A selection of quality fiction texts from a variety of cultures to support literacy units in KS1 And KS2
Year 1
Unit
UNIT 1
Stories with familiar
settings
Title
Billy and Belle
Full, Full, Full of Love
I Love My Hair
My Two Grannies
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Author
Sarah Garland
Trish Cooke
Natasha Anastasia
Tapley
Floella Benjamin
Lucy’s Rabbit
Lucy’s Quarrel
Something Special
Jennifer Northway
Mei Ling’s Hiccups
David Mills
Lima’s red Hot Chilli
David Mills
Grandma’s Saturday
Soup
Sally Fraser
Nicola Moon
That’s My Mum
Henriette Barkow
An African Princess
Lyra Edmonds
Synopsis
New baby in a mixed heritage family
A celebration of Sunday together as
a family
A book about self acceptance.
A story about grannies born into
different cultures from different parts
of the world
Stories about two friends
Publisher
ISBN
Frances Lincoln
Walker books 1844287823
Little, Brown
and company
Frances Lincoln 1847800343
Scholastic
Story dealing with the relationship
between the new baby and big
brother
A book that suggests how different
communities have different solutions
to this common problem.
This story is particularly successful in
the way it introduces children to a
variety of different foods.
Delightful description of Jamaica and
the wonderful soup, make us all wish
that we had a grandma like this!
Orchard
Mia tells us of her experience of
being a child of mixed heritage. Find
out how she and Kai overcome the
prejudice of being judged by the
colour of their skin.
A mixed race story about self identity
Mantra
Mantra
Mantra
Mantra
10 0590135465
UNIT 2
Stories from a range
of cultures/
predictable and
patterned language
Handa’s Surprise
Eileen Browne
Handa’s Hen
Eileen Browne
So Much
Beautiful Bananas
Elizabeth Laird
Jamil’s Clever Cat
Fiona French
A folktale from India
The Swirling Hijaab
Na’ima bint Robert
A celebration of the Muslim faith; a
simple but evocative text in rhyme
A little boy’s relationship with his
grandfather. Patterned language
Caribbean counting rhyme
One Smiling Grandma
Anne Marie Linden
Mary, Juma and Simba
the Dog
Actionaid
Jambo Means Hello
Too Much Talk
The Old Woman and
the Red Pumpkin
What Made Tiddalik
Laugh?
Yeh-Hsien
Pretty Salma
Rainbow Bird
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
An eventful journey for Beatrice,
when a giraffe knocks her present for
granddad in the river
A folktale from Bengal
Joanna Troughton
Helen Buckley
Muriel Feelings
Angela Shelf
Medearis
Betsy Bang
Joanna Troughton
Dawn Casey
Niki Daly
Eric Maddern
0744536340
074459815X
A birthday celebration in an African
Caribbean household.
The Tiger Child
Grandfather and I
UNIT 3
Traditional Stories
and Fairy Tales
Trish Cooke
African setting - a visit to her best
friend with her favourite fruit has
some surprises along t he way
A counting story in an African setting
OUP
Frances Lincoln 1845075188
Puffin
Re-telling of a West African Folk tale
Traditional Bangladeshi tale with
patterned language
Aboriginal ‘dreamtime’ story
A Chinese Cinderella story
A ‘Red Riding Hood’ story set in S
Africa
Aboriginal folktale
0140382380
Mantra Lingua
780140556988
Set in Kenya. The story of Simba the
puppy. Good for ICT – linking to fonts
and placement of text
Alphabet book introducing Swahili
0192725521
9781872502649
Penguin
10 0140546529
Candlewick
10 1564023230
Walker
Puffin
Mantra
Frances Lincoln
The Fire Children
Aziz the Storyteller
The Clever Boy and
the Terrible Dangerous
Animal
UNIT 4
Stories about Fantasy
Worlds
Gift of the Sun
Dave and the Tooth
Fairy
Tusk, Tusk
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Eric Maddern
Vi Hughes
Idries Shah
Dianne Stewart
Verna Wilkins
David McKee
Aboriginal folktale
Aziz is asked to become the next
storyteller, the one who will inherit
the enchanted story carpet
A Sufi teaching tale of a boy who
visits another village and helps the
townspeople deal with their fear of
something that they have mistaken
for a terrible, dangerous animal.
