Books
Year group
Little Brother, Big Patience
Sam builds a card castle four floors high, the best he has ever made. His little brother Ted is three, and Ted knows that tall things are wonderful when they fall down. Sam shouts, Ted cries, and Dad sits down on the carpet with one question. The new word is annoyed.
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Sorry Means Something
Tom and his dad painted a model plane over three evenings. Ben's swinging bag knocks it off the shelf and the wing snaps off. Ben says sorry without turning round, and for a week Tom will not look at him. It takes Ben's sister, a lolly stick and a bit of sandpaper to show him what a real sorry is made of. The new word is apology.
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FreeThe Boy Who Drew His Words
Leo is new, and he does not say one word, because every word he knows is in a different language. Ken asks him to play, then asks louder, then gives up. Meg sits down next to him and draws a football with a question mark beside it. The new word is gestures.
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The Group Poster
Four children, one poster about rainforests, four days. Lily does the title, Sam draws the trees, Pam writes about the animals, and Dan says he will do the rain tomorrow. On Thursday the poster is lovely except for one white space in the middle. The new word is depend.
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The Shoebox
Miss Chan hands out empty shoeboxes to fill for a child who has almost nothing. Ben puts in a yo-yo with a broken string and a puzzle with two pieces missing, and Mum asks one question that changes the box. Three weeks later a letter comes back about a torch. The new word is donate.
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The Shortcut
The path round Mr. Reed's tomato garden takes eight minutes. The gate takes one, and nobody is allowed to open it. Ken opens it anyway, and four boys go through and turn round to wait for Bill. Bill's feet want to follow them. What he says instead comes out very small, and what it saves him is a whole Saturday. The new word is tempted.
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The Silver Cup
Mia and Kim always paint next to each other. Mia paints a night sky and Kim paints a fruit stall, and each thinks the other's is better. Then Kim wins the silver cup, and Mia's hands clap slowly while her chest goes hot and tight. For three days she sits at a different table. It takes an empty chair and a lemon that looks like a potato to bring her back. The new word is jealous.
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The Spelling Test
Bob has a spelling test every Friday and this week he does not practise. With ten minutes to go he writes all fifteen words on his hand. He gets a perfect score and the class claps, and then he cannot open his fist for a whole morning even though the ink has washed off. The next Friday the same words come back, and there is nothing on his hand. The new word is guilty.
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The Story That Grew
Meg sees Anne crying and tells Pam she does not know why. By home time half the school thinks Anne is moving to another country on Friday. Nobody asks Anne. She was crying about her grandmother's ring, which went down a drain, and now every word the school is saying about her is wrong. Miss Chan plays a whispering game to show how it happened. The new word is rumour.
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The Wet Floor
Mr. Lim has mopped the corridor and put out the yellow sign, and he asks everybody to walk. Everybody does, except Tom, whose legs are full of running after a wet morning indoors. Anne says he warned us. Tom runs anyway. The new word is warned.
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