Moving Up – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Helpful guide to starting secondary.
Children’s book title: Moving Up by Christian Foley.
Children’s author: Christian Foley.
Genre: Children’s nonfiction.
Published by: Scholastic.
ISBN: 9780702333743.
Recommended for children aged: 10-12 year-olds.
First published: Paperback March 2024.
This children’s book is ideal for: Pupils in year six or year seven as they navigate the transition between primary and secondary school.
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Our review:
A supportive and easy to read guide to making the transition between Year Six and Year Seven, Moving Up has the advantage of being written by a teacher who understands the concerns of pupils during these years. Additionally, the writing benefits from a relatable and empathetic manner.
Set out in bite-size sections, pupils can dip into the appropriate part as the concern arises, this title covers all the usual fears pupils have about making the move, including the first day, what to take and getting lost.
Moving Up also provides supportive and informative advice on managing broader issues students face as they move into secondary education such as social media, relationships and peer pressure.
Complete with occasional raps on each theme, there is something here to appeal to every pupil. Importantly, it provides a third person to offer advice, rather than a parental or teacher voice that a young person might struggle to engage with.
Our verdict:
Aimed at children aged 10-12, we think Moving Up would make a useful addition to the bookshelves of upper KS2 classrooms and Y7 form rooms – either as a text for supporting citizenship time discussions or for pupils to dip into independently.
Many thanks to Scholastic for the review copy.
To order a class set of this book, please click below to order via uk.bookshop.org, an organisation that supports local bookshops, or Amazon.co.uk.
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If you like Moving Up by Christian Foley by Dev Kothari you might also like: The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, Go Big: The Secondary School Survival Guide by Matthew Burton and Good News by Rashmi Sirdeshpande.
Browse our Year 6 reading list and our Year 7 reading list.