Packing my Bag by Alison Hawes (illustrated by Sarath Jennings, as credited on the cover) is a Cambridge Reading Adventures reader in the Pink A band for Play Group at Lahore Grammar School (LGS). The cover shows a girl with pigtails and a blue pinafore kneeling on the grass and putting a green apple into a bright pink school bag full of books and colours. Available to order now for the 2027-28 session.
For a child about to start school, this is one of the most useful first readers on the shelf. It shows, in a few words, what going to school looks like in the morning: you pack your bag, and everything you need goes in.
What happens in the book
According to the teaching notes, the child packs her bag for school and puts in the items she needs for the day. One sentence structure is used throughout, with a noun change on every page: on page 2 she says ‘My book is in my bag’, on page 4 ‘My pen is in my bag’, and so on. The things she packs include a book, pen, ball, apple, lunch, drink and umbrella, and the words that repeat are ‘my’, ‘is’ and ‘in’. On the final page the word ‘not’ is inserted, so the reader has to use both the meaning in the picture and the print to read it correctly, which is a small but real reading challenge.
What your child learns from it
The teaching notes list these learning outcomes. A child who reads this book can:
- understand that print carries meaning and is read from left to right;
- use the first letter of a word to check what the picture shows (for example, the /p/ at the start of ‘pen’);
- track one line of simple repeated text.
How to read it with your child at home
Copy the guided lesson from the notes:
- Give your child the book and read the title, but do not ask them to point to it, because the title does not follow the sentence pattern used in the book.
- Say: the girl is packing her bag, she is putting in lots of things, has she got everything she needs? Let us find out.
- On page 2, read ‘My book is in my bag’ slowly so that your child can match each word.
- On page 4, ask your child to find the word ‘pen’ using the first letter, and say the /p/ sound together.
- Let your child take over page by page, and wait for the surprise on the last page.
Fun learning links beyond the book
For language development, children can talk about the things they need for a day at school and tell the class how they prepare each day. For maths, practical packing and unpacking is a great context for counting, counting on and the idea that the number stays the same however the items are arranged. The notes also link this book to other Pink A band titles in the series about starting school and going to school, ‘Jamila finds a Friend’ and ‘Omar’s First Day at School’.
About the Cambridge Reading Adventures Pink A band
Cambridge Reading Adventures is a graded reading series from Cambridge University Press. The Pink A band is the very first step: books for brand-new readers, with only a handful of words (roughly 30 to 60 per book according to the publisher), bright illustrations and a lot of repetition, so a child can recognise the same words again and again and feel like a reader from the first page. Every book carries teaching notes written by Sue Bodman and Glen Franklin, which show a teacher or parent exactly how to share the book.
Who, why, when and where
Whom: Play Group children (about three years old) who are starting school, and the adults who read with them. Why: to link reading with the real morning routine of packing a bag. When: at the start of Play Group, and every evening when you pack tomorrow’s bag together. Where: at school, at the front door and on the bedroom floor. Lahore Grammar School campuses use almost the same books, but a few follow their own list for some subjects. Tell us your child’s campus on WhatsApp and we confirm the book before we dispatch.
Frequently asked questions
What does the girl pack?
A book, pen, ball, apple, lunch, drink and umbrella, according to the teaching notes.
What happens on the last page?
The word ‘not’ is added, so the reader has to use both the picture and the print.
Are there related books?
The notes mention two other Pink A band titles about starting school: ‘Jamila finds a Friend’ and ‘Omar’s First Day at School’.
You can order Packing my Bag online today. We ship across Pakistan on Cash on Delivery, and families in Lahore can also pick it up from our shop. For overseas delivery (Gulf countries), message us on WhatsApp.
