Reading for Pleasure
WHY PANDORA BOOKS?
Our team has over 60 years of combined experience working in schools, education and children’s book publishing so you can trust them to deliver for your school.
• We read each and every book we offer — and pick the best for schools.
• High-quality collections that teachers trust — saving time and maximising impact.
• Fitted, free protective covers on all paperback books — ensuring books last longer.
• At least 20% off RRP’s — without compromising quality.
The benefits of reading for pleasure are well established. Children who choose to read perform better in school, feel happier, and develop greater empathy. As Jon Biddle, teacher and passionate RfP advocate, explains: If children are to enjoy independent reading and listening to stories, they need access to books that make them “laugh, cry, gasp, and think.” We aim to provide collections that do just that.
WHAT TEACHERS TELL US
“Many thanks for providing such a wonderful selection of books. Very impressed that the books all had plastic covers on which will help protect them and extend their lifespan. Good for the literacy budget too!”
Rachel
Hutchinson, Head Teacher
WHAT’S INSIDE
HOW TO ORDER
PHONE
01553 816 068 / 01553 769 209
01553 769 209
If you’d like a visit from one of our friendly sales representatives, give us a call or drop us an email and we will put you in touch.
Please see our website pandorabooks.co.uk for our terms and conditions. Unavailable books: reserve the right to substitute unavailable books with books of similar quality, relevance and price. All contents are correct at the time of going to press but some collections may be updated with newer versions during the academic year. Do check our website for the most up-to-date information.
Cover illustration by Chuck Whelan, represented by Beehive Illustration © 2024
READING FOR PLEASURE: WHOLE SCHOOL COLLECTIONS
Jon Biddle is the English Lead at Moorlands Primary Academy in Norfolk. Over the past several years he has been working alongside colleagues to put reading for pleasure at the heart of their school improvement, creating a culture that supports children to discover and grow their identities as readers. This work has led to significant improvements in outcomes for children. He shares his ideas for building reading cultures and book recommendations with school staff through regular education press articles, the popular Facebook group, Reading for Pleasure in Schools, and runs RfP CPD training.
“These collections have been put together to help support a classroom reading for pleasure culture. They all include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, picture books and graphic novels for the KS1 and KS2 packs, which have exploded in popularity over the past few years. I hope your pupils enjoy exploring these books as much as mine have!”
Jon Biddle
Jon
READING FOR PLEASURE: WHOLE SCHOOL COLLECTIONS
2024 Summer Term Highlights
23
2024
Autumn Term Highlights
Prizewinning and Notable
Each term, we curate the best new books into a whole school collection, with two fiction and one non-fiction book per year and a gorgeous poetry book for each key stage. Of the hundreds of new children’s books published, these are the ones that will make the strongest class reads and will have pupils flying back to the library for more.
“I’ve recently ordered this collection, and the spring collection before it, they’re great. I’ve used Pandora Books for both my current and previous school libraries. The Prizewinning and Notable Non-Fiction Collection has also been incredibly popular”. Sally Hamerton, SLA Primary School Librarian of the Year
2025
Spring Term Highlights
Excite and captivate readers, fuel children’s curiosity and promote reading for pleasure with the very best non-fiction books. Our stunning collection features award-winning, highly prized and favourite titles to bring your library to life and shine a light on nonfiction reading. This whole-school collection of non-fiction titles will appeal to children throughout your school and spark interest and excitement about so many different subjects. If your budget is limited, but you need to inject new life and love into your library, the books on this page are guaranteed to hit the spot.
Supporting teachers and school staff to stock classroom and school libraries with books that children will love, is what we do. While it’s easy to find lists of books online, what Pandora Books offers is a little different, our team of literacy experts reads thousands of books so that we can choose the very best and create balanced collections by year group, themes, genres or to support a learning outcome such as supporting confident readers with brilliant, age-appropriate books. We also try to balance our collections, so every child can find something to get excited about and most books will appeal to many children and be read lots of times!
All our paperback books are fitted with free protective jackets so that they last much longer in school and make the most of your precious budgets.
READING FOR PLEASURE: LOWER KEY STAGE 2
These collections feature the best recently published books for children in primary schools. Our expert team read and select the best from all the new children’s books published each year and assess them to decide which year group fits them most snugly. There are collections by year group and by key stage, offering a balanced range of difficulty to suit the whole class. We cater for a wide range of tastes and include some absolute joys to read aloud with plenty to discuss, think about and love. You’ll also find banded stickers in your box for you to apply or not at your discretion.
