As school librarians and teachers, we love to read children’s books and to share what we love about those books with children. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing the pleasure a child gets from being inspired by a wonderful story, or thrilling adventure, or understanding a character from the inside. Sometimes we need to get inspiration too when we are reaching for just the right book to share, and many teachers are looking for new titles and deeper understanding of a novel. Reading for pleasure is so important, not just because it is an entry into the wider world of literature, but because children’s learning and attainment expand so much better when they are independent readers.
What I would like to do here is spread the word about more books, new, old, forgotten classics, the very latest titles, and see where that takes us. Your contributions will be enormously helpful – to hear about the experience in the classroom and in your book clubs will make us all reflect more about the choices we making in promoting reading with pupils.
