly effective approach to teaching phonics. Zain is having a sleepover at Jack's house but feels worried when the lights are turned off. What can he do to help him feel better? Pages 14 and 15 allow children to re-visit the content of the book, supporting comprehension skills, vocabulary development and recall. Reading notes within the book provide practical support for reading with children, including a list of all the sounds and words that the book will cover.

Astrid and Apollo watch their cousin Lily in an amazing dance performance, and she convinces them to audition for the Hmong dance school she attends. Astrid is excited, but Apollo isn't so sure. The twins learn the audition routine and work hard to prepare for the big day. When Apollo faces a setback, he realizes how much he does want a place at the dance school. Will his creative solution save the day or cost him his chance?

This non-fiction text is part of Reading Champion, a series carefully linked to book bands to encourage independent reading skills, developed with Dr Sue Bodman and Glen Franklin of UCL Institute of Education (IOE) Reading Champion offers independent reading books for children to practise and reinforce their developing reading skills. Fantastic, original stories and non-fiction texts are accompanied by engaging artwork and a reading activity. Each book has been carefully graded so that it can be matched to a child's reading ability, encouraging reading for pleasure.