READING FOR PLEASURE: LOWER KEY STAGE 2
As well as our Best New collections, we offer packs to make your library sing to every pupil. The Boost Reading packs are stand-out, ageappropriate books for children reading up to a year behind age-related expectations, and Confident Reads are for pupils a year or so ahead. We also offer fantastically fun nonfiction books, graphic novels, picture books, poetry, and our Celebrating Diversity and Inclusion collection for LKS2. This collection is ideal for schools that haven’t been able to update their libraries in a while and need an extra injection of books representing ethnic diversity, disability, and inclusion—titles that we believe do this exceptionally well.
Irresistible
READING FOR PLEASURE: UPPER KEY STAGE 2
Reading can be entertaining and fun, gripping and thrilling, powerful and provocative. It can transport and open minds, expand imaginations, unlock ideas, enable pupils, and promote wellbeing. Want it to be, and do, all these things for years 5 & 6? No one book can do all this for all readers, but we have been reading all year to find just the right mix of books for the whole class and can promise you no better start than these brilliant collections.
All our books will be fitted with free protective book jackets and all banded packs have free banded stickers to apply, or not, at your discretion.
ACCELERATED READER™: LOWER & MIDDLE YEARS
AR Recommended Reads for Year 2
AR Recommended Reads for Year 4
AR Recommended Reads for Year 3
Recommended Reads for Year 5
BOOK BANDS
Whether you’re looking to top up or fill gaps in your existing banded stock, start a book-banded library, or just find out more information we can help! For more detailed information take a look at: pandorabooks.co.uk/book-bands-guide
What are Book Bands?
Book bands are the most commonly adopted system used by schools and educational publishers of reading books, providing teachers with a means to assess children’s progress in absence of National Curriculum levels since 2014. Current levels allow for assessment and progression throughout the entire primary school years.
Why Use Book Bands?
Banded books provide children with a pathway of progression in reading and support teachers who are making book-buying decisions to meet the needs of individual pupils, bringing variety and breadth to children’s reading diets. Most schools will be using a systematic synthetic phonics scheme for children who are learning to read and will then be looking to offer books that build fluency progressively and inspire reading for enjoyment.
Can Book Bands Support Reading for Pleasure?
Choice is at the heart of reading for pleasure, as it allows children to discover and develop their identities as readers. By using banded chapter books and “real books”, children can freely choose books from a structured range, promoting independence and allowing them to select books that interest them. This approach provides just the right level of challenge, ensuring the reading experience is both enjoyable and successful, while also giving children the freedom to develop personal reading preferences, explore different genres, and cultivate their own tastes in books. Our book band collections are designed with this in mind, offering books from the best authors writing for children today, levelled by our expert in-house team.
Our KS2 Book Band collections contain the most enticing real books, levelled in-house. Our experts read all our books, have a strong pedagogical understanding of how children develop as readers and have an unparalleled knowledge of children’s publishing to draw upon. We consider many factors such as the text level, the complexity of the narrative structure, the emotional maturity of the child and how engaging it is for the age group. Levelling each book, we are asking if a child at that level can access this text and what their challenges are. We also include optional book band stickers and cover every book in a free protective jacket.
NON-FICTION BOOK BAND COLLECTIONS
These popular banded collections comprise high-quality educational non-fiction texts and are ideal for introducing children to a wide range of non-fiction — developing their skills in reading a variety of non-fiction text types and learning fascinating facts about all sorts of subjects such as the natural world, developments in science and gripping historical events. The Reading Framework (Department for Education 2023) recommends non-fiction reading for pupils:
“Reading ‘about’ gives a purpose to reading, increases pupils’ reading miles, develops their knowledge and understanding, and can be a source of engagement and motivation for many pupils.”
Each non-fiction book collection is carefully levelled and provides a variety of appealing subjects to help you match children’s reading interests and ability to high-quality texts. Pair these with our fiction book band collections for an exciting and supportive library that really helps children build up their reading miles.
WHOLE CLASS GUIDED READING
“Whole Class Guided Reading (WCGR) is a teaching method that has gained popularity for its effectiveness in teaching reading skills to the entire class simultaneously. Unlike traditional approaches, which might involve one-to-one sessions or small group work, WCGR supports shared learning experiences, enabling teachers to demonstrate reading strategies to all students at once. This inclusive approach saves time while also fostering a collaborative learning environment. WCGR’s main goal is to enhance reading comprehension rather than assessing decoding skills, so these sessions often involve listening to the teacher read aloud. This practice provides all students with the chance to engage with complex, high-quality texts, regardless of their individual reading levels. Beyond exposure to fluent reading and new vocabulary, WCGR encourages listening comprehension and cultivates a love for reading, motivating students to explore books on their own.”
