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Three Things Parents Need To Know About Helping Their Children Read, with Six Buts

6/22/2018

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There are three things children need to become self-sufficient readers, and they’re pretty simple: access to books, choice about what to read, and to feel the love when it comes to the reading experience, especially at first.
 
1. Access to Books
See Richard Allington’s extensive research about how important it is for children to be able to browse and find books on a wide variety of topics. A classroom book shelf with 20 titles isn’t sufficient, even for one reader. Allington’s research shows that even in schools with well-stocked libraries, students read more if their classroom libraries are also full of high-quality books, because students probably only visit the school library once or twice a week. This access is also important from home, because it greatly increases the chances that children will read.
 
2. Choice in Books
Children need to be able to choose books for themselves. Preferences vary widely and no reader enjoys a book that feels stale – so it doesn’t make sense to insist that children read things they actively dislike.
 
3. Book Love
Love for books can be generated by modeling and by positive associations with reading. Modeling involves surrounding a child with people who are positive about reading – and who actually read themselves. When kids see their parents, teachers, and older siblings reading for pleasure, this is a powerful lesson that reading has value and is worth the time.


 
Positive experiences with reading are also essential for growing a love for books. If you’ve ever had a young person snuggle up to you while you read a bedtime story, that’s a positive association with reading. If you’ve ever laughed over something in a book and re-read it to someone else, that’s a positive association. If you’ve ever read something that made you cry or feel angry or think about it for days, that’s an important part of growing as a human being, even if it's actually a little uncomfortable. That’s right: book love can hurt! We want to be readers who consider ideas and sometimes change our thinking when we encounter new perspectives and information. That’s a transformative experience with ultimate intrinsic rewards, and the best way to encourage people to continue to read.
 
 
1. But what about . . . if it’s financially challenging or inconvenient to acquire books to give my children increased access?
Families make countless financial decisions, and not everyone is in a position to have a place to store books, much less purchase them. It can also be tricky to visit the library if you have limited transportation and/or time to get to one, and time to read in school is particularly important for readers in this situation. However, if you can get to the library and the bookstore and you just haven’t made the time, give it a try. The library makes a great family outing, and libraries and bookstores often host various clubs and community events as a bonus. Libraries also frequently loan things you might not expect, including audio books, e-readers, and e-books for a variety of devices. This can be a time-saving way to access thousands of books throughout the year. Sometimes school districts or communities arrange for “pop up” libraries to visit neighborhoods – vans or buses that go to schools or parks on designated days (often in the summer), and this can be another great way to find some new reading material.
 
2. But what about . . . when my child’s teacher said she was a level M?
Please resist the urge to give a sticker too much power. It’s true that a book that is too challenging for a reader will likely be frustrating, but it’s also true that the science of leveling books is imprecise. The Giver, for example, is a short text with simple vocabulary and straightforward sentences, but it also includes some disturbing ideas about managing societies. A motivated student can successfully read texts that are more challenging than his/her designated level, especially if it’s a topic that’s interesting to the reader, or if the reader has a strong reason to want to read the text.
 
When we put level stickers on books and only allow kids to choose titles from two tubs, we are limiting access and stifling choice. It’s okay to point your child to good-fit recommendations, but let your child try books and then reflect, “I don’t think this is a match for me right now,” whether that’s because it’s too depressing, too many words are too hard to recognize, or the writing style isn’t clicking. These are all things “real” readers are aware of when they decide to stick with or abandon books they read for pleasure, and we want children to be aware of these choices and reasons.
 
 
3. But what about . . . the fact that my child doesn’t choose high-quality books?
Lots of “real” readers don’t choose texts that experts might consider high art. Romances, westerns, science fiction, and fantasy genres are highly popular, but rarely celebrated for literary excellence. But there’s a lot of low-brow content in Shakespeare, which most experts do agree is high art. Similarly, books like Captain Underpants feature bathroom humor. Although third graders are frequently connoisseurs of fart jokes, there’s always that eight-year-old who says “I can’t fathom what the masses find so appealing about a chase scene ending in dog poop,” at the same time another eight-year-old can’t stop laughing about it. The point is, readers need to drive the bus – they have to have choice about what they read, or it’s an exercise for parents and teachers instead of a process by which children get better at self-selecting books they enjoy.
 
“Dessert books” have a place in our reading lives; it’s okay to read books simply because we like them! A useful rule of thumb for book selection is that about one out of every five is a book that pushes you in some way – it’s a new author, it’s a genre you don’t normally try, it’s a long book about a topic that interests you, it’s a classic you always wanted to read, or it’s a short book about a topic that’s completely new to you. The other four might be familiar choices, with one or two that are easy reads for you, and two or three that are right in your current comfort zone.
 
It’s probably true that you will be disappointed if your child only ever reads Captain Underpants. It’s also true that when your child reads and loves books of any kind, it is much more likely that he will continue to read and love others.
 
 
4. But what about . . . when my child is addicted to one particular series and won’t read anything else?
I have seen this with Erin Hunter’s Warriors series and Lauren Tarshis’ I Survived series and a number of others. Series books are comforting to many readers, because they know exactly what to expect, and they already know they will like it. It’s much harder to risk a new book, go 25 pages in and decide it’s not a good fit right now.
 
Be encouraging about the reading children are doing. Ask questions and really listen to the discussion and enthusiasm the reader has for the series. Gently suggest a few similar titles outside the series when you are at the library or the bookstore, but make sure the number of positive comments and questions outweighs the number of critiques about the series, especially for readers ages 8 – 12.
 
Conversations about the process of reading can model book choice strategies (and this is likely something the school addresses, as well). Think aloud about how you yourself want to take a risk and try a new genre, and does your child have any recommendations. Ask whether your child is thinking about how to challenge him/herself as a reader in terms of variety (without being too pushy or attached to a specific recommendation yourself), and whether your child would like some new book recommendations – you can find these at your library, from your teacher, or from Ideas for Learners. For older readers, approaching this conversation more like a partnership and less like a lecture is key.
 
 
5. But what about . . . my child has dyslexia, vision issues, or some other challenge related to reading?
There are lots of text to speech apps that will read text aloud, as well as a wide selection of audio books. Voice Dream Reader, for example, will read web pages, pdfs, and almost any type of text document (and you can choose the voice you prefer). This allows students to get practice generating opinions, connections, predictions, inferences, and to enjoy books without the struggle of visually processing the text.
 
When it’s time to practice the visual processing part of reading to build that stamina, short regular sessions are best. Parents can also support this by reading books together – maybe the student reads one page and the parent reads the next page, or the child and parent can each read the book independently and discuss it together. You can extend this by creating a family book club in which everyone is reading and discussing the same child-selected book. The important idea with this kind of practice is to keep the sessions positive while you read and discuss books together, and to keep the difficult practices manageably short. If it’s feeling like a slog through Mordor, change something.
 
Imagine, for a moment, that you were asked to do something beyond your current expertise that you don’t enjoy, night after night, in front of someone you want to impress. Let’s say that you have to calculate someone else’s complex taxes, or organize a messy garage, for example. As you work, someone is standing over your shoulder, jumping on your errors the moment you make them – before you have even had a chance to figure out what’s going wrong and how to make it right.
 
Let’s also imagine that, in addition to wanting to impress this person, someone else you want to impress is listening in. You would not look forward to this process at all – your main objective would be to get it over with as quickly as possible. But this is exactly the position we can put kids in when we ask them to read aloud to a parent with an older or younger sibling listening as an audience, when we are ready to correct every mispronunciation.

We want children to understand the meaning of the text and to be able to sound out words, and they are going to make mistakes during this learning. If the mistakes are obviously disappointing to someone else, or the prevailing attitude is that the student is behind and needs to catch up, or it seems like a correction party, it’s very hard for a student to focus on the actual reading, because the negative feelings about not being “good” at reading are likely to get in the way. It’s okay to help a reader who is stuck, or to make a correction that is crucial for meaning, but it’s also important to pause and enjoy the ideas in the book together. If a child is enthusiastic about reading and mispronounces words, you don’t have to be worried, because that child will keep reading and will learn those words . . . and many others.
 
