Blogs About Reading
Aiming for Access
June Behrmann
June Behrmann is a longtime special education teacher (pre-K to grade 6) who retired for about two seconds, and is now prospecting for accessible instructional resources. Follow June on Twitter @aimnoncat. Thank you to AIM-VA: Accessible Instructional Materials for sharing this blog with us.
25 Accessible Books! Bookshare Gives Struggling Learners an Early Start on "Reading Independence"
June 7, 2016
Bookshare's summer reading collection for young readers is chosen to entice, engage and keep readers coming back when traditional books in print cause frustration.
Read Independently
For students with free Bookshare accounts, even the youngest readers can hop on a road to reading independently using an audio format that helps them best achieve literacy. Many charming books in these formats are increasingly popular. Their success with readers who struggle with books in print makes a convincing argument that pleasure from reading can come in many different ways!
Make Learning Possible
Audiobooks with learning supports and other formats are free for eligible students thanks to the Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) programs nationwide, like AIM-VA, that create conditions for learners to read on their own. Here are 25 choices from Bookshare to set struggling young readers on a road to independence:
- Alvin Ho: Allergic to the Great Wall, the Forbidden Palace, and Other Tourist Attractions
by Lenore Look Leuyen Pham
A sixth book in series by beloved and hilarious Alvin Ho is a perfect chapter book for beginning and reluctant readers. (2014) - Big News! (Emma is on the Air #1)
by Ida Siegal
WNBC reporter Ida Siegal debuts as a chapter book author who takes a hilarious look at one girl's journey into journalism, mystery-solving, and fame -- or at least two out of those three! Meet Emma Perez ON THE AIR! (2015) - Bradford Street Buddies: Backyard Camp-Out
by Jerdine Nolen Michelle Henninger
The backyard camp-out is tonight. Jada and Jamal Perkins have never slept in a tent before, nor have their best friends, Carlita Garcia and Josh Cornell. Camping is so much fun—or is it? (2015) - Celebritrees: Historic & Famous Trees of the World
by Rebecca Gibbon Margi Preus
Some trees have lived many lifetimes standing as silent witnesses to history. Some are remarkable for their age and stature; others for their usefulness. (2010) - Dory Fantasmagory
by Abby Hanlon
Dory, the youngest in her family, is a girl with a very active imagination, and she spends the summer playing with her imaginary friend, pretending to be a dog, battling monsters, and driving her family to distraction. (2014) - Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
by Sean Qualls Laurie Ann Thompson
Born in Ghana, West Africa, with one deformed leg, he was dismissed by most people—but not by his mother, who taught him to reach for his dreams. (2015) - Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear
by Sophie Blackall Lindsay Mattick
A woman tells her young son the true story of how his great-great-grandfather, Captain Harry Colebourn, rescued and learned to love a bear cub in 1914 during World War I. This bear is the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh. (2015) - Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat
by Emily Jenkins Sophie Blackall
In this picture book, four families, in four different cities, over four centuries, make the same delicious dessert: blackberry fool. (2015) - Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras
by Tonatiuh, Duncan
A 2016 Sibert Award Winner and Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Honor Book, Funny Bones tells the story of how the amusing calaveras--skeletons performing various everyday or festive activities--came to be. (2015) - Hello, Nebulon! (Galaxy Zack #1)
by Ray O'Ryan Colin Jack
Moving from Earth to the futuristic planet Nebulon in 2120, eight-year-old Zack is nervous about starting school and meeting people. (2013) - How To Swallow A Pig: Step-by-step Advice From The Animal Kingdom
by Steve Jenkins, Steve Robin Page
In the latest eye-catching escape into the kingdom of Animalia, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page reveal the skills animals use to survive in the wild in an imaginative and humorous how-to format. (2015) - Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker
by Christian Robinson Patricia Hruby Powell
In exuberant verse and stirring pictures, Patricia Hruby Powell and Christian Robinson create an extraordinary portrait of the passionate performer and civil rights advocate Josephine Baker (2014) - Leroy Ninker Saddles Up (Tales from Deckawoo Drive #1)
by Kate Dicamillo
Leroy Ninker has a hat, a lasso, and boots. What he doesn't have is a horse -- until he meets Maybelline, that is, and then it's love at first sight. Maybelline loves spaghetti and sweet nothings, and she loves Leroy, too. (2014) - Lies and Other Tall Tales
by Zora Neale Hurston
A compilation of tall tales collected by folklorist Zora Neale Hurston during her travels in the Gulf states during the 1930s. (2005) - Magic Tricks from the Tree House
by Mary Pop Osborne Sal Murdocca Natalie Pope Boyce Luiz Vilela
It's a book of magic tricks perfect for chapter book readers! When Jack and Annie went back in time to meet Houdini, they learned that the most famous magician of all time didn't use real magic at all. It was a trick! (2013). - Mr. Ferris and His Wheel,
by Gilbert Ford Kathryn Gibbs Davis
How the American inventor George Ferris defied gravity and seemingly impossible odds to invent the world's most iconic amusement park attraction, the Ferris wheel. (2014) - My New Team (Little Rhino #1),
by Erwin Madrid Krystal Howard Ryan Howard
A new chapter book series from Major League Baseball's 2006 National League MVP, Ryan Howard! (2015) - On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein
by Vladimir Radunsky Jennifer Berne
A boy rides a bicycle down a dusty road. But in his mind, he envisions himself traveling at a speed beyond imagining, on a beam of light. This brilliant mind will one day offer up some of the most revolutionary ideas ever conceived. (2013) - Perro Grande. Perro Pequeno
by P.D. Eastman
Bilingual edition of the children's classic "Big Dog, Little Dog." (1973) - Round Is a Tortilla
by John Parra Roseanne Thong
In this lively picture book, children discover a world of shapes all around them: rectangles are ice-cream carts and stone metates, triangles are slices of watermelon and quesadillas. (2013) - Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC
by June Sobel
The captain of this brave and bumbling pirate crew orders his crew to capture the entire alphabet. They will walk the plank if they're missing a single letter! (2006) - Skateboard Party (Carver Chronicles #2)
by Karen English Laura Freeman
At a skate park, Richard can't wait to show off his flat-ground Ollies at a friend's birthday party, but a note home from his teacher threatens to ruin his plans. He must finish his assignment on howler monkeys, but he just got…distracted. (2014). - Starry River of the Sky
by Grace Lin
The moon is missing from the remote village of Clear Sky, but only a young boy named Rendi seems to notice! (2012) - The Busy Body Book
by Lizzy Rockwell
Celebrate the amazing human machine and a life on the move! The human body can jump, sprint, twist, and twirl and is built to move. 1991 - The Moon Shines Down
by Margaret Wise Brown
Forgotten for decades in a dusty, tucked-away trunk, The Moon Shines Down brings to life the unmistakable voice of Margaret Wise Brown.
Thank you for the great post highlighting the Bookshare accessible collection! We'll have more summer reading picks on our blog this week, and an opportunity for members to go for a Bookshare Bingo at http://lp.bookshare.org/bingo-2016.html.