Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Books for Topics: A resource from the UK

 

Books for Topics

This is an amazing resource which is so useful for Teacher-Librarians both in the UK and here in Australia.

Here are a few screen shots to show you the range of things available on this site:









So, let's try a real-life example. A grandparent asked me this week for a book to read with her Grade 3 grandson - they have been reading a very old book - Professor Brainstorm. The grandparent said the boy was enjoying this series but since they were published in the 1930s, they do feel very dated. He has a scientific mind and enjoys books about inventions. All of the 13 Storey Treehouse books have been firm favourites.  So, I put Inventors into the search function on the Books for Topics site and found these:


This one is out of print but might be in a library


This second book was published in 2016 and is available.

Recently on a Facebook forum someone asked for books set in London for their Primary school aged readers who were about to travel there. I suggested The Great Stink by Colleen Paeff illustrated by Nancy Carpenter which is a fabulous non fiction biography; and The Night Bus Hero by Onjali Q Rauf. I wanted to also suggest a wonderful book which would be SO perfect called Duck for Danger by Ann Grocott but it is so very very old I am sure it would be impossible to find. 

Books for topics listed 161 books about London for ages 5-11. You can see this list here. By chance I am currently reading this one:



One more example. On the forum I mentioned above parents often ask for books set during World War II for ages 10+. There are lots of books that fit this criteria but here are a few screen shots of the Books for Topics suggestions:






No comments: