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Supercharge your school curriculum with BooksForTopics' curriculum book packs

Book packs to supercharge your curriculum and promote reading for pleasure

March 18th 2023

About BooksForTopics

BooksForTopics helps millions of teachers each year to find high-quality books for their classrooms and libraries. From new children's books to curriculum book lists, their expert panel carefully curates selections with the input of publishers, children’s book industry experts and booksellers. Peters works in partnership with BooksForTopics to supply books from the packs directly to schools.

Delivering an effective and engaging curriculum is a huge task for teachers, but we can help! BooksForTopics' curriculum book packs for schools are bursting with high-quality, non-fiction reads that you can share with your KS1 and KS2 classes. Fantastic for supplementing learning and acting as a base for case studies, activities and reading for pleasure, these expertly-curated titles are a great way to help your pupils to achieve their targets.

Sparking a lifelong passion for books and reading for pleasure

While most school libraries focus on providing fiction books for reading for pleasure, a love of reading can also start in the classroom. The National Literacy Trust's research into the reading habits of 5 to 8-year-olds revealed that 53.6% of children surveyed read non-fiction, with 68.6% reading to learn about new things, 47% reading to learn about other people and cultures, and 41.8% reading to feel connected to the world. Reading Zone found that 19% of children actually prefer non-fiction over fiction titles, with the publisher Farshore noting that this is particularly prevalent amongst children who aren't from a white-British background.

The real world can be just as wondrous as an imaginary one, and with topics as varied as minibeasts, transport, natural disasters, Vikings and Ancient Egypt to delve into, you're spoiled for choice when it comes to supercharging your curriculum book packs. Not only can non-fiction topic packs boost learning, but they can also inspire reluctant readers to develop critical thinking and analytical skills. Children will feel informed to make their own reading choices and be inspired to uncover new facts through books, websites and informational videos.

Peters librarian promotes the value in book packs for schools

The importance of non-fiction

Peters Children's Librarian Lucy Forrester

"The value of reading information books is impossible to overstate. Using information texts is such a vital skill, but it needn’t be one that’s boring to learn. Having engaging, interesting, accessible books on a range of topics not only builds reading comprehension and data skills, it presents a wider field of options for leisure reading, and developing a healthy and enthusiastic attitude towards reading and learning."

More from BooksForTopics: Branching Out

BooksForTopics' posters and booklists are designed to offer similar suggestions to the popular books and series that readers tend to get stuck on. Using these lists, fans of Tom Gates are gently pointed towards Planet Stan or The Day the Screens Went Blank, whereas die-hard Harry Potter readers may enjoy the suggestion of Amari and the Night Brothers or Nevermoor. Schools can purchase the full Branching Out packs through Peters.

Alison Leach, founder of Books For Topics, said: "Selecting books for these lists is always a joy. It’s also a responsibility, because if there is a level of reluctance to move on from a series, it’s important to have very well-picked options available. As many teachers and librarians know, when you do succeed in moving a reader happily on, it’s a bit like solving a puzzle; it’s fun to work on finding the solution, and the satisfaction of completing the task is unmatchable."