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The Last Wild

Piers Torday

In a world where almost every animal has been wiped out by a terrible disease, Kester Jaynes is locked away in a grim home for troubled children and cannot speak to people. Then a flock of pigeons and a bossy cockroach start talking to him, and they have come to carry him away.

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 Last Wild is on the list

  • Year 6, 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.