Beverley Birch is the author of more than forty books, from picture books and novels to science biographies and retellings of Shakespeare. All her books have received critical acclaim. She has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and is in the top ten per cent of all authors borrowed in UK libraries. Beverley grew up in Kenya, and came to England for the first time to study for A' levels.
Interest Age:
7
Category:
Language
Strand:
Arabic
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 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. Turtle wanted to go to the party in the clouds, but how would she get there without wings? She had an idea, but, unfortunately, things didn't go quite according to plan. This delightful traditional tale from Brazil explains why a turtle's shell looks like a patchwork of different pieces. A story map on pages 22-23 allows children to look back at Turtle's changing emotions along her journey.