A South African Tale
Losing teeth is a universal
experience and the story combines
fact and fantasy in an original way.
classic story about prejudice and
conflict, using the black and white
elephant to tell the tale
Tradewind
Books
10 1566564565
Hoopoe (USA)
10 1883536510
Frances Lincoln
Tamarind
10 1870516133
Anderson
101842705792
Year 2
Unit
UNIT 1
Stories with familiar
settings
Title
Anna Hibiscus
Author
Atinuke
Good Luck, Anna
Hibiscus!
Atinuke
Further stories of family life in west
Africa – traditional folklore and
contemporary urban life
Walker
Hooray for Anna
Hibiscus
Kasia’s Surprise
Lights for Gita
Roses for Gita
Atinuke
Further stories of family life in west
Africa
Walker
Stella Gurney
Rachna Gilmore
Rachna Gilmore
Set in Poland
Gita gets ready for Diwali
Gita befriends their new next door
neighbour
Masai and I
Hue Boy
Jamela’s Dress
Niki Daly
What’s Cooking
Jamela
Where’s Jamela?
Niki Daly
Rosa’s Singing
Grandfather
Giant Hiccups
Dave and the Tooth
Fairy
Cleversticks
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Virginia Kroll
Rita Mitchell
Niki Daly
Leon Rousselson
Jacqui Farley
Verna Wilkins
Bernard Ashley
Synopsis
A collection of four linked stories of
family life set in modern west Africa
Caribbean setting about a boy who is
worried about his height
Jamela’ Dress is a fun and
entertaining children’s book that is
set in South Africa.
A further adventure with Jamela
Mama and Gogo are excited about
the new house they are moving to,
but not Jamela!
Rosa doesn’t have a dad but she
does have a grandfather who can be
fun. A heart-warming and funny book
about the relationship between young
and old. A mixed heritage setting
Losing teeth is a universal
experience and the story combines
fact and fantasy in an original way.
A new Chinese boy finds school
difficult until ...
Publisher
Walker
ISBN
10 0929005619
10 0929005856
Puffin
Puffin
10 0140548335
10 0140563547
Frances Lincoln
10 0711214492
Frances Lincoln
10 071121705X
Frances Lincoln
101845071069
Barn Owl Books
Tamarind
10 1870516133
UNIT 2
Traditional Stories
No Dinner for Anansi
Trish Cooke
Chanda and the Mirror
of Moonlight
Margaret Hill
The Day the Rains Fell
Anna Faundez
Jamil’s Clever Cat
Muffaro’s Beautiful
Daughters
The Lonely Princess
Fiona French
John Steptoe
The Leopard’s Drum
The Warrior and the
Moon
UNIT 3
Different stories by
the same author
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Saviour Pirotta
Jessica Southami
Nick Would
The Glass Palace
Saviour Pirotta
Cendrillon: A
Caribbean Cinderella
Robert San Souci
Yeh-Hsien
The Great Race
Anna Hibiscus
Good Luck, Anna
Hibiscus!
