Shark's Fin Island

Matthew loves taking the boat out with his Grandad. But fun turns to terror when the boat runs into trouble, and Matthew is left stranded and alone in the shadow of Shark’s Fin Island.

This is an incredibly accessible series for reluctant readers. The First Flight collection offers a variety of different text types including fiction, plays and poetry, so is well placed to cater for many interests and abilities. Stories range from bikers and surfing to ghosts, monsters, and aliens on Earth.

This hi-lo series for struggling and reluctant readers has been written for children aged between 7 and 13 years, whose current reading age is between 6 and 6.5 years. These age-appropriate short reads have 32 pages and are written by brilliant authors writing stories with relatable characters. They incorporate a large font size and text separated into bite-sized chunks, along with carefully considered letter and paragraph spacing that can reduce visual stress. The series has plenty of practice at one level, allowing consolidation of learning before moving on to more challenging reads.