6. But what about . . . our schedule is really busy and we don’t have time to read or go to the library?
I believe you are busy. Parenting is not easy and time is a huge part of that, especially if you have several kids involved in activities. However, you can find time if you commit to doing it, just as you might commit to cooking healthy meals or exercising. If younger siblings wait during older sister’s swim practice, you can be reading. If you are waiting in the doctor’s office, you can be reading. Get in the habit of taking a book with you, in case you find yourself with spare time to read. It is often surprising how many minutes you can find if you make the effort to claim reading time. Instead of trying to overhaul your entire schedule, start by doing a little more than you are already doing. Could the screens turn off so everyone in the family can drop everything and read for twenty minutes once a week? Could everyone make a goal to read for ten minutes each night before bed for a week and see how it goes? Small changes can lead to big results over time.
 
 
 
Every once in a while I meet a student who struggles mightily to find a book he likes. I always explain it’s that he hasn’t met the right book yet, and this is important because I want him to know it’s not an option to stop searching or to stop trying, and there’s nothing wrong with him if he doesn’t love my favorite books. His favorites are out there – it’s just a matter of finding them.
 
Happy Reading!
 

Resources:
The following three books are excellent books about self-selected reading. Although they are primarily directed to teachers, there is plenty of valuable information for parents.

The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller

Book Love: Developing Depth, Passion, and Stamina in Adolescent Readers by Penny Kittle

Passionate Readers: The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child by Pernille Ripp

Richard Allington’s book, What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs, offers a detailed discussion of very specific aspects of reading instruction and recommendations about what schools can do to make the most of the research on literacy.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink, is a book with broader social implications, but it speaks to the importance of choice and autonomy, using real-world examples from various business models.

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    Jamie Wright

    I've had the privilege of working with hundreds of students and families in IA, CT, NC, MO, TX, and Canada. I love being a teacher-librarian!
    My previous roles have included preK - 12 music, K-8 gifted and talented, K-8 creative writing, and 5th grade general education. I love reading, writing, travel, and quirky ideas.

    Some of my blog posts are really long, so you can imagine how stressful 140 characters (or even 280) might be for me. I'm working through it on Twitter: @JWrightTeaches.

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  • Home
  • Book Recommendations
    • Alphabetical List of Book Recommendations >
      • Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood
      • Absolutely Almost
      • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
      • After Ever After
      • After Iris
      • Airborn >
        • Airborn Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • Alex Rider - series
      • All Fall Down
      • All the Answers
      • All the Broken Pieces
      • Allegedly
      • All's Faire in Middle School
      • Amal Unbound
      • Amazing Grace
      • American Born Chinese
      • Amina's Voice
      • Among the Hidden - series
      • Anger is a Gift
      • Anne of Green Gables - series >
        • Anne of Green Gables Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • Artemis Fowl - series
      • Athlete vs. Mathlete
      • Awkward
      • The Bad Apple - Merits of Mischief
      • Bad Princess: True Tales from Behind the Tiara
      • Bamboo People
      • Ban This Book
      • Because of Mr. Terupt
      • Bernice Buttman, Model Citizen
      • Bionic
      • The Black Pearl
      • Blended
      • Blue Jasmine
      • Bomb: The Race to Make - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
      • The Book of a Thousand Days
      • Booked
      • A Boy Called Bat
      • Boys Without Names
      • The Breadwinner Trilogy
      • Breaking Stalin's Nose
      • Brown Girl Dreaming
      • Bud, Not Buddy
      • Bump
      • The Cardturner
      • Carry On
      • Caterpillar Summer
      • Catherine, Called Birdy >
        • Catherine, Called Birdy Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
      • Chasing Secrets
      • Chasing Vermeer
      • Checked
      • Chronicles of Prydain
      • Chu Ju's House
      • Circa Now
      • Click
      • Climbing the Stairs
      • Code Name Verity - Series
      • Code Talker
      • Colin Fischer
      • Come November
      • Confetti Girl
      • Count Me In
      • Counting By 7s
      • Courage for Beginners
      • The Courage Test
      • Crenshaw
      • Criss Cross
      • A Crooked Kind of Perfect
      • Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip
      • Dangerous
      • Dead End in Norvelt
      • Dealing with Dragons
      • Dear Mr. Henshaw
      • A Diamond in the Desert
      • The Dirt Diary - Series
      • Divergent - Series
      • Does My Head Look Big in This?
      • Dog Man
      • Dog Whisperer - Series
      • Drive Me Crazy
      • A Drop of Hope
      • Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
      • Echo
      • El Deafo
      • Eleanor & Park
      • Elephant Secret
      • Eleven Birthdays
      • Elijah of Buxton
      • Ella Enchanted
      • Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree
      • Ender's Game
      • Enna Burning
      • Enola Holmes
      • Eragon
      • Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
      • Escape Under the Forever Sky
      • Esperanza Rising >
        • Esperanza Rising Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • Ever
      • Ever After High
      • Everything on a Waffle
      • Fairest
      • Falling Over Sideways
      • The False Prince Trilogy
      • Fake Mustache
      • Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes
      • Famous Phonies
      • Feathers
      • Fever, 1793
      • The Fifth Wave
      • The 57 Bus
      • Finding Perfect
      • The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman
      • The First Rule of Punk
      • Fish in a Tree
      • Flora and Ulysses
      • Flygirl by Sherri Smith
      • Focused
      • Forget Me Not
      • The Fourteenth Goldfish
      • Framed!
      • Frankie Sparks - Series
      • Free Thaddeus!
      • From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler >
        • From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • Front Desk
      • Full Cicada Moon
      • The Garden of My Imaan
      • Garvey's Choice
      • Geek Girl - Series
      • The Genius Files >
        • The Genius Files: Resource Page
      • Ghost
      • A Gift of Magic
      • The Girl in the Well is Me
      • Girl, Stolen
      • The Girl Who Could Fly
      • The Girl Who Drank the Moon
      • The Girl Who Threw Butterflies
      • The Giver
      • Go Big or Go Home
      • Gold Medal Summer
      • Golden Girl
      • The Goldfish Boy
      • Good Dog
      • A Good Kind of Trouble
      • The Goose Girl
      • Gracefully Grayson
      • Grandmaster
      • The Graveyard Book
      • Greetings from Witness Protection
      • Hachiko Waits
      • The Handbook for Dragon Slayers
      • A Handful of Stars
      • Half a World Away
      • Hamster Princess - Series
      • Harry Potter - Series
      • Hatchet
      • Her Own Two Feet
      • Hero
      • The Heroes of Olympus Series
      • Hey, Kiddo
      • The Higher Power of Lucky
      • Holes >
        • Holes Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • Home of the Brave
      • The Homework Machine
      • The Homework Strike
      • The Honest Truth
      • Hope Was Here
      • The House That Lou Built
      • How to Ditch Your Fairy
      • How to Steal a Dog
      • How to Train Your Dragon Series
      • The Hundred Dresses
      • The Hunger Games Series
      • I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President
      • I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
      • I Have a Bad Feeling About This
      • I Am Number Four
      • I Heart Band
      • I Kill the Mockingbird
      • I Survived . . . Series
