Teachpal

As a teacher, I often find myself trying to find out whether a book would be suitable for use in my class. The problem is, looking around the internet, most reviews seem to really just be a synopsis followed by a short personal opinion. Whilst those style of reviews can be useful for many, they don’t help much when I’m trying to determine whether any of the pages in the book mention something that might not be suitable for a specific child in my class. They also don’t tell me how the author’s use of language will work alongside the teaching I have in mind.

I therefore decided I would start writing reviews that teachers can use to really understand a book before they pick it up for their class. My reviews always follow the same, detailed format, so if you’ve read one you know exactly what you’re getting each time. As you can imagine, scouring a book for this sort of information takes a while, but I think it’s worth doing well if it’ll help other people. What you won’t find in my reviews, are ratings. Everyone enjoys books in different ways, and a book that one class may fall in love with, another class may not like. Instead, I try to keep things objective, and talk about the way the books have been written and how they can be used alongside your teaching.

The content I create for teachpal.co.uk, I choose to make because I think it will help other teachers like myself. I therefore write honestly and openly, with complete editorial control over what I do and don’t say. This means that if I am ever sent an item, for example a book to review, I decide if, and what, I write about it. I will also be very clear about how I received the item, so if it was sent as a gift, you’ll know that it was. If I haven’t stated how I received an item, then it’s because I bought it myself. I’m constantly buying books for my class, so this is often the case. I’d guess I’ve bought over 400 for my class so far, so I have plenty to be getting through!

If you are an author/publisher and would like me to review a book, I’d love to hear from you at [email protected]. I only review books that I enjoy, so I can’t promise I’ll review anything you send me. But from me and my class in advance, thank you!