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The Explorer

Katherine Rundell

Fred, Con, Lila and her little brother Max are flying over the Amazon rainforest when their small plane crashes into the jungle. With no grown-ups to help them, four children who hardly know each other must find food, water and shelter, and work out how to get home.

Length
About 60,000 words
To read it
About 40 days
Stage
Key Stage 2

Reading time at 1,500 words a day, the pace we start from until we know your child’s own.

Where it is taught

Why The Explorer is on the list

  • Year 5, Core. The books most schools teach in this year. A good place to start.

Reading it here

What your child does with it

  1. 1

    Choose it and set a finish date

    You get a suggested target from the length of the book and your child's reading pace.

  2. 2

    Check in along the way

    A longer book has short check-ins every week or two, so it keeps moving and nothing is forgotten.

  3. 3

    Answer two questions

    When they finish: a review of the book, and a deeper question about how it works.

  4. 4

    Get it marked, and redraft

    Every answer is marked against the rubric for their year, with a reason for every score.