Books You and Your Students Need to 'Check Out'!

For the past four years, both Pam and I have sat on the Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts (NCBLA) Book Aware Committee. Every year the seven member national committee selects 30 award winning titles in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for children in grades K-8. To receive this award books must meet one or more of the following criteria: • explicitly dealing with language, such as play on words, word origins, or the history of language;• demonstrating uniqueness in the use of language or styles; • inviting child response or participation;• having an appealing format;• being of enduring quality;• meeting generally accepted criteria of quality for the genre in which they are written. This column includes several award winning titles from the 2016 NCBLA list that you may want to add to your reading list.