Latest Reviews

Share your own book reviews

Michael Rosen is looking for reviews of fiction books that have worked well in your teaching, particularly with a whole class. Your shared insights as to why a particular story made a lesson exciting can help inspire your colleagues to start their own Reading Revolution.

In particular, Michael would like to hear about instances where the children:

• enthusiastically visited the school or local library after the lesson to read another title by the same author, or started a book club.
• created their own version of the story with collage or flaps etc.

So, if you want to share a great book you’ve used with your class with your colleagues, simply fill in the book review template below and we’ll add your favourites to the website.

General notes

1. As you write the review, please include teaching tips (Part A below) that are suited to a particular year group. For example, you might say that the book has highly decodable language for Key Stage 1. Or that it is challenging – but worth tackling - for this group; in which case, please offer strategies for making this work.
2. Offer Michael your insights into the themes and appeal of the book itself (Part B below).
3. Where relevant, show how the activity suits a cross-curricular approach.
4. Let us know about any great ideas for including pupils with specific needs.
5. Use "quotes" from other colleagues and the pupils themselves, especially if this reveals something powerful that's likely to appeal to other teachers.
6. We're looking for tips about using the book with the whole class, but your ideas for independent and guided reading are welcome too.
7. Please focus on just one book review category from the list below.

Review Categories

There are three phases for the book reviews:

• Key Stage 1
• Lower Key Stage 2
• Upper Key Stage 2

 

Please write the relevant phase at the top of your review (see below).

Here are the book review categories for each phase:

Key Stage 1
Traditional and Fairy Tales
Fantasy Worlds
Familiar Settings
Other Cultures

Lower Key Stage 2
Adventure and Mystery
Familiar settings
Historical fiction
Myths and Legends
Imaginary Worlds and Fantasy
Issues and Dilemmas
Other cultures

Upper Key Stage 2
Traditional stories, Myths, and Legends
Older literature
Significant authors
Stories with Flashbacks
Myths and Legends
Science fiction
Contemporary fiction
Other cultures

Choose one book review category from the list for the phase you teach. Write the name of this category at the top of the Book Review Template below:

Download the book review template

• Sweets

  by Sylvia van Ommen

  This picturebook is great for Key Stage 1 readers, and the themes of life, death, and friendship make it appropriate for use with Key Stage 2 children too. There is a section on PSHE for both key stages, as well as cross-curricular ideas for science, art, ICT and other subjects.

• Plum

  by Tony Mitton

  Discover creative ways of using the diverse poetic forms and styles in Tony Mitton's poetry collection. Active teaching and learning ideas incorporate the use of role-play and performance, and additionally cover the work of other high-quality poets.

• Satoshi Kitamura

  These teachers' resources feature inventive ways of using three of Satoshi Kitamura's picture books in the classroom. The teaching suggestions helpfully cover Years 2, 3, and 4, information on the curriculum context, and support for development through music. There is also a list of other books by the same author.

• Meerkat Mail

  by Emily Gravett

  This interactive picture book about the adventures of Sunny, the travelling Meerkat, features lift-the-flap postcards and a shadowy jackal for children to find on every page. The teachers' resource includes a synopsis and six lesson ideas with intended learning outcomes.

• Jitterbug Jam

  by Barbara Jean Hicks and Alexis Deacon

  The story within a story element of this atmospheric picturebook provides a good launch pad for classroom discussions as well as for writing activities.

• Bad, Bad Cats

  by Roger McGough

  There's a rich array of ideas on how teachers can use this poetry collection in the classroom. For example, the resource considers in some detail the way McGough uses a twist at the end of a poem to avoid sentimentality.