Text+selection

Here are some great suggestions for books to use with Scaffolding Literacy.

[|Recommended book titles year levels 2008.doc] This list was developed by the teachers who used to work in the Schools and Community Centre at the University of Canberra. This is where Brian Gray and Wendy Cowey, the methodology's creators, developed Scaffolding Literacy.

Anne has suggested we build **a list for year 10 - 12.** Jump in here and add to the list:] 'Looking for Alibrandi' by Marlina Marchetta for Year 10. It's great for teaching about culture 'The Happiest Refugee' by Anh Do for Year 11 and 12.

Megan is interested in **suggestions for comedies**. How authors develop humour in a story would be a great thing to show our students. Let's start a list, beginning with Anne's suggestion: I have used Anthony Horowitz's 'The Blurred Man' from his Diamond Brothers series. It is a series about the worst detectives in the world and has lots of really daggy jokes. Junior secondary students love the series, I think it would be suitable for upper primary as well.

Here is a searchable database of award winning children's literature http://www.dawcl.com/ List of books to read to children, sorted by grade level: http://readingtokids.org/Books/BooksGrade.ph

Early Childhood Books
(These books were selected by students for use in Language Education units and are listed here with comments from Misty)

Arabella by Wendy Orr and Kim Gamble
Strong narrative, lovely complex literary language and supportive illustrations make this a very good choice for use with the SL sequence.

Grandpa Toad's Secrets by Keiko Kasza
A reasonably complex story constructed with simple sentences and repetition makes this a good book for all older children, e.g year 2 who are still struggling with reading but don't want to read 'baby readers'.

The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle
This classic is terrific for a range of concept teaching (e.g. life cycles, food, days of the week, numbers) in the younger years. Although simply constructed there are just enough interesting sentences to make this a worthwhile book for those tackling the SL sequence with Kinder children.

'Tashi' by Anna Fienberg, Barbara Fienberg, and Kim Gamble
The series of chapter books about Tashi have strong narratives and well-written sentences. They are short and self-contained narratives making them excellent read-alouds for grades 2 to 4, but also very worthwhile for use in SL.

'You can't catch me' by John Prater
A cumulative story, rather than a classic narrative structure, which young children find particularly engaging. Its predictability makes it a good read-aloud and then read-along story for the younger grades.

Wilfred Gordon Macdonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Its supportive illustrations and complex sentences make it a reasonable selection for a SL sequence.

Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow
Its supportive illustrations, repetitive use of language and its strong conceptual subject matter make it an excellent choice for emergent and ESL readers.

Pog by Lyn Lee and Kim Gamble
Its supportive illustrations, clear narrative structure, some complex sentences and use of literary devices such as simile make this a good choice for a SL sequence.

Hattie and the fox by Mem Fox
Its supportive illustrations, repetitive use of language and its strong conceptual subject matter make it an excellent choice for emergent and ESL readers.

The Koala Who Bounced by Jimmy Thomson
Its supportive illustrations and complex sentences make it a reasonable selection for a SL sequence.

The Very Ugly Bug by Liz Pinchon
Its supportive illustrations, repetitive use of language and its strong conceptual subject matter make it an excellent choice for emergent and ESL readers.

'I love you'
This is more a cumulative tale than a true narrative. The complex structures in the text of this story make this a read-to story, its personal nature means that it is possibly more effective in one-on-one situations rather than whole class reading.

'The Mountains of Tibet' by Mordicai Gerstein
Great for cultural diversity, difference and cultural awareness. Strong text analyst opportunities.

'Just Like Us' by Hiawyn Oram
Great for cultural diversity, difference and cultural awareness. Strong text analyst opportunities. Not a classical narrative structure, however some aspects are particularly well-developed e.g. the use of language to develop character. A reasonable choice for SL.

'The Deep' by Tim Winton
Strong narrative, supportive illustrations and good use of literary language make this a good choice for SL.

'Diary of a Wombat' by Jackie French
Excellent illustrations and manageable text make this a good read aloud and read along for K/1 and a good choice for beginner readers if you like the moving away from levelled texts.

'The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley' by Colin Thompson
Another solid choice for diversity and difference themes. The text is constructed of long sentences but these are not grammatically complex and so the book is a suitable 'non-levelled-text' option for early readers.

The main NALP program website closed down, but you might like to use this book list that the Web Archive project saved:
 * [|The list of books suitable for Accelerated Literacy]

Or you can register at the new website which seems to have moved all the NALP materials to Charles Darwin University: http://www.nalp.cdu.edu.au

Looking to books for use in my classroom on the basis of literate language rather than reading levels is definitely liberating. Well written, literate text provides so many teaching opportunities. I'm loving Arnold Lobel's **Fables** http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/652484.Fables and **Hidden Tales from Eastern Europe** by Antonia Barber is brilliant too. http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Eastern-Europe-Antonia-Barber/dp/0711221189 I'm sure there are lots of other gems tucked away on the library shelves. //Megan//