Find favorite book picks in the Children's Choices.

Each year, thousands of children, young adults, and teachers around the United States select their favorite recently published books to be included in the Choices annotated booklists. Published annually by the International Literacy Association and cosponsored by the Children's Book Council, these booklists are used in classrooms, libraries, and homes to help young people find books they will enjoy reading.

Celebrate your students' favorite books by creating your own "Top Picks" class booklist. Begin by asking each student to create an individual list of his or her favorite 10 books read throughout the year. For each book chosen, ask students to write a sentence or two explaining why they like the book.

Once students have created individual lists, divide the class into small groups. Invite each group to nominate three books from those lists for a class list of favorites. Students should compare their lists and the reasons for their choices during this small-group time.

Gather the class together and ask each group to share its three nominations. Write the titles on the board or chart paper. After each group has shared, review the entire list with the class, eliminating any repetition. Invite the class to discuss the assembled list. If there are books on the list that are not familiar to all of the students, take the opportunity to read the text or ask someone who has read the book to share more information about it.

Publish your class list in the classroom or share it with your school librarian for display in the library. Have students use the Book Cover Creator to create a book jacket for their favorite book to add to the display. See the Book Cover Creator page for more information about this tool.

• Choices Reading Lists
  

  Access the Children's Choices, Young Adults' Choices, and Teachers' Choices for the current year, in addition to previous years. This site also includes information about how books are selected and how you can get involved.

   

• Write a Book Review With Rodman Philbrick
  

  This Scholastic resource provides tips on writing and revising a book review. At the end of the tutorial, students can publish their book reviews.

   

• ReadWriteThink.org: Parent & Afterschool Resources
  

  Learn about more books for children and teens, including Choices selections, through two podcast series: Chatting About Books (for elementary-aged readers) and Text Messages (for adolescent readers). Review past episodes and subscribe so that you don't miss future ones.

   

• Recommended Books for Kids
  

  Reading Rockets provides this list of children's books organized by theme, as well as a list of award-winning kids' books.