This site is written by Jill Marshall. Jill trained as a lawyer and has been a teacher amongst other things. She has been reading and thinking about children's books for many years.
Jill says: "There's no dumbing down on this site. If you want dumb, there are plenty of other places to go to. Here I read the books, I review them and I discuss some of the ideas. I hope that you will go away and read some of the books, and that my reviews will help you to think about the ideas and form your own views. You don't have to agree with my interpretations and conclusions but they might give you a starting point.
"I have divided my booklists into books suitable for younger readers and books suitable for older readers. The division is not based on the difficulty of language used but the sophistication of the ideas which the book contains. You will have to flick through the book yourself before you start to see whether you can understand the vocabulary.
"You may not recognize some of the titles here. That is because they are brand new. There are some very exciting books being published at the moment. You should try them, as well as reading the 'classics'."
readingmatters
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No. Most of the books here are very well written and have exciting and original ideas. A few have been included because the ideas are interesting even though they are not very well written. Also there are a few books that are well written and fun to read even though the ideas aren't very original.
I have been thinking about this for years, and have decided that it is unhelpful to say what age group a book is suitable for. Readers vary so much. When you read one of my reviews you should be able to pick up whether the book will suit you.
Some books published in the UK are not published in America, and if they are published in America, they may have a different title. For example, the first Harry Potter book was published in the UK and called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. When the book was published in America it was called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but it is the same book. If I can I will give the different titles. If you want to buy a book that is not published in your country, try an Internet book seller with a .co.uk address. They should be able to supply books published only in the UK. We recommend amazon.co.uk.