Karen Moncrieffe
Planning WCGR lessons can be time intensive. Badger Learning simplifies this process with Teacher Books that provide structured lesson plans, differentiated activities, and support materials for each novel. Every Teacher Book includes:
• a medium-term overview
• vocabulary lists
• lesson objectives
• discussion prompts
• differentiated follow-up activities.
WHOLE CLASS GUIDED READING
Our whole class guided reading packs offer 16 copies of each pupil book (one to share between two children) and a comprehensive teacher book containing photocopiable learning materials, differentiated for all learners. Purchase the complete pack for a ready-made reading spine and save 20% on the whole set.
WHOLE CLASS GUIDED READING
Featuring popular contemporary and classic stories, every book in our Whole Class Guided Reading range will encourage rich discussions, spark new ideas, and help children build essential reading skills and confidence. WCGR sets contain 16 copies of each novel, a teacher book, colour-coded stickers and are covered in free protective jackets.
INDEX
READING FOR PLEASURE: WHOLE SCHOOL COLLECTIONS
Graphic Novels Library (NEW)
Jon Biddle Recommends Poetry Library (NEW)
Prizewinning & Notable Non-Fiction
Reading for Pleasure Non-fiction Library (NEW)
Recommended Reads to Refresh Your Library in 2025 (NEW)
Representing Neurodiverse People in Fiction (NEW)
Representing People with Disabilities in Fiction (NEW)
Termly Highlights
READING FOR PLEASURE:
RECEPTION & KEY STAGE 1
Best New Chapter Books for Year 2 (NEW)
Best New Picture Books
Diversity & Inclusion in Picture Books
Explore Other Countries Through Picture Books
Fun for Fans of Non-Fiction in Year 2
Graphic Novels & Irresistible Reads for Year 2 (New)
Longer Confident Reads for Year 2
Lovely Language for KS1 Classrooms
Non-Fiction for Reading for Pleasure in Reception
Non-Fiction Reading for Pleasure in KS1 (New)
Poetry for KS1
READING FOR PLEASURE:
LOWER KEY STAGE 2
Best New Books for Years 3 & 4
Best Picture Books for LKS2
Boost Reading with Short Reads in Years 3 & 4
Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion LKS2
Confident Reads for Years 3 & 4
Fun for Fans of Non-Fiction in Years 3 & 4
Graphic Novels & Irresistible Reads for LKS2 (NEW)
Non-Fiction Reading for Pleasure in LKS2 (NEW)
Poetry to Play with for LKS2
READING FOR PLEASURE: UPPER KEY STAGE 2
Best New Books for Years 5 & 6
Best Picture Books for UKS2
Boost Reading with Short Reads in Years 5 & 6
Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion in UKS2
Challenging Reads for Very Able Readers in UKS2
Confident Reads for Years 5 & 6
Fun for Fans of Non-Fiction in Years 5 & 6
Graphic Novels & Irresistible Reads for UKS2 (New)
Non-Fiction for Reading for Pleasure in UKS2 (New)
Poetry for UKS2
READING SUPPORT: KEY STAGE 2
Best New Supportive Short Reads
Hi-Lo Packs by Reading Ages 6–9
Very Short Hi-Lo Reads
ACCELERATED READER™
AR for Struggling Readers in KS2
AR for Very Able Readers in KS2
AR Graphic Novels Collection
AR Lower Years & Middle Years Bundle Packs
AR Lower Years & Middle Years Expansion Packs
AR Lower Years & Middle Years: Fun Non-Fiction
AR Lower Years: Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion
AR Lower Years: Levels 1.0–3.9 Reading for Pleasure
AR Lower Years: Non-Fiction for KS1
AR Middle Years Hi-Lo Bundle
AR Middle Years Hi-Lo: Levels 1.3–6.4
AR Middle Years: Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion
AR Middle Years: Levels 3.0–5.9 Reading for Pleasure
AR Non-Fiction for KS2
AR Recommended Reads for Years 2–6
AR Super Confident Readers in KS1
AR Super Readable Books for KS2
Fresh New AR Books for Lower Years
Fresh New AR Books for Middle Years
BOOK BAND COLLECTIONS
Book Bands Black & Black+
Book Bands Brown
Book Bands Brown & Grey
Book Bands Dark Blue
Book Bands Dark Blue & Dark Red
Book Bands Dark Red
Book Bands for Independent Reading
Book Bands Gold
Book Bands Grey
Book Bands Lime
Book Bands Non-Fiction
Book Bands Orange
Book Bands Orange & Turquoise
Book Bands Purple
Book Bands Purple & Gold
Book Bands Turquoise
Book Bands White
Book Bands White & Lime
WHOLE
