The Golden Age of Baghdad

by Richard Platt

Published 22 September 2017
Build your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right level

1,100 years ago Baghdad was the world's biggest and finest city. Discover this glamorous, glorious desert city - its art, literature and learning - during the Islamic Golden Age.

  • Diamond/Band 17 books offer more complex, underlying themes to give opportunities for children to understand causes and points of view.
  • Text type - An information book.
  • The book is organised into short chapters to help children practise the skills of locating and identifying important information.
  • The glossary and index can be used to develop children's information retrieval skills further.
  • Curriculum links - History

Plague and Fire

by Richard Platt

Published 3 September 2012
Build your child’s reading confidence at home with books at the right level

In 1665, London was a dangerous place in which to live. A plague had swept across London, and a quarter of the city’s population died. A year later, tragedy struck London again and the Great Fire of London destroyed two-thirds of the city. Richard Platt explores both events and how the city survived in this fascinating information book.

  • Lime/Band 11 books have longer sentence structures and a greater use of literary language.
  • Text type: An information book.
  • Curriculum links: History: How do we know about the great fire of London?
  • This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.

Code Making, Code Breaking

by Richard Platt

Published 5 January 2011

What are codes for and who uses them? How do you make a code, how do you break a code? If you think only spies and soldiers use codes, you're wrong! Find out how codes have been used throughout history, from Ancient Egypt through to the Cold War in this enthralling non-fiction book by award-winning author, Richard Platt.

* Emerald/Band 15 books provide a widening range of genres including science fiction and biography, prompting more ways to respond to texts.

* Text type: A non-chronological report

* 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.

  • Pearl/Band 18 books offer fluent readers a complex, substantial text with challenging themes to facilitate sustained comprehension, bridging the gap between a reading programme and longer chapter books.
  • Text type:
  • Curriculum links:

Mapping Australia

by Richard Platt

Published 1 September 2016
Build your child’s reading confidence at home with books at the right level

Discover how people have mapped Australia – from songs that recorded what the landscape looked like, and early explorers’ drawings, to modern maps and satellite images.

  • Emerald/Band 15 books provide a widening range of genres including science fiction and biography, prompting more ways to respond to texts.
  • Text type: An information book
  • Curriculum links: geography, history

What’s That Building?

by Richard Platt

Published 1 September 2010

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 12 books feature greater use of literary language and more unusual and challenging vocabulary. Play scripts also feature from Level 12. Non-fiction titles contain longer, more formal sentences and a wide range of unfamiliar terms. Sentences become longer with greater use of conjunctions and relative clauses. Grammatical vowel endings are more evident to encourage fluent reading and to provide familiarity with some higher-level features of written Arabic.

Travel the world and look at some of the most amazing buildings – inside and out! Find out how they're built, what they do and lots more fantastic facts in this exciting and very visual book. Each building is intricately illustrated, providing lots of detail to look at and talk about.

Pages 22 and 23 show the buildings divided up by their purpose – store, make or protect – promoting plenty of discussion and reasoning.

Additional retrieval devices such as a glossary and index can be evaluated for their usefulness as children develop critical reading skills.


The Maya

by Richard Platt

Published 21 September 2015
Build your child’s reading confidence at home with books at the right level

Get an understanding of one of the world’s ancient civilisations, find out all about their way of life, intriguing rituals and bizarre sports in this fascinating account of how the Maya first established themselves over 20,000 years ago in Central America and their eventual demise.

  • Pearl/Band 18 books offer fluent readers a complex, substantial text with challenging themes to facilitate sustained comprehension, bridging the gap between a reading programme and longer chapter books.
  • Text type:
  • Curriculum links: