Imani’s Library Book by Alison Hawes (with illustrations credited on the cover to Alie Busby) is a Red band reader from Cambridge Reading Adventures, used for Prep at Lahore Grammar School (LGS). The cover shows a curly-haired boy on the floor of a library reading a dinosaur book, with shelves of colourful books behind him and a stack of books beside him.
It is a book about books, which makes it the perfect choice for building a reading habit in the 2027-28 session. It shows a child doing exactly what we hope every child will do: love a book so much that they cannot put it down.
What happens in the book
According to the teaching notes, Imani loves the book about dinosaurs so much that he takes it home again. A small number of sentence structures are used to tell this very recognisable situation. The main body of the story uses a very long sentence with two simple clauses linked by ‘but’, for example ‘Imani looks at a book about birds but he puts it back.’ That makes it a challenge at Red band, because the reader has to coordinate one-to-one matching throughout two sentence structures in one long line of text.
The aim at this band is for children to follow the print with their eyes and use a finger only at points of difficulty. Punctuation (full stops, ellipsis and exclamation marks) supports expressive reading.
What your child learns from it
The publisher’s teaching notes list these learning outcomes. A child who reads this book can:
- use punctuation to inform phrasing and expression;
- use phonic knowledge to solve new and novel words;
- comment on the events and characters in the story, making links to other stories.
How to read it together at home
The guided reading lesson printed in the book gives a simple routine you can follow:
- Read the title and say: Imani is going to the library; he is going to take his book back.
- On page 2, check that your child knows what a library is, that books can be borrowed and must be returned within a time, and look at the book under Dad’s arm.
- On page 3, ask your child to find the word ‘library’ and think about the letter they expect at the start.
- On page 4, rehearse the sentence ‘Imani looks at a book about birds but he puts it back’ by reading aloud while your child follows each word.
- Ask: what kind of book will Imani take out next?
Fun learning links beyond the book
For maths, find out how many books the children have read, or which topics are most popular over a week, and show the results in tally charts and graphs. For language development, visit the school library together and see how the borrowing system works. After each child has chosen a book, give a short time slot where children recommend what they have read to other children.
About the Red band
At Red band the aim is for a child to read smoothly, tracking the print mostly with their eyes and pointing only when a word is tricky.
Who, when, where and why
Whom: Prep children (about five years old). When: during the 2027-28 session; it is also a lovely book to read the night before a library visit. Where: at school, at home and in the library itself. Why: to show that borrowing and returning a book is part of being a reader. Most LGS campuses use the same books, though a few follow their own list in some subjects. Tell us your child’s campus on WhatsApp and we will check before the parcel leaves.
Frequently asked questions
What is the key sentence?
‘Imani looks at a book about birds but he puts it back.’
Who illustrated it?
Alie Busby is credited on the cover.
Is it fiction?
Yes. It is a short story about a library visit.
We deliver Imani’s Library Book to every city in Pakistan with Cash on Delivery, and you are welcome to collect it from our Lahore shop. If your school sent a book list, send it to us on WhatsApp and we will put the whole set together.
