Eleven Plus Reading Advice and Help

If your child is due to sit an eleven plus exam, you may well be using practice papers and/or enlisting the help of a tutor.

Another very helpful preparation strategy, which sometimes gets overlooked, is to read widely.
Many parents (and teachers) seem to think that these books have to include novels that are challenging to read and that they must include the classics.
My personal view (as a mother who prepared her child for 11+ and a primary school teacher, although I don't prepare the children I teach for 11+) is that although, clearly, these books have their value, reading popular children's fiction will still help enormously in improving your child's vocabulary etc.
Because they will hopefully be enjoying themselves, it won't seem like work at all.

On the odd occasion when I offered my son (when he was in Year 6) a "classic" he turned his nose up.

Giving him the latest Anthony Horowitz or Chris Ryan, however, seemed to be greeted with huge enthusiasm every time.

I don't believe that the books have to be especially challenging (you can move the level along very gradually), nor that the books have to be those you enjoyed as a child.
My work with children and parents in primary schools seems to suggest that children can get "stuck" in their reading if a parent insists on their child reading a particular author or a book they read as a child eg Swallows and Amazons.
Having got my son hooked on reading at the age of 8 (starting early is important if you can), he could never get enough of books and whilst doing endless practice papers prior to 11+ was a chore, (especially when he would rather have been playing football with his friends), reading never was.
Although he is more of a mathematician/scientist I am fairly convinced that his achievements in literacy and creative writing (at a similar level to the maths and science) are almost certainly due to his enjoyment of reading.

There are many amazing authors writing really great children's fiction at present, so there is plenty to choose from. Here are some of the best children's books for 9-11 year olds.

Boys, particularly, like the Alpha Force books by ex SAS man Chris Ryan, along with the "HIVE" books by Mark Walden.

Both girls and boys seem to like the Septimus Heap books by Angie Sage as well as the Skulduggery Pleasant books by Derek Landy which, (although a bit gory at times), are really funny. For a gentler read, the Pony Club secrets books by Stacey Gregg are great, as is the series by Lauren St John which starts with The White Giraffe.
The books I have mentioned here are all standard length novels, but if they're not too keen at first, shorter books, printed with a larger font are helpful to get them going.