Good Books Matter: How to Choose and Use Children's Literature to Help Students Grow as Readers

Based on extensive research on the features that make children's books appealing and appropriate, this valuable teacher resource offers guidance on selecting books, strategies for specific grade levels, suggestions for extension, and tips for assessment. This teacher-friendly book is organized around the major genres -- traditional literature, picture books, nonfiction, poetry, and multicultural texts -- that will inspire young readers. Throughout the book, teachers will find suggestions for using literature to implement shared reading, reading aloud, and response strategies with emergent, developing, and independent readers.

A former classroom teacher in Alberta, Shelley Stagg Peterson is an Associate Professor who teaches and conducts research on writing and children's literature at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.  Previously an assistant professor with Ohio State University, Shelley is the author of Writing Across the Curriculum: All Teachers Teach Writing.