Hooray for Anna
Hibiscus
Dawn Casey
Dawn Casey
Atinuke
African myth - Anansi likes to play
tricks all the time, but when turtle
invites him to dinner he’s in for a
surprise
Traditional ‘Cinderella style’ story set
in India
Franklin Watts
0749680067
Zero to Ten
10 1840893052
At the beginning of time, a goddess
descends to Earth and finds that
parts of the land are dry and the
plants are wilting. The animals are
thirsty. An African creation myth
A folktale from Bengal
An African story which links to
themes in Cinderella
Tamarind
9781848530157
An Indian fairytale, rather like
Rapunzel
African animal story about
five original stories of mystery and
enchantment, composed after the
author spent time travelling with the
Maasai through the Great Rift Valley
An Indian fairytale, rather like
Sleeping Beauty
A Caribbean Cinderella story
A Chinese Cinderella story
Chinese zodiac story
A collection of stories of family life set
in modern west Africa
Frances Lincoln
Franklin Watts
Frances Lincoln
10 0711214875
Franklin Watts
Aladdin
Paperbacks
Mantra
Barefoot
Walker
10 2914692285
UNIT 4
Extended
stories/significant
authors
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Thrilling adventures about a little boy
living on a game reserve in Africa
Akimbo and the
Snakes
Akimbo and the Lions
Akimbo and the
Crocodile Man
Akimbo and the
Elephants
Jamela’s Dress
What’s Cooking
Jamela?
Where’s Jamela?
Happy Birthday Jamela
Pretty Salma
Under a Silver Moon
Alexander McCall
Smith
Jamela’s Dress
What’s Cooking
Jamela?
Where’s Jamela?
Happy Birthday Jamela
Pretty Salma
Amazing Grace
Encore Grace
An Angel Just Like Me
Princess Grace
Grace and Family
Niki Daly
Frances Lincoln
Mary Hoffman
Frances Lincoln
Niki Daly
Ann Fine
Bloomsbury
Frances Lincoln
2 baby boys born into different
backgrounds: one a sultan’s son, the
other a gardener’s boy
Walker books
9781406319231
Year 3
Unit
UNIT 1
Stories with familiar
settings
Title
The Julian Stories
Author
Ann Cameron
My Grandpa and the
Sea
Katherine Orr
Home Now
Lesley Beake
Betsy’s Birthday
Surprise
An Angel Just Like
Me
Samira’s Eid
UNIT 2
Myths and legends
Brer Rabbit: the
great tug-o-war
Lugalbanda: the boy
who got caught up
in a war
Mary Hoffman
Nasreen Aktar
Publisher
Random House
ISBN
9780552548243
10 087614525X
Frances Lincoln
10 1845076389
Mammoth
10 0749726407
Frances Lincoln
Samira prepares for the big
celebration
Mantra
John Agard
Kathy Henderson
A myth from ancient Iraq. The oldest
written story in the world, about the
extraordinary adventures of a young
prince
Retelling of an African American
folktale
Walker Books
Aladdin
Paperbacks
10 068980718X
Sukey and the
Mermaid
Robert D San Souci
The Spider Weaver
Margaret Musgrove
A legend of Kente cloth
Blue Sky Press
10 0590987879
Why the Sky is Far
Away
Mary-Joan Gerson
The sky was once so close to the
Earth that people cut parts of it to eat,
but their waste and greed caused the
sky to move far away
A West African tale about what
happens when a mosquito whispers a
lie to an iguana which leads to a chain
of events
Little , Brown and
Company
10 0316308749
Penguin
10 0140549056
Why Mosquitoes
Buzz in People’s
Ears
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Malorie Blackman
Synopsis
A collection of stories about two
brothers in the Caribbean
When Grandpa, a traditional
fisherman, is forced from his livelihood
because his island's supply of fish is
diminishing, he decides not to give up
An orphan adapts to her new life on a
township in S Africa
Set in the Caribbean. Betsey's
birthday appears to have been
forgotten by everyone, despite her
constant reminders.
Verna Ardema
The Children of Lir
UNIT 3
Adventure and
mystery
Retold by Dawn
Casey
Akimbo and the
Snakes
Akimbo and the
Lions
Alexander McCall
Smith
Alexander McCall
Smith
Akimbo and the
Elephants
Alexander McCall
Smith
The Julian Stories
Ann Cameron
Amina’s Blanket
Helen Dunmore
Roar, Bull, Roar!
