In October 2021 The Golden Thread Alliance launched a new reading project: The Golden 100. Its aim is to promote reading for pleasure amongst our children and families.
The Golden 100 is a list of books that we would like all children to have read, listened to or shared with others before they leave Year 6. There are 25 books for each phase that have been carefully nominated and selected by members of staff across the Trust and include a diverse range of characters, themes and genres – we are confident there is something for everyone!
We have copies of each of the books in school for children to borrow.
| EYFS | ||
| Title | Author | |
| All are welcome | Alex Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman | |
| Beautiful Oops! | Barney Saltzberg | |
| Coming to England | Floella Benjamin | |
| Dogger | Shirley Hughes | |
| I Want My Hat Back | Jon Klassen | |
| Julian is a Mermaid | Jessica Love | |
| Little Rabbit Foo Foo | Michael Rosen | |
| Mr Gumpy’s Outing | John Burningham | |
| My Hair | Hanna Lee | |
| Oi Frog! | Kes Gray | |
| Pete the Cat | Eric Litwin | |
| Poo Bum | Stephanie Blake | |
| Room on a Broom | Julia Donaldson | |
| Ruby’s Worry | Tom Percival | |
| Skin like mine | Latasha M Perry | |
| Supertato | Paul Linnet & Sue Hendra | |
| Tell me a dragon | Jackie Morris | |
| The Bad Tempered Ladybird | Eric Carle | |
| The Invisible | Tom Percival | |
| The Naughty Bus | Jan and Jerry Oke | |
| The Paper Dolls | Julia Donaldson | |
| The Story of the Little Mole who Knew it was None of his Business | Werner Holzwarth | |
| The Tiger Who came to Tea | Judith Kerr | |
| We’re Going on a Bear Hunt | Michael Rosen | |
| Zog | Julia Donaldson | |
| KS1 | ||
| Title | Author | |
| A Superhero like you | Dr Ranj Singh | |
| Adam’s Farm | Adam Henson | |
| Aesop’s Fables | Don Daily | |
| Can’t You Sleep Little Bear? | Martin Waddell | |
| Do Not Enter the Monster Zoo | Amy Sparkes | |
| Fantastic Mr Fox | Roald Dahl | |
| Greta and the Giants | Zoe Tucker | |
| Here We Are | Oliver Jeffers | |
| How to Live Forever | Colin Thompson | |
| It’s a book | Lane Smith | |
| Lin Lin Pangolin | Catherine Jenkins | |
| Look Up! | Nathan Bryon | |
| Monkey Puzzle | Julia Donaldson | |
| Oh the Places You’ll Go | Dr Seuss | |
| Rain Before Rainbows | Smriti Halls & Davis Litchfield | |
| Russia Fairy Tales | Riley M. Green & Charis B. Chusna | |
| The book with no pictures | BJ novak | |
| The Day the Crayons Quit | Drew Daywalt | |
| The Giving Tree | Shel Silverstein | |
| The Jolly Postman | Janet & Allan Ahlberg | |
| The Prince and the Frog | Olly Pike | |
| The Snail and the Whale | Julia Donaldson | |
| The Worrysaurus | Rachel Bright | |
| This Moose Belongs to Me | Oliver Jeffers | |
| We’re all wonders | RJ Palacio | |
| LKS2 | ||
| Title | Author | |
| Agent Asha: Mission Shark Bytes | Sophie Deen | |
| Born Bad | CK Smouha | |
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Roald Dahl | |
| Cool | Michael Morpurgo | |
| George’s Marvellous Medicine | Roald Dahl | |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone | J. K. Rowling | |
| Herb, the Vegetarian Dragon | Jules Bass & Debbie Harter | |
| I Don’t Like Poetry | Joshua Seigal | |
| If all the World Were… | Joseph Coelho & Allison Colpoys | |
| Krindlekrax | Philip Ridley | |
| Matilda | Roald Dahl | |
| The Beast of Buckingham Palace | David Walliams | |
| The Boy at the Back of the Class | Onjali Q Rauf | |
| The Dark | Lemony Snickett | |
| The Girls | Lauren Ace | |
| The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell | Chris Colfer | |
| The Magic Faraway Tree | Enid Blyton | |
| The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark | Jill Tomlinson | |
| The Proudest Blue | Ibtihaj Muhammad | |
| The secret of platform 13 | Eva Ibbotson | |
| The Secret Seven | Enid Blyton | |
| The Train to Impossible Places | P.G. Bell | |
| The Wizards of Once | Cressida Cowell | |
| The Worst Witch | Jill Murphy | |
| Varjak Paw | S. F. Said | |
| UKS2 | ||
| Title | Author | |
| H.I.V.E. | Derek Walden | |
| All American boys | Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely | |
| An Emotional Menagerie | The School Press | |
| Blended | Sharon M. Draper | |
| Boy in the Tower | Polly Ho-Yen | |
| Can you see me? | Libby Scott & Rebecca Westcott | |
| High Rise Mystery | Sharna Jackson | |
| Kensuke’s Kingdom | Michael Morpurgo | |
| No Ballet Shoes in Syria | Catherine Bruton | |
| Northern Lights | Philip Pullman | |
| Number the Stars | Lois Lowry | |
| Pure Dead Magic | Debi Gliori | |
| Stig of the Dump | Clive King | |
| Strong is the New Pretty | Kate T. Parker | |
| The Astounding Broccoli Boy | Frank Cottrell Boyce | |
| The Girl of Ink and Stars | Kiran Millwood Hargrave | |
| The Goldfish Boy | Lisa Thompson | |
| The invention of Hugo Cabret | Brian Selznick | |
| The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe | C. S. Lewis | |
| The Other Side of Truth | Beverly Naidoo | |
| The Secret Garden | Frances Hodgson-Burnett | |
| The Spook’s Apprentice | Joseph Delaney | |
| Tom’s Midnight Garden | Philippa Pearce | |
| When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit | Judith Kerr | |
| Wonder | R. J. Palacio | |
