"No reading at the breakfast table"

I thought this would be a lovely book to give a child about to start school.  It goes through all the things Cornelius Pig needs to do to get ready for school.  But it's only until he gets a kiss from mum that he's really  ready to go.  Very cute and simple but good for helping with the idea of getting in a routine to get organised.

Here are the books that have been great hits with the 7-10 year old crowd in 2012.  Hope it helps with your Christmas shopping! New Geronimo Stilton series 'The Kingdom of Fantasy' 'Tom Gates' series 'EJ12' - spy girls books that are good after they get tired of 'Rainbow Magic' fairies.   'Unicorn Riders' - serve a similar purpose to EJ12! 'Dinosaur Rescue' - combining dinosaurs with adventure.  Perfect combination! 'Specky Magee' for the AFL mad (a little more challenging read). 'Nanny Piggins' has been hugely successful this year.  

He has been reading on his own for ages, but not really getting into it with all his being.  'Beast Quest' has done it.  I would like to take the glory on this one, but his classroom teacher read the first one to him and he's hooked. I'm sure he'll get sick of them soon enough, but so pleased!

Here are some of the picture books that I've loved sharing with my classes during 2012.  My favourites are books that are great to read aloud (and should be yours too if you have to read the books that you choose to buy/borrow many, many, many times!). Mozzie and Midgie by Doug MacLeod - This is partly my favourite because the illustrations are so cool but also because of the reaction my Kindy class had to this book.  One of the characters tells the other that he looks 'stupid' because of the silly hat he's wearing.  My class reacted with 'Oh, but Miss you said the 'S' work' and turned around to look at their teacher with open mouths.  Hadn't quite realised how delightfully conservative my school is! Lazy Daisy, Busy Lizzie  by Mary Ellen Jordan is just funny and silly and everyone has a good laugh.  This is one dysfunctional farm. All through the year  by Jane Godwin.  Illustrated by Anna Walker (just beautiful) tells the story o...

Hoping to pull together in the next week some reading lists for you and your kids.  Especially as you face those long shopping lists in the lead up to Christmas!  And hopefully after you've done all your shopping you can sit down and read a book or two for yourself (while the children are suitably occupied).  I always like to buy my kids who can read, long books in the hope that I will be left in peace for at least a couple of days after Christmas.  For the not-quite-fluent readers I like to buy large boxes of lego that keep them busy.  And if I had smaller children it would definitely be a long DVD that they want to watch lots of times! So ... reading lists in the pipeline.

 And I continue reading (well outside my preferred comfort genres) through the dystopian world in a desperate bid to tap into the momentum created by 'The Hunger Games' obsession at the moment.  I've been trying to find dystopian books for children in upper primary.  Kids who might like 'The Hunger Games', but it is not entirely suitable for them (although I do have to say that many of the Year 6 kids I teach who are good readers, have read the series). A colleague got me onto this series by Jeanne DuPrau.  I have enjoyed them a lot and it so great to finally get a series of books that I can confidently recommend to strong readers (from age 10 up) knowing that they are both interesting and suitable. In the City of Ember the generator lights the city, but beyond the city limits are the Unknown Lands, in complete darkness that never ends.  It is only in the city that the light can be found, but the generator is failing and the city has no candles or matc...

Ok - so girls might like Star Wars books too, but so far I haven't experienced the mass rush to the Star Wars section of the library by girls.  It is the boys in Years 1- 3 (ages 6-9).  They LOVE Star Wars.  Even though Star Wars has been around for most of my life, I don't particularly get the attraction, but there is this age group that seem to really like it (and hey, I'm not a boy in years 1-3 at school!). I have had great fun buying books on Star Wars for work.  This week we got a lovely new set of DK readers from the Book Depository.  Including the literary masterpieces 'What is a Wookiee?' and 'The secret life of droids' (' Do Droids have best friends ?', ' Could YOU help a droid in need ?', says the back cover ... love it).  There are readers from the basic level to the higher, more independent levels.  The few copies I do have in the library are permanently on loan so these new books will be a great addition. What spurred me on...