      • I Will Always Write Back
      • Ida B
      • If I Were You
      • If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period
      • In the Shadow of the Sun
      • Incommunicado
      • Inside Out and Back Again
      • Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
      • The Invention of Hugo Cabret
      • Invisible World
      • It's Raining Cupcakes
      • James and the Giant Peach
      • Jefferson's Sons
      • Karma Khullar's Mustache
      • Keeping Corner
      • The Kidney Hypothetical
      • The Kite Fighters >
        • The Kite Fighters: Resource Page
      • Knock Out
      • The Last Book in the Universe
      • The Last Shot: Mystery at the Final Four
      • Left Out
      • Legend
      • The Lemonade War
      • Liberty Porter, First Daughter
      • Lies We Tell Ourselves
      • Lights, Camera, Disaster
      • Lily and Dunkin
      • The Limit
      • The Lions of Little Rock
      • Listen, Slowly
      • Listening for Lions
      • Little House - Series
      • Little Miss Evil
      • A Little Princess
      • Locomotion >
        • Locomotion Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • The Long Ride
      • A Long Walk to Water
      • Long Way Down
      • Losers Take All
      • The Lost Girl
      • Lost in the Sun
      • Love That Dog
      • Lunch Money
      • The Magician's Elephant
      • Maniac Magee
      • Mascot
      • Masterpiece >
        • Masterpiece Book Resources Page
      • Matched Trilogy
      • Maus
      • Maybe a Fox
      • Maybe He Just Likes You
      • The Maze Runner
      • Me and Marvin Gardens
      • Medusa Jones
      • A Million Shades of Gray
      • Minnie McClary Speaks Her Mind
      • The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
      • The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl
      • Mockingbird
      • Morning Girl
      • Morning Star
      • Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH >
        • Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • My Basmati Bat Mitzvah
      • My Life in Pink and Green
      • My Life with the Liars
      • The Mysterious Benedict Society
      • Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales
      • Neil Flambe
      • The Neptune Project
      • Nerd Camp
      • NERDS
      • New Kid
      • The Next Great Paulie Fink
      • The Night Diary
      • A Night Divided
      • Ninth Ward
      • No Summit Out of Sight
      • No Talking
      • Not If I Can Help It
      • Notes from an Accidental Band Geek
      • Nothing But the Truth
      • Number the Stars >
        • Number the Stars Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • OCDaniel
      • Olive's Ocean
      • On My Honor >
        • On My Honor Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • On the Wings of Heroes
      • The One and Only Ivan
      • One Came Home
      • One Crazy Summer
      • One Half from the East
      • One of the Survivors
      • One of Us is Lying
      • One Small Step
      • One True Way
      • Orbiting Jupiter
      • The Other Half of My Heart
      • The Other Side of Truth
      • Out of My Mind
      • Out of the Dust
      • Outrun the Moon
      • Paint the Wind >
        • Paint the Wind Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • The Paper Cowboy
      • Paperboy
      • Peak
      • Percy Jackson and the Olympians
      • The Phantom Tollbooth
      • Piecing Me Together
      • Pippi Longstocking
      • Planet Earth is Blue
      • The Player King
      • The Porcupine of Truth
      • Posted
      • The President's Daughter (series)
      • Princess Academy
      • The Princess in Black
      • The Pros of Cons
      • The Puzzling World of Winston Breen
      • Rachel Spinelli Punched Me in the Face
      • Rancho Rosetta Series
      • Real Friends
      • Rebel McKenzie
      • The Red Pencil
      • Red Thread Sisters
      • Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen
      • The Report Card
      • Rescued
      • Restart
      • Revolution is Not a Dinner Party
      • River Secrets
      • Roll With It
      • Roller Girl
      • Romeo Blue
      • Roses and Radicals
      • Ruby on the Outside
      • Rules
      • Rules for Stealing Stars
      • The Running Dream
      • Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
      • Sahara Special
      • Salt to the Sea
      • Same Sun Here
      • Samurai Rising
      • Sarah, Plain and Tall
      • Sarai and The Meaning of Awesome
      • Saraswati's Way
      • Sassy - series
      • Save Me a Seat
      • School of Fear
      • The School for Good and Evil
      • Schooled
      • The Schwa Was Here
      • A Season of Daring Greatly
      • The Secret Diary of Lydia Bennet
      • Secret Keeper
      • The Secret School
      • The Seventh Wish
      • Shakespeare's Secret
      • Shooting Kabul
      • Sideways Stories from Wayside School
      • The Sign of the Beaver
      • Sing Down the Moon
      • A Single Shard >
        • A Single Shard Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • The Sisters Grimm
      • Six Impossible Things
      • Slider
      • Sliding Into Home
      • Smile
      • The Smile
      • A Snicker of Magic
      • Soar
      • Some Places More Than Others
      • Something Rotten: A Fresh Look at Roadkill
      • Song for a Whale
      • Space Case
      • Sparrow
      • Speak
      • Speechless
      • Spin the Golden Light Bulb
      • Stargazing
      • Stargirl >
        • Stargirl Book Resources Page
      • Star Wars: Jedi Academy
      • Stef Soto, Taco Queen
      • Stink and the Incredible, Super Galactic Jawbreaker
