Riveting reads for the 2008 National Year of Reading
7 Apr 2008
Book Ahead and Boys into Books are the latest in a series of booklists known as Riveting Reads, compiled by the School Library Association. And they’re every bit as riveting as the series’ name suggests
Get your 2008 National Year of Reading off to a winning start with the latest booklists for children
Books are fun. It’s as simple as that. Whether you’re immersed in a novel or magazine, or simply perusing an atlas or dictionary, the feeling reading conjures up is ultimately one of enjoyment. So how can we get children to develop and appreciate this enjoyment without making it a chore? Book Ahead and Boys into Books are two initiatives by the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), which aim to get enjoyable books into the hands of children.
- Click here to find out about Boys into Books
Book Ahead
As books for the very young are chosen by adults, there can often be an added pressure to choose wisely. This is where the Book Ahead booklist comes in. The aim of this booklist is to get young children in Early Years settings to develop enjoyment in reading at an early stage, and also to strengthen the links between settings and their local public and Schools Library Services.
So what is it?
Book Ahead provides free information about a fantastic selection of books, both classic and modern, which are ideally suited for reading and sharing with babies and young children. The Book Ahead list includes fiction, non-fiction and ‘fun’ books for three age groups: 0 to 3, 3 to 5 and 6 to 7. All 164 books on the list have been carefully selected and cover a range of styles and genres.
Many of the books may already have a home on your library’s shelves, such as Shirley Hughes’ Dogger, but others will be less familiar, like The Swirling Hijaab by Na’ima Bint Robert and Nilesh Misty. The booklist also contains some fantastic tips on ways to share books and how to develop a love for reading, and provides a rationale for the book choices that should be made for children from 0 to 7 years.
How to have a fun start to reading with Book Ahead
Underpinning Book Ahead is an allocation of £4.5 million of funding from the DCSF to provide books for this age group to all local authorities in England in 2008 and to support the delivery of the programme. Each authority, via the Public or Schools Library Service, will initially have 200 copies of the booklist to circulate around Early Years settings in their area. They will also be able to select free books from this list to be used in a variety of ways – from loaning out ‘Treasure Chests’ containing Book Ahead collections to holding workshops on using the books with Early Years children.
A full list of the books is available online at www.bookahead.org.uk as a searchable database and as a downloable pdf. The list is a free resource that is available to everyone – teachers, parents, children, carers, friends and family – and will remain on the website after the Book Ahead project is finished.
Get your bite-size copy of Book Ahead!
Nursery Education PLUS readers will find an exclusive Book Ahead supplement in May’s issue, on sale 10 April. Made in conjunction with the DCSF, the supplement features a flavour of the 85 wonderful books recommended for children aged 3 to 5 years.
Boys into Books
One of the challenges for the 2008 National Year of Reading is to make books a popular pastime for boys. Boys into Books provides free information about a fantastic selection of more than 170 books which are perfect for encouraging young boys to read. Boys into Books 5–11 aims to supports boy’s reading in Key Stages 1 and 2.
So what do boys want to read?
The booklist is not based on the assumption that all boys are reluctant readers, but rather stresses that the key to boys enjoying reading is to find something that they have an interest in. The list covers:
- books full of action, excitement, mystery, fantasy and adventure
- graphic novels and fun books with zany humour, ingenious twists and eye-catching designs
- gritty, absorbing storylines that relate to the real world
- information books
- books featuring characters from film and television
- texts featuring clever language play, including joke books and funky poetry anthologies
- stories that reflect different cultures and include people from all walks of life.
The ‘Books boys will enjoy’ definition for this selection doesn’t mean that titles included will not appeal to girls – because they will. The titles have simply been selected because they have particular factors that are likely to have some appeal for boys out of the mass of books appearing in the UK each year.
How to get Boys into Books
Underpinning Boys into Books is an allocation of £4.5 million of funding from the DCSF to provide books for boys in the 5 to 11 age group in schools in all local authorities in England in 2008 and to support the delivery of the programme.
Get your bite-size copy of Boys into Books!
Child Education PLUS , Junior Education PLUS and Literacy Time PLUS readers will find an exclusive Boys into Books supplement in May’s issues, on sale 17 April, 24 April and 5 May respectively. Made in conjunction with the DCSF, the supplement features a glimpse of the reading lists for ages 7 to 9 and 9 to 11.
Each authority, via the Public or Schools Library Service, will have copies of the booklist to circulate around schools and educational settings in their area. They will also be able to select free books from this list to be used in a variety of ways – from loaning on ‘Treasure Chests’ containing Boys into Books collections to holding workshops on using the books with primary age boys.
The Boys into Books list is available online at www.boysintobooks.co.uk as a searchable database and as a downloadable pdf. The list is a free resource that is available to everyone – teachers, parents, children, carers, friends and family – and will remain on the website after the Boys into Books project is finished.
