Collins Big Cat
13 total works
Where do you see stripes around you? This non-fiction picture book looks at all sorts of stripes. Do you see them on a zebra’s fur, or as shadows on the pavement, or on a bright, woolly jumper? Alongside each photograph is a close-up snapshot that magnifies the various textiles and materials in detail.
- Lilac/Band 0 - wordless book that gives information through pictures and is designed to develop understanding about how information books work.
- Text type - Non-Fiction
- A simple pictoral summary at the end of the book provides an oppportunity to recap and discuss the information in the book.
- This book is ideal for supporting early work on patterns and art.
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery
How do different animals carry their babies? In this book readers will discover, through a series of photographs, that some animals carry their young by the teeth, some on their backs and others in a special pouch.
- Lilac/Band 0 – wordless book that gives information through pictures and is designed to develop understanding about how information books work.
- Text type – Non-Fiction
- Photographs of all the animal babies (and a human baby!) included in the book are repeated on pages 14 and 15 to encourage speaking and listening.
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery
This book helps children identify different types of car by colour using simple, repetitive text which reinforces common colour words. Cars are shown both in close-up and in action in its surroundings, driving in the city, off the road or tearing around a Grand Prix circuit.
- Pink A/Band 1A books offer emergent readers very simple text supported by illustrations.
- Text type - A non-fiction report
- Pages 14 and 15 give children the opportunting to recap the information and discuss the text.
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.
The colourful photographs in this non-fiction recount demonstrates different ways of pushing and pulling through photographs taken in a children’s playground, using swings, roundabouts and climbing frames and simple captions.
- Pink A/Band 1A books offer emergent readers very simple text supported by illustrations.
- Text type - A simple non-fiction recount.
- The photographs are repeated on pages 14 and 15 under the headings pushing and pulling providing an oppportunity to recap and discuss the information in the book.
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery
This simple picture book with a familiar theme, looks at the different thigns that a family take on a picnic; the rug, the basket, the sandwiches, the cakes and the drinks. The scene is set for a perfect picnic, until the wasps arrive!
- Pink A/Band 1A books offer emergent readers very simple text supported by illustrations.
- Text type - A story with a predictable structure and patterned language
- A labelled illustration on pages 14 and 15 gives children the chance to recount and discuss the story.
- This story is paired with an information book with a similar theme: Minibeasts by Siobhan Hardy.
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery
What’s inside a nut? What’s inside a pod? What’s inside you and me? The clear photos in this book will show children what’s inside all sorts of things, from a pea inside a peapod to the skeletons inside us.
- Red A/ Band 2A books offer predictable texts with famliar objects and actions, combined with simple story development or information development.
- Text type – A simple information book.
- Pages 14 and 15 provide an opportunity for children to recap and discuss the text.
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery
This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.
What can the wind blow? A collection of colourful photographs show how the wind can blow a kite, boats, leaves, seeds, windmills,sand, snow and sea. The report also shows how strong wind can be destructive blowing trees and even houses down.
- Yellow/Band 3 books offer varied sentence structure and natural language.
- Text types - A non-chronological report.
- A chart on pages 14 and 15 draw a comparison between light and strong winds giving children the opportunity to discuss wind and its effects.
- Curriculum links - Science: pushes and pulls; Geography: our local area.
- This book is paired with a story on the same theme: The New Kite by Julie Sykes.
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery
Take a look at different climates and landscapes from around the globe. Explore climates that are wet, dry, hot and cold using simple explanations and vibrant pictures in this photographic non-fiction book by Monica Hughes.
- Take a look at different climates and landscapes from around the globe. Explore climates that are wet, dry, hot and cold using simple explanations and vibrant pictures in this photographic non-fiction book by Monica Hughes.
- Red B/Band 2B books offer simple but varied text with familiar objects and actions, combined with simple story development and a satisfying conclusion.
- A world map on pages 14-15 shows where each of the countries featured in the photographs are located to give children context and to help them recap information in the book.
- Text type: A simple information book
- Curriculum links: Geography
This book with beautiful illustrations captures the qualities of each kind of light, from sunlight to moonlight to electric light, the way it illuminates and the relationship between darkness and light.
- Yellow level/ Band 3 books offer early readers varied sentence structure and natural language.
- Text type - A non-fiction recount.
- A selection of the illustrations on pages 14 and 15 give children a chance to recap and discuss the text
- Curriculum links - Science: light and dark
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.
Join the countdown as one boy describes the events in his life in the past month, from moving house a month ago to preparing for school and making friends today. Accompanied by snapshots of each event, this illustrated non-fiction recount is written by Monica Hughes.
- Red B/Band 2B books offer simple but varied text with familiar objects and actions, combined with simple story development and a satisfying conclusion.
- Children can re-cap the events of the book on pages 14–15.
- Text type: A simple non-fiction recount
- Curriculum links: Geography: Weather around the world.
- This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.
Collins Big Cat is a guided reading series for ages 4-11 edited by Cliff Moon. Top children's authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that your children will love to read, banded to help you choose the right book for every child. Practical ideas for guided reading are included at the back of each book.
- Orange/ Band 6 books offer varied text and characters, with action sustained over several pages.
- Text type - An information text.
- A wordless flow-chart on pages 22 and 23 summarises the process and helps children remember the sequence of events.
- Curriculum links - Design and Technology: Investigating and using materials, different joining techniques; Science: Structures; RE: Celebrations.
- This book is paired with a story on a similar theme: Arthur's Fantastic Party by Joseph Theobald.
This simple non-fiction book introduces and explores the circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, stars and hexagons which can be found in everyday objects. Each labelled shape is accompanied by a photograph showing the shape in an environmental context, for example a rectangular brick in a wall or a hexagon in a honeycomb.
- Pink A/Band 1A books offer emergent readers very simple text supported by illustrations.
- Text type – A simple non-fiction book.
- All six shapes and photographs of where they are found are repeated on pages 14 and 15 to consolidate understanding of the book.
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.
An old man tugs on a giant turnip, but cannot move it at all. With help from the old lady, the boy and girl, and a whole host of other characters, will he able to pull it out of the ground?
The structure of this wordless text shows how a story is built up through a series of events.
- Lilac/Band 0 - wordless book that tells a story through pictures and is designed to develop understanding about how stories work.
- Text type - Fiction, a wordless traditional story.
- A storyboard on pages 14 and 15 shows the sequence of events in six numbered stages.
- This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.