      • Stone Fox
      • Story Thieves
      • The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
      • Stuck on Earth
      • The Summer I Saved the World in 65 Days
      • Surviving the Applewhites
      • Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave
      • The Swap
      • The Sweetest Sound
      • The Tail of Emily Windsnap >
        • The Tail of Emily Windsnap Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • Take Me to the River
      • The Tale of Despereaux
      • A Tangle of Knots
      • The Tapper Twins - series
      • Tasting the Sky
      • That Thing About Bollywood
      • TBH This is So Awkward
      • The Thief
      • The Thing About Jellyfish
      • Things Not Seen
      • 33 Minutes
      • Thirst
      • This Journal Belongs to Ratchet
      • This Side of Home
      • Threads
      • The Tiger Rising >
        • The Tiger Rising Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • A Time to Dance
      • The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet
      • The Trials of Apollo (series)
      • The True Meaning of Smekday
      • Tumbling
      • Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom
      • The Two Princesses of Bamarre
      • Uglies
      • Ultra
      • Unbound
      • Under a Painted Sky
      • The Underneath
      • Under the Egg
      • Ungifted
      • Unidentified Suburban Object
      • The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B
      • The Unwanteds
      • Uprising
      • Upside Down Magic
      • The View from Saturday
      • The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy
      • Vincent Shadow, Toy Inventor
      • Waiting for Normal
      • Wake Up Missing
      • The War That Saved My Life
      • We Are All Made of Molecules
      • We Are Okay
      • We Are Party People
      • Wedgie & Gizmo
      • The Wednesday Wars
      • The Westing Game
      • When You Trap a Tiger
      • Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
      • Where the Red Fern Grows
      • A Whole Nother Story
      • Wishtree
      • The Witch of Blackbird Pond >
        • The Witch of Blackbird Pond Book Quiz and Resource Page
      • Woods Runner
      • Woof
      • Wonder
      • Words on Fire
      • The World Ends in April
      • A Wrinkle in Time
      • A Year in the Life of a Total and Complete Genius
      • You Bring the Distant Near
      • Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
      • Zebra Forest
      • Zen and the Art of Faking It
      • Zoey and Sassafras
    • Book Topics - Categories >
      • Book Topics - Animals
      • Book Topics - The Arts
      • Book Topics - Careers
      • Book Topics - Competitions
      • Book Topics - Families
      • Book Topics - Health
      • Book Topics - Historical Events
      • Book Topics - Journeys
      • Book Topics - Legends, Myths, and Fairy Tales
      • Book Topics - The Outdoors
      • Book Topics - School
      • Book Topics - Society, Community
      • Book Topics - Sports
      • Book Topics - Unexplained Phenomena
    • Book List by Theme >
      • Book Themes - Self
      • Book Themes - Families
      • Book Themes - Education
      • Book Themes - Nature and the Environment
      • Book Themes - Social Interactions
      • Book Themes - Society
      • Book Themes - Prejudice
      • Book Themes - Overcoming Obstacles
      • Book Themes - Integrity
      • Book Themes - Miscellaneous
      • Book Themes - Values and Conflicts
    • Book List by Format
    • Book List by Author
    • Book List by Setting
    • Book List by Genre >
      • Realistic Fiction
      • Adventure
      • Biography & Nonfiction
      • Fantasy
      • Historical Fiction
      • Mysteries
      • Science Fiction
      • Sports Stories
    • Book List by Grade Level >
      • 2nd and 3rd Grade Book Recommendations
      • 4th and 5th Grade Book Recommendations
      • 5th Grade Book Recommendations
      • 6th - 8th Grade Book Recommendations
      • 9th-12th Grade Book Recommendations
    • Book Series Lists >
      • Book Trilogy List
      • A - C Book Series Lists
      • D - F Book Series Lists
      • G - J Book Series Lists
      • K - M Book Series Lists
      • N - Q Book Series Lists
      • R - T Book Series Lists
      • U - Z Book Series Lists
      • Picture Book Series
    • Award - Winning Books >
      • Texas Bluebonnet and Lone Star Books
    • Book Quizzes
    • Book Buying Guide Lists
    • Eight Great Books Lists >
      • Eight Great Open-Minded Books
      • Eight Great Books About Bullying
      • Eight Great Books That Deal With Racism
      • Eight Great Books About Visual Arts
      • Eight Great Books Written in Verse
      • Eight Great Books with Strong Female Characters
      • Eight Great Books with Multiple Viewpoints
    • IB-PYP Book Lists
    • Picture Books for Lessons >
      • Relationship Building Picture Books >
        • Identity Picture Books
        • First Week of School Books
      • People in Picture Books >
        • Trailblazing Women Picture Books
      • Reading & Writing Picture Books
  • Enrichment
    • Enrichment Ideas
    • Chez Moi Math Problem Solving >
      • Week 1 Chez Moi Math Problem Solving
      • Week 2 Chez Moi Math Problem Solving
      • Week 3 Chez Moi Math Problem Solving
      • Week 4 Chez Moi Math Problem Solving
      • Week 5 Chez Moi Math Problem Solving
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      • Week 8 Chez Moi Math Problem Solving
      • Week 9 Chez Moi Math Problem Solving
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