Pupil recommendations

Children who are encouraged to read by their friends are twice as likely to enjoy reading and three times more likely to say that they think reading is 'cool' than those who are not. Children recommending books to each other is a huge part of our classroom reading culture, and is done in lots of different ways.
  

Book of the week / Author of the week- A laminated A3 poster that can be wiped clean and updated by the children at the start of every week. Really simple and gives all the children an opportunity to share what they enjoy.
  

If you liked- When the children have finished a book that they particularly enjoyed, encourage them to fill in an 'If you liked reading...then try...' bookmark that can be passed on to another child. We also have an exercise book called 'If you liked reading...', where lots of children's authors are listed. The children then update the book by recommending similar authors (eg If you liked reading the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz, then try the Jimmy Coates books by Joe Craig or the Young James Bond books by Charlie Higson). It's great to see how often they refer to this before choosing their next book!
  

Star Reader- A display board showing the current class reading star (eg This week's Star Reader is Sean for finishing all the Cirque du Freak books!). This idea works most succesfully when the children choose who it should be and definitely helps make being a reader 'cool'. The class can also write their own 'Well done' comments on the display.

We also have a short 'book chat' every day where pupils can share books they have enjoyed (or not enjoyed), read an extract, talk about anything new coming out, read an online review of a new book they might be interesed in, etc- anything to encourage raising the profile of reading for pleasure. The aim is always to keep it very informal and never veers into Guided Reading territory.

The Mystery Book

This has been going on in our class for the past few weeks, with a lot of success. At the start of the term I put a folder at the front of the classroom. On the front of the folder, in very big letters, were the words 'Mystery Book'. Inside the folder was, unsurprisingly, a mystery book (I chose One Dog And His Boy by Eva Ibbotson). I left it there for a couple of days to build interest, making reference to it every so often ('Ooh, that looks exciting! I wonder what's inside!' type comments).
 

I then asked the children who would like to read the 'Mystery Book'. Every single hand in the classroom went up immediately. I then explained that if a child wanted to take the book home and read it, there were three requirements. Firstly, they would have to write a ten word review of the book in a jotter which was also inside the folder. Secondly, when they had finished the book, they would get to choose who to pass it on to next. Finally, and most importantly, they weren't allowed to tell anyone else what the book was.

  
Four weeks down the line, about a third of the class have already read the book and, as far as I know, the secret is not yet out. They love the whole 'hush-hush' aspect of the idea and there is always a lot of excitement when the book reappears in school.

Reading for Pleasure

Reading for pleasure is massively important for children in schools. In fact, more and more evidence points to the fact that it is the single most important factor in a child's educational success. Each week, or as regularly as I possibly can, I will be posting up new ideas or strategies that I am trying (or would like to try) in order to raise the profile of reading for pleasure at my school. I would be absolutely delighted to hear from teachers, librarians, authors or anyone else who has any fantastic ideas that they would like to share.