Stevie looked at the dog. He was big and as black as night. "Please, Dad, can we keep him?" begged Stevie. Stevie loved his new dog. But Black Dan had a strange and terrible secret. Would he lead Stevie into danger? This story is part of the "Oxford Reading Tree: Treetops" series of fiction with built-in progression for pupils aged seven to 11. Specially written for children who need the support of carefully monitored language levels, the stories aim to be accessible, motivating, and humorous. The series is organized into "Oxford Reading Tree" stages (from Stage 10 to Stage 14), with each stage introducing more complex narrative forms, including flashbacks and changes in viewpoint; descriptive writing; extended reading vocabulary; and more pages, more text, and fewer illustrations. Each stage is supported by a teacher's guide, which offers guidance on using "Treetops" to assess children's reading ability, and includes a variety of activities, many on photocopiable sheets.

 

This book is part of a book series called Treetops .

This book is suitable for Key Stage 2. KS2 covers school years 4, 5 and 6, and ages 8-11 years. A key stage is any of the fixed stages into which the national curriculum is divided, each having its own prescribed course of study. At the end of each stage, pupils are required to complete standard assessment tasks. This book is at level 3b of the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum sets out the programmes of study and attainment targets for all subjects at all 4 key stages. Each National Curriculum level is divided into sub-levels, where Level C means that a child is working at the lower end of the level, Level B they is working comfortably at that level, and Level A means that they is working at the top end of the level. The Government has suggested a child should achieve the following levels by the end of each school year: (i) Level 1b by end Year 1, Level 2a-c by end Year 2, Level 2a-3b by end Year 3, Level 3 by the end Year 4, Level 3b-4c by the end Year 5, Level 4 by the end Year 6. This book is part of a reading scheme, meaning that it is a book aimed at children who are learning to read.

There are 56 pages in this book. This is a reference book. This book was published 1998 by Oxford University Press .

Susan Gates has written books for a very wide age range and is perhaps best-known for her Carnegie shortlisted title, RAIDER. Susan lives in County Durham.