Collins Arabic Big Cat is a guided reading series for ages 3 to 11. The series is structured with reference to the learning progression of Arabic at nursery and primary schools researched especially for Collins. This carefully graded approach allows children to build up their reading knowledge of Arabic step by step.

Level 8 books are becoming more complex, although still strongly patterned but to a lesser extent than level 7. Although the focus remains on vowelling to aid the flow of reading with verbal sentences of up to 8-10 words, level 8 books have more events and episodes, fewer repeated patterns, and more complex vocabulary. Non-fiction titles use non-fiction tools – including signs, labels, captions and diagrams – where necessary. Double spacing is used between words to ensure children see where each new word in a sentence begins and ends. Books contain between 90 and 170 words.

Jabir bin Hayyan lived in Kufa and Damascus about a hundred years after the birth of Islam. Find out about his life and work and why he is called ‘the father of chemistry’.


Wonders of the Middle East

by Subhi Zora

Published 1 August 2016

Collins Arabic Big Cat is a guided reading series for ages 3 to 11. The series is structured with reference to the learning progression of Arabic at nursery and primary schools researched especially for Collins. This carefully graded approach allows children to build up their reading knowledge of Arabic step by step.

Level 9 books are similar in complexity to level 8, with strong patterns and similar events and episodes. Non-fiction titles use non-fiction tools – including signs, labels, captions and diagrams – where necessary. Single-word spacing is used from level 9 upwards. In addition, very high-frequency words appear consistently without vowel markings. These features will help the students get used to the traditional norms of printed Arabic.

Find out about some of the wonderful places in the Middle East. This book introduces children to the pyramids at Giza, Egypt, Petra in Jordan, and the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, along with the Jeita Grotto in Lebanon, Socotra Island off the coast of Yemen and Al-Ahsa Oasis in Saudi Arabia.


The House of Wisdom

by Subhi Zora

Published 13 December 2018

Collins Big Cat Arabic Reading Programme is a guided reading series for ages 3 to 11. The series is structured with reference to the learning progression of Arabic at nursery and primary schools researched especially for Collins. This carefully graded approach allows children to build up their reading knowledge of Arabic step by step.

Level 11 books provide more literary language, more complex sentence structures and less support from illustrations. Characters are more varied, with action sustained over several pages. Non-fiction titles include glossaries where necessary. Sentences are still short for better understanding. However, grammatical vowel endings are more evident to encourage fluent reading and to provide familiarity with some higher-level features of written Arabic.

The House of Wisdom was a major intellectual centre during the Islamic Golden Age. The famous historian and translator Hunayn bin Ishaq tells us about this wonderful library and the achievements of the many scholars working there, and his time in charge of the translation section.