Pet Sitters are great High/Low books for reluctant readers
High/Low books for middle grade readers contain content interesting for children who are reluctant readers or still reading at a simpler level.
A nine or ten year old reading at a six year old level needs books that include illustrations that support the text, clear, simple sentences and vocabulary, as well as engaging stories or content that don’t feel ‘babyish’ or patronising.
Enter the Pet Sitters series, mentioned by author Allison Tait and her colleague Megan Daley in Episode 263 of the Your Kids Next Read podcast.
Allison began by reading the blurb for Pirate Problems, and said, “It's a very fun concept, this whole pet sitting thing. I actually really love the idea of it, particularly with this talking cat in the mix.”
She said that Pirate Problems “reads a little bit towards the top end of the suggested readership and the illustrations are quite grown up as well.”
Her suggestion was that Pirate Problems and the rest of the series would work well as short illustrated novels for readers aged 7 to 10.
“What we are finding in that middle grade space is that there's a lot of readers who want shorter books, smaller books. These might fit the bill quite nicely in that space.”
If you've never listened to YKNR, you should definitely start now! And if you're looking for a 'high/low' book for your reluctant middle grade reader, why not try Pirate Problems from the Pet Sitters series?
Discover the Pet Sitters Paperbacks
‘The Garden Of Lost Girls’ by A. L. Tait
A new cold-case mystery thriller for middle-grade readers from the author of ‘Danger Road’.
A missing girl. A search for answers. But what if the past wants to stay buried?
In a quiet, coastal town, eighteen-year-old Jessica lets out a gasp, then walks out of the opening night her own play, ‘The Garden of Lost Girls’. She is never seen again.
What did she see? Where did she go? And why did she never come home?
Thirty years later, Jessica’s nephew, fourteen-year-old Sam, is still asking the same questions. With the town planning an anniversary performance of ‘The Garden of Lost Girls’, Jessica’s family hopes that it will help to jog memories and, perhaps, finally solve the puzzle of Jessica’s disappearance. And Sam’s mum wants Sam and his cousins, Gracie and Archie, to be in the production to keep an eye out for new information.
At least, that’s the plan.
But as the play goes into rehearsal, a series of accidents makes it clear to Sam and his cousins that not everyone is happy about the performance―and they’ll do anything to stop it.
And when one of them goes missing on the night of the performance, the cousins realise that sometimes history doesn’t always stay in the past.
Two pet sitters. One talking cat. What could possibly go wrong?
Cassie, Lina and Gus are excited to dress up like pirates when they pet sit Trixie the parrot.
But when everyone starts to talk like a pirate, the girls know they’ve got a swashbuckling problem – especially with their very first radio interview coming up!
______________________
Pirate Problems is the seventh Pet Sitters book and the third book in the Pet Sitters: Dress-Ups Series. Junior Fiction for 5-9 year olds.
By Ella Shine. Illustrated by Lisa Flanagan.
Available in e-book or paperback. You are purchasing the paperback version.