A question every teacher should ask

This morning on a Facebook post from a group supporting teachers someone asked:

I’m taking a 5/6 class for the rest of the year starting next week. I’m looking for a book to read to them to get them interested. No units of work or activities, just a really good book to enjoy with them! 

I cheered hip hip hooray! This teacher just wants to READ a book to their class. This should be happening in every classroom every day - novels as serial stories, picture books, non fiction - every every every day.

I loved that 76 people jumped into the thread with suggestions but sadly, from my point of view, many of these were kinda tired old same old same old texts and some were (again in my view) for much older students and some such as Runt which is an utterly fabulous book might be better enjoyed by younger students (Grade 3 or 4).

Here are the four books I suggested:

The Wolf Wilder

I would also suggest books by Katherine Rundell - The Good Thieves; The Rooftoppers

A Single Shard

This sometimes has a different cover depending on the edition

The Honest Truth   This now has a new cover

The Eleventh Trade  This is such a wonderful heartfelt story.

Lots of people suggested Holes (Louis Sachar) and Hatchett (Gary Paulsen) but I know several Grade 6 teachers who do not enjoy sharing either of these books (they are forced to use it due to school class sets which is a topic for another day) and these books are used so often in English lessons and there are heaps of other fabulous books plus I really think you have to love a book to share it with a class. People also mentioned Harry Potter, Blueback by Tim Winton and Storm Boy by Colin Thiele. I might be wrong but I suspect a few of these might be "set texts" and class set books in many schools. Again I will say there are SO MANY other fabulous books to discover. 

Here are a few books that others suggested:

The Boy at the Back of the Class

Detention

The One and Only Ivan

The Lost Whale

Here's another book by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

We are Wolves

Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief

Runt (CBCA 2023 Younger Readers short listed title you could read this to Grade 3 or 4)

Escape from Mr Lemoncello's Library

Wonder

And many people mentioned Once by Morris Gleitzman which I know many senior Primary readers do enjoy but this is a book I could never share with a whole class. This is just my opinion but I do not like this portrayal of the holocaust and also I find the voice of the naive protagonist very distracting. My preferred holocaust books are Number the Stars by Lois Lowry; Waiting for Anya by Michael Morpurgo; Beyond Belief by Dee White; and The Little Riders by Margaretha Shemin.

Here is a book that was mentioned that I need to investigate:

First published in 2015.