Literacy Resources

Kidderlit is a wonderful idea.  A website that sends you the first line of a children’s book every day.  What a collection!  You can choose how you are sent the line: twitter, Google Reader, widget on your igoogle page or just visiting the site.

What are your favourite opening lines? You could generate a class list to display in the library.  If you use Edmodo in your classroom this would be a fantastic way to share them.  It may even introduce children to new books to read.  As Kidderlit is an affiliate of Amazon, there is a link to click to see what the book is.

This collection allows for some great work in literacy.  Which is your favourite line and why?  Which one makes you want to find out what the book is and read it? They could be sorted into groups, e.g. those that are about settings, character’s behaviour  etc.  They provide a wonderful resource for considering sentence structure as there is such a variety here.

Many thanks to Susan Stephenson at The Book Chook for having a widget for Kidderlit on her blog.  I enjoyed it so much I got one of my own!

People often ask us for recommendations for books to use for guided reading so here is my top 100 list. This is a personal list and may well not contain your favourites.  Please add yours by leaving a comment.  The levels come from my experience of using the books with children and talking to teachers – you may feel differently about them.  Please let us know.

Level 3

1. Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett
2. The Jolly Postman by the Ahlbergs
3. I am the Mummy Heb-Nefert by Christina Bunting
4. I is for India by Prodeepta Das (non-fiction)
5. P is for Pakistan by Shazia Razzak and Prodeepta Das (non-fiction)
6. Traction Man is Here by Mini Grey
7. The Big Red Trouble by Carmen Harris
8. Tadpole’s Promise by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
9. Little Wolf’s Postbag by Ian Whybrow
10. Mind Your Own Business by Michael Rosen (poetry)
11. Amazon Diary: The Jungle Adventures of Alex Winters
12. Shortcut by David Macaulay
13. The Tunnel by Anthony Browne
14. Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne
15. Fair’s Fair by Leon Garfield
16. Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine
17. Thomas and the Tinners by Jill Paton Walsh
18. Who’s Been Sleeping in my Porridge by Colin McNaughton

Level 4

1. Seasons Songs by Ted Hughes (poetry)
2. Beowulf by Kevin Crossley-Holland
3. Beauty and the Beast by Geraldine McCaughrean
4. Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocento
5. Way Home by Libby Hathorne and Gregory rogers
6. Black and White by David Macaulay
7. The Paradise Garden by Colin Thompson
8. Anno’s Aesop by Mitsuma Anno
9. Until I met Dudley: How everyday things really work by Roger McGough and Chris Riddell
10. Outsiders by Kevin Crossley-Holland
11. Watertower by Gary Crew
12. Prowlpuss by Gina Wilson
13. The Highway Man by Alfred Noyes and Charles Keeping
14. Crack Another Yolk by John Foster (poetry)
15. Great Estimations by Bruce Goldstein (non-fiction)
16. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
17. the Owl Tree by Jenny Nimmo
18. The Fib and Other Stories by George Layton
19. Secret Freinds by Elizabeth Laird
20. Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo
21. George – Don’t Do That by Joyce Grenfell
22. Varjak Paw by SF Said
23. Heard it in the Playground by Allan Ahlberg (poetry)
24. Wicked World by Benjamin Zephiniah (poetry)
25. Blue John by Berlie Doherty
26. The 18th Emergency by Betsy Byars
27. Blabbermouth by Morris Gleitzman
28. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Selina Hastings
29. The Knight and the Loathly Lady by Selina Hastings
30. Iron Man by Ted Hughes
31. Eye of the Wolf by Baniel Pennac
32. Mufarao’s Beautiful Daughters by Johhn Steptoe

Level 5

1. Clockwork by Philip Pullman
2. Zinder Zunder by Philip Ridley
3. Safe From Harm by Rollo Armstrong
4. Beware Beware by Susan Hill
5. The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan
6. Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection selected by Michael Rosen
7. What is the Truth? by Ted Hughes
8. The Cantebury Tales retold by Geraldine McCaughrean
9. Holes by Louis Sacher
10. Pig Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman
11. Skellig by David Almond
12. The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis (I’ve put it here for children to really understand this book)