Andrew Fusek Peters
Wanted: Janosik
Andrew Matthews
The Good-Time
Boys
Hiawyn Oram
An Irish legend
Thrilling adventures about a little boy
living on a game reserve in Africa
Mantra
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
A collection of stories about two
brothers
A story about Josie who dreams about
visiting her friend Amina in her
dreams, in a war torn zone
A family from the Czech Republic
arrive in Shropshire where they are
plunged into a series of mysteries
A Polish version of a ‘Robin Hood’
character
Random House
9780552548243
Egmont
Frances Lincoln
Barrington Stoke
UNIT 4
Authors and letters
UNIT 5
Dialogue and plays
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
This play is adapted from an African
folk tale which includes production
notes
A&C Black
0713646276
Year 4
Unit
UNIT 1
Stories with
historical settings
UNIT 2
Stories with
imaginary worlds
UNIT 3
Stories from other
cultures
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Title
The Cats in
Krasinski Square
Author
Karen Hesse
Sweet Clara and the
Freedom Quilt
Deborah Hopkinson
Stories from the Silk
Road
Cherry Gilchrist
Gregory Cool
Caroline Binch
The Jolly Mon
Jimmy Buffett
Walkabout
James V Marshall
Fly Eagle, Fly
Christopher
Gregorowski
Synopsis
A picture book, beautifully written. Set
in the ghettos of Warsaw in WW II.
Helps to show children some of the
harsh realities of war and oppression
A picture book about a young African
slave which provides opportunities to
explore Clara's problems and how she
solves them
Journey along the ancient trade route
between East and West in these 7
individual stories
Set in Tobago, the story relates
Gregory’s visit to his grandparents.
Looks at differences between cultures
and provides opportunities to work on
‘point of view’
An original tale where music and
enchantment, pirates and trickery,
friendship and the loyalty of a very
special dolphin, create a timeless
story of adventure. Set in the
Caribbean
Mary and Peter are stranded in the
middle of the unforgiving Australian
desert after the plane they are
travelling in crashes
An African parable
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf
Barefoot Books
ISBN
10 0679874720
10 1841488011
0711208905
Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt
Penguin
1405878800
0711217300
UNIT 4
Stories which raise
dilemmas and
issues
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Grandpa Chatterji
Jamila Gavin
Rickshaw Girl
Matali Perkins
The Colour of Home
Amazing Grace
Mary Hoffman
Mary Hoffman
Grace and Family
Mary Hoffman
Muffaro’s Beautiful
Daughters
Journey to Jo’burg
The Great Tug of
War and other
stories
Chinye
The Rabbits
Ishtar and Tammuz
John Steptoe
Obe Onyefulu
John Marsden
Christopher Moore
Amazing Grace
Mary Hoffman
Lady Long Legs
Jan Mark
Christophe’s Story
Nicky Cornwall
Beverley Naidoo
Beverley Naidoo
Tells the story of two children named
Neetu and Sanjay, and what happens
when their incredible Grandpa comes
to stay
Naima longs to earn money to help
her poor Bangladeshi family, but her
talent in painting traditional patterns,
or alpanas, is no use. She decides to
disguise herself as a boy
Mammoth
1405212853
Charlesbridge
publishing (US)
9781580893091
0711219915
Grace loves to act out stories, but
when she wants to be Peter Pan, her
classmates say she can’t because he
was a boy and he wasn’t black.
Grace likes making up stories about
fathers, particularly because she
doesn’t have one
An African story which links to themes
in Cinderella
1845077490
Picture Puffin
0007263503
Tales of Mmutla, the clever hare, echo
the African origins of America’s Brer
Rabbit.
