Recommended+Reads

** Five Popular Reads for Early Childhood ** 1. //Possum Magic// by Mem Fox 2. //Diary of a Wombat// by Jackie French 3. //Queenie the Bantam// by Bob Graham 4. //Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo// by Alison Lestor 5. //Bear & Chook by the Sea// by Lisa Shanahan


 * [[image:PossumMagic.jpg width="115" height="120"]] || [[image:diary-of-a-wombat.jpg width="160" height="113"]] || [[image:queenie.jpg width="100" height="121"]] || [[image:ernie_didge-cover.gif]] || [[image:B&Cbythesea.jpg width="91" height="121"]] ||

**Five Popular Reads for Middle Readers** 1. The Hazel Green Series by Odo Hirsch 2. //The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley (Who Planned to Live an Unusual Life)//  by Martine Murray 3. The Dragonkeeper Series by Carole Wilkinson 4. The Tishkin Silk Series by Glenda Millard 5. //The Silver Donkey// by Sonya Hartnett


 * [[image:hazelgreen.JPG width="187" height="100"]] || [[image:slightlytrue.jpg width="91" height="144"]] || [[image:dragonkeeper.JPG width="100" height="138"]] || [[image:tishkin.jpg width="98" height="145"]] || [[image:silver_donkey.jpg width="100" height="147"]] ||

**Five Popular Reads for Young Adults** 1. The Harry Potter Series by J K Row ling 2. The Tomorrow Series by John Marsden 3. //The Outsiders// by S E Hinton 4. //Looking for Alibrandi// by Melina Marchetta 5. The Lord of the Rings J R R Tolkein
 * > [[image:HPB.jpg width="134" height="177"]] ||> [[image:tomorrow.jpg width="112" height="163"]] ||> [[image:outsiders.jpg width="117" height="171"]] ||> [[image:alibrandiUSA.jpg width="112" height="164"]] ||> [[image:lotrb.jpg width="180" height="171"]] ||

As well as these classic favourites that don't seem to ever go out of favour, there are other places you can go to find a range of other titles, especially if, instead of having a keen reader, you have a particularly reluctant one who struggles to find texts with which to engage.

The US publication, School Library Journal has an excellent blog, and have recently counted down the Top 100 best loved children's books. Elizabeth Bird does much more than just count them down, however, she includes statements and endorsements from the people who voted, reviews from throughout the years, a wide variety of covers from a number of different countries, and her own assessment of each title. There is often some snippet about how it came to be published, or a fascinating fact that is unusual or not well-known. Although the majority are from America, these are stories we have all grown up with, and are ageless and timeless.

A new book has just been published called //1001 children's books you must read before you grow up//, and someone has put all the titles into a Google Docs spreadsheet. Obviously, the publication would have annotations and much more richness, but to have them all listed, in age group makes for a fascinating read. It is interesting to consider how web 2.0 technologies have impacted on a book. Before the web, a book would be released and that would be the end of it. It would receive local word-of-mouth approval, reviews in newspapers and magazines and maybe a TV program and whatever small effort publishing companies created. With the advent of the Internet , people could now order a copy from their library, find it on amazon and read reviews from online websites. Since web 2.0, many people now blog about books, communities are created and consequently, the word-of mouth movement is faster, broader and far more interactive.

Still having trouble finding the right books? Have a go at the [|literature-map]. You simply type in your students' favourite author and the map will provided you other authors they are also likely to enjoy reading. This is a fun site that your students may want to try themselves! There are other websites that offer similar searches, including:

Which Book?

What Book should I read Next?

The Book Seer

Hunch

If you have some books you would like to share join us on our discussion board on the <span style="color: #483691; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Let's Talk Books! page of this wiki and tell why you love or hate them. Feel free to add comments others have written too. Or alternatively join our Wallwisher of <span style="color: #483691; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">books.

We have also constucted another 'Wallwisher' wall where you will find tips on engaging students with literature. Please feel free to add a sticky note to our wall of ideas!

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