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Web sites to support reading and learning activity

To recommend websites for inclusion or to report bad links, please contact Jerry Hurst

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Mostly for practitioners... planning and doing

www.achuka.co.uk
Keep in touch with the latest children's books. A wealth of articles, author profiles, links…

www.booksunlimited.co.uk/reviews
The essential resource from The Guardian and Education Guardian

www.booktime.org.uk
Free books entering Reception and resources for teachers and librarians

www.booktrust.org.uk
The Booktrust: a charity which promotes reading and provides an independent voice for readers

www.childliteracy.com
Tips on areas such as pre-reading skills, paired / shared reading, reading to babies and toddlers

www.childrensbooks.ie
Children's Books Ireland, the national children's book organisation. An invaluable resource for children's literature and events

www.childrenslaureate.org.uk
Ideas and resources to promote a love of reading

www.cilip.org.uk
CILIP: the Chartered Institute for Librarians and Information Professionals

www.ckg.org.uk
The official website of the CILIP Carnegie / Greenaway Medals. The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding book for children and young people. The Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding book, in terms of illustration, for children and young people

www.clpe
Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. CLPE, the Education Centre working in language, literacy and assessment

www.contactanauthor.co.uk
As the name suggests, it's a site designed to help people find authors, especially those who are available for interviews, talks, workshops, after-dinner speaking and / or commissions

www.culture.gov.uk
Department for Culture Media and Sport

www.education.gov.uk
Department for Education

www.nya.org.uk/hearbyright
Hear by Right is a tried and tested standards framework for organisations across the statutory and voluntary sectors, to assess and improve practice and policy on the active involvement of children and young people

www.inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk
From the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. Supporting the planning and development of an accessible and inclusive museum, archive or library to stimulate and support learning

www.literacytrust.org.uk
The National Literacy Trust: an independent charity dedicated to building a literate nation

www.mla.gov.uk
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council: the national development agency working for and on behalf of museums, libraries and archives and advising government on policy and priorities for the sector

www.ncrcl.ac.uk
The National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature

www.ncbf.org.uk
The Northern Children's Book Festival weblog

www.ofsted.gov.uk
For Ofsted inspection information

www.readingagency.org.uk
The UK wide development agency with a mission to inspire a reading nation, by working with libraries and their partners

www.readingthegame.org.uk
A NLT initiative, with ideas for linking football and fiction. Details of schemes with a league club near you

www.readingtogether.co.uk
Scottish site created as part of a national reading campaign. Primarily aimed at parents, it includes useful sections such as Bright Ideas, Things to Do, Good Books…

www.seapn.org.uk
The Network: tackling social exclusion in libraries, museums, archives and galleries

www.scottishbooktrust.com
The Scottish Book Trust is Scotland's national agency for reading and writing, committed to the promotion of reading and books

www.sla.org.uk
The School Library Association: supporting everyone involved with school libraries and promoting high quality reading and learning opportunities for all

www.strongest-links.org.uk
The website for UK school librarians

www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachingandlearning/resourcematerials/schoollibraries/
The Teachernet section on school libraries

www.time-to-read.co.uk
The reader development partnership Time To Read involves libraries throughout North West England, from Cumbria in the north to Cheshire in the south, the Wirral in the west to the Pennines in the east. A really informative site – aimed at library workers but including features for all readers

www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk
Your guide to the on-line world of children's books

www.ukla.org
A report on a project to promote reading for pleasure in Primary Schools by developing teachers' knowledge of children's literature and the role of reading for pleasure in the classroom

www.wordpool.co.uk
Ideas for parents, practitioners and writers

www.youngculturalcreators.com
The libraries / museums /archives / galleries initiative, inspiring young people’s reading and creativity. Coordinated and funded by Archives, Libraries and Museums, London

www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/youth/
Youth Matters. The strategic vision for empowering young people, giving them somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to

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Mostly for children or teenage readers... choosing and sharing

www.bookheads.org.uk
'Are you a Bookhead? Then this is your chance to tell the world about yourself and the books you enjoy...' Set up as part of the Book Trust teenage prize

www.comicbookresources.com
Comic book resources of all kinds

www.cool-reads.co.uk
By teenage readers… for teenage readers

www.funwithspot.com
‘Spot, Spot, lovable Spot…’!

www.girlpower.com
For girls… fiction, writing tips, features and discussion

www.hientertainment.com/thomasandfriends/
A must for Thomas devotees of all ages!

www.kidpub.com
A huge selection of stories by and for children

www.mrsmad.com
Great for readers... and brilliant for practitioners. Reading activities and a comprehensive list of author and publisher websites

www.myhomelibrary.org
Set up by the author Anne Fine - downloadable bookplates by children’s illustrators plus reviews sent in by young readers and Anne’s own recommendations

www.myvotescoventry.org
This site is where the people of Coventry get to have their say on all sorts of issues. At the moment voting is open to find the winning books in the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards. For readers of all ages from birth right through to adult and with more than 160 books on 14 shortlists there is bound to be something for everyone! There is lots of supporting information for each book - author's websites... other books by each author... if you liked this book... try these suggestions etc.

www.peterrabbit.com
Lots to do on this brilliant interactive site

www.poetryzone.co.uk
Poems, poets, ideas for writing and sharing poetry, children’s poetry gallery. Ideal for reading groups

www.readingmatters.co.uk
An interactive book chooser site for children and teenagers, with reviews, authors and reading lists

www.rob-lewis.co.uk
A brilliant, fun website from the author / illustrator. Lots of reading activities and links. Check out the 'stretch a face' game!

www.spinebreakers.co.uk/
From Penguin, by and for 'story-surfing, web-exploring, word-loving, day-dreaming, readers / writers / artists / thinkers aged 13-18'

www.storiesfromtheweb.org
The Reader Development Programme for readers aged 8 - 14. Managed by Birmingham Libraries

www.teenreads.com
For older teens, with reviews, authors, message boards...

www.teenlit.com
A vast source of links to teenage reading and writing discussion forums, reviews, shopping and lots more...

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Mostly for adult readers... choosing and sharing

http://askchris.essexcc.gov.uk/adult/welcome.asp
Essex Libraries Quick Reads selection with reviews by and for readers

www.amazon.co.uk
An essential resource… Great for tracing and obtaining books – but beware… rumour has it that the reviews are sometimes from the authors!

www.bookcrossing.com
A brilliant book tracking site. Release specially registered books with details of where they are left and hunters worldwide try to find them!

www.monsoonmag.com
Asian magazines and fiction reviews

www.poetryarchive.org
A major new website based around an ambitious collection of contemporary and historic recordings of poets reading their own work

www.readerville.com
Magazine style site for readers

www.redhotcurry.com
Britain's leading South Asian lifestyle portal, which includes arts and book reviews

www.tangled-web.co.uk
The crime, mystery and fantasy fiction site

www.thereader.co.uk
An excellent magazine site about writing

www.whichbook.net
Select books by content or mood...

www.xpress.co.uk
Europe's largest publisher of Black interest books

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To recommend websites for inclusion or to report bad links, please contact Jerry Hurst

If you need further information, or would like to discuss your requirements, please e mail jerry@jerryhurst.co.uk or telephone +44(0)20 8364 6166.

Text and images © Jerry Hurst