Frances Lincoln
0711210527
0968876889
A story that can generate discussion
about race and gender
About a Rwandan refugee resettling in
the UK
1845077490
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Angel Boy
Gregory Cool
Boy Overboard
Bernard Ashley
Caroline Binch
Morris Gleitzman
Four Feet, Two
Sandals
Karen Lynn Williams
Oranges in No
Man’s Land
Elizabeth Laird
Brother Eagle, Sister
Sky
Susan Jeffers
A thriller
Frances Lincoln
0711208905
A story of adventure, ball control and
hope featuring Jamal Houssini, a
young refugee from Afghanistan
Two girls fleeing from Afghanistan
meet in a refugee camp in Pakistan
A gripping story of a 10 year old girl
who risks death to make a lifesaving
dash through war-torn Beirut
Penguin
William B
Eerdmans
Publishing Co
Pan Macmillan
10 014131625X
10 0802852963
Year 5
Unit
UNIT1
Novels by
significant authors
Title
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Author
Michael Morpurgo
Hostage
Malorie Blackman
Pig-Heart Boy
Malorie Blackman
Bindi Babes
Bhangra Babes
(+others)
Narinder Dhami
Oranges in No
Man’s Land
Elizabeth Laird
Broken Glass
Sally Grindley
Journey to Jo’burg
Baba’s Gift
Boy Overboard
Girl Underground
Beverley Naidoo
Grandpa Chatterji
Out of India
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Morris Gleitzmann
Jamila Gavin
Synopsis
Publisher
Set out as a diary. Opportunities for
prediction and to look at relationships
between characters.
Angela is kidnapped and held to
ransom. A gripping drama
It is about a 13 year old boy,
Cameron, who desperately needs a
heart transplant, and has to accept
one from a pig because there are not
enough human donors
Stories about three feisty, fun-loving
British born Asian sisters.
A gripping story of a 10 year old girl
who risks death to make a lifesaving
dash through war-torn Beirut
A powerful story of drama and survival
on the streets of an Indian city. Raises
discussion about contemporary issues
with a global perspective
Two young children travel alone to
Jo’burg during the apartheid years
ISBN
9776171109
Corgi Children’s
Books
10 055255166X
Random House
Pan Macmillan
Bloomsbury
Harper Collins
10 0007263503
UNIT 2
Traditional stories:
fables, myths and
legends
UNIT 3
Stories from other
cultures
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Seasons of
Splendour
Taliesin
Bima and the Water
of Life
Graphic Myths –
African Myths
The Firework
Maker’s daughter
The Jessame
Stories
There’s a Boy in the
Girls’ Bathroom
The Colour of Home
The Pearl Diver
A Little Piece of
Ground
Granny Torrelli
makes Soup
Madhur Jaffrey
Maggie Pearson
Franzeska G Ewart
Gary Jeffrey
A story from Welsh mythology
An Indian story of bravery and magic.
Bima’s quest for the water of life pits
him against ogres, sea-serpents and
giants
A graphic novel. Also Aztec, Chinese,
Egyptian, Greek and Roman myths
A+ C Black
Barrington Stoke
Philip Pullman
0440866405
Julia Jarman
1842704540
Louis Sacher
0747589526
Mary Hoffman
Julia Johnson
Elizabeth Laird
0711219915
Sharon Creech
Comfort Herself
Hope leaves
Jamaica
Village by the Sea
Geraldine Kaye
Kate Earnest
Premlata and the
Festival of Light
Rumer Godden
Anita Desai
1900988585
0330437437
The young character confides in
Granny. A good source for work on
dialogue
It is based on the poverty, hardships
and sorrow faced by a small rural
community in India in the 1990s
Set in India, this is the tale of
Premlata, who sets out to restore her
family's fortunes on the night of Diwali,
9780747571476
Puffin
10 0141312718
Macmillan
Children’s Books
10 0330342096
UNIT 4
Older literature
A Thief in the Village
And other stories
James Berry
Grandpa’s Indian
Summer
Grandpa Chatterji
The Ramayana for
Young Readers
Lugalbanda: the boy
who got caught up
in a war
Jamila Gavin
The Seven Wise
Princesses
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Nenna and her brother, Man-Man, are
guarding the coconut estate for their
father during the night. Set in Jamaica
Milly Acharya
Kathy Henderson
Wafa Tarnowska
A myth from ancient Iraq. The oldest
written story in the world, about the
extraordinary adventures of a young
prince
The first English translation for
children of “Haft Paykar”, which was
composed in the twelfth century by the
great Sufi poet Nizami.
Puffin
10 0140326790
Harper Collins
10 817223306X
Walker Books
Barefoot Books
9781846862496
Year 6
Unit
UNIT 1
Fiction genres –
comparing and
exploring own and
other preferences
UNIT 2
Short stories with
flashbacks
UNIT 3
Authors and texts –
writing journal about
an author’s text
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Title
There’s a Boy in the
Girls’ Bathroom
Author
Louis Sacher
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Michael Morpurgo
Broken Bridge
Lynne Reid Banks
A Thief in the Village
James Barry
Inner City
Tony Bradman
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Michael Morpurgo
Holes
Louis Sacher
Holes
The Garbage King
Louis Sacher
Elizabeth Laird
Synopsis
Set in America. A story of isolation,
bravery and gradual acceptance by
the character Bradley Chalkers
‘One moment I was on the deck of our
sailboat, the next in the ocean
watching the light disappear into the
distance.’
A story set during the Arab Israeli
conflict in 1990s
A collection of stories with universal
themes set in a different culture. Could
be compared to ‘The Balaclava Boys’
by George Layton
Short stories that take a look at inner
city life with all its problems and
challenges. It has a strong multicultural slant
‘One moment I was on the deck of our
sailboat, the next in the ocean
watching the light disappear into the
distance.’
Topics: buried treasure, curses,
friendship, homelessness, juvenile
delinquency, magic, onions, racism
Publisher
Bloomsbury
0747589526
ISBN
Egmont
9776171109
Barn Owl
9780140326796
Egmont
9776171109
0374332665
0374332665
A gritty, deeply moving story of two
boys from very different backgrounds
in Ethiopia, find themselves in a
situation which requires every ounce
of human spirit to triumph in the
harshest of worlds
Macmillan
Children’s Books
9780764156793
Oranges in No
Man’s Land
Elizabeth Laird
A gripping tale of a 10 year old girl
who risks death to make a lifesaving
dash through war-torn Beirut
Bitter Chocolate
Sally Grindley
Refugee Boy
Benjamin Zephaniah
A novel about friendship and survival
set in the cocoa plantations of West
Africa. – contemporary issues with a
global perspective
Tale of a family that has been torn
apart and forced to leave their country
because of war seeking shelter from
an unusual place with different lifestyle
and surroundings.
The Banana
Machine
Alexander McCall
Smith
A story in which a girl uses her
technical ingenuity and a lot of
Pan Macmillan
Bloomsbury
Publishing
10 0747550867
Bloomsbury
Publishing
9780747580522
imagination to challenge nature and
UNIT 4
Extending narrative
– based on ‘questtype’ adventures
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Bima and the Water
of Life
Franzeska G Ewart
find a way out of a desperate situation
An Indian story of bravery and magic.
Bima’s quest for the water of life pits
him against ogres, sea-serpents and
giants
Barrington Stoke
Other Selections
Title
Chasing the Sun: Stories
from Africa
Author
Compiled by Veronique
Tadjo
A Forest of Stories -
Retold by Rina Singh
Lion Book of Wisdom
Stories from Around the
World
Stories from the
Caribbean
Stories GoGo told Me
Retold by David Self
Lion Hudson
Petronella Breinburg
Wayland
The Barefoot Book of
Princesses
Tales from Around the
World
A Fistful of Pearls
Chris Green, Mecs, 2010
Retold by Lisa Grainger
Retold by Caitlin Matthews
Synopsis
A wonderful collection of stories,
both traditional and modern, by
12 authors all across Africa. A
mixture of old fables and
contemporary tales that could be
used from Year 2 upwards
Magical tree tales from around
the world
Stories from Zimbabwe,
Botswana, South Africa and
more, includes fables and
legends.
Includes the Danish version of
the Princess and the Pea story
Joanna Troughton
Elizabeth Laird
Publisher
A + C Black
Barefoot Books
Penguin
Barefoot
Puffin
Folk stories from Iraq
Frances Lincoln
ISBN