High Interest Series
High Interest Books for Primary Schools and for Teenagers
Many books claim to be written "especially for reluctant readers". Sadly, the appearance of many such titles confirms to the reader that they're a group on their own.
Whilst each title in the High Interest Series from Robinswood is meticulously developed, and designed and laid out with great care to really work with any reader, then extensively tested and refined in the classroom, you'd never know that it was anything but a regular book!
The books are available in two series – a range of 10 titles for Primary School ages, and 24 titles for Teenagers. And every book has a corresponding Teachers' Handbook full of activities to enable dynamic and creative comprehension of the story in the classroom.
Some of the novels available in the High Interest Series
    
Features
• exciting stories that keep readers hooked, page after page, chapter after chapter.
• topics and characters to which students can immediately relate.
• sufficient illustration to help students visualise the characters and events.
• stories tested and revised with feedback from all kinds of readers – from the avid to the far less keen!
• reliable, accurate control of reading level.
• text designed to eliminate unnecessary hyphens and lengthy white spaces between words.
• absence of difficult words used in isolation (98% of all words obtained from a basic list of common words and phrases).
• Teachers' Handbooks with introductory materials, before and after reading activities, during-reading activities and discussion points, and after-reading projects.
These books look just like the novels already in your classroom, library – or bookshelf at home. There is no 'stigma' attached to reading a Robinswood High Interest novel – no questions at the end of the chapter, no 'child-like' cartoon illustrations, no reading level indicators – absolutely everything suggests that these books have been designed to appeal to any potential reader. And feedback confirms that they do!
Reading Levels
Proven techniques include controlled reading levels every 100 words – a student who can read page one can read every page of the story – and adjusted layouts to eliminate most hyphens and distracting patterns of white. Importantly they look just like regular books – and their social message can benefit gifted as well as less able readers. (For more details, see How a High Interest Novel is Developed and Tested.)
To bring alive these wonderful stories, you may wish to download the following scripts to use with your students:
Against All Odds
Avalanche
Dark Ryder
Ghost House
Scarface
Street Scene
Student Narc
Three Feet Under
A Teachers' Handbook for every title!
For each book there is a corresponding Teachers' Handbook which includes activities for before and after reading, plot synopsis, character analysis and other enjoyable (and photocopiable) comprehension exercises. For more details on individual Handbooks, click here.
You can now download the Teacher Assessment Checklist and the Student Self-Assessment worksheets to use in your classroom.
About the Authors
Paul Kropp
Paul is the author of many popular novels for young people, writing most of the stories in the two High Interest series now available through Robinswood.
Paul's work includes six award-winning young adult novels, many other High Interest novels, and a considerable number of texts for adults and also younger children. His books for young adults – Moonkid and Prometheus and Moonkid and Liberty – have been translated into many languages, including German, Danish, French, Portuguese and Spanish, and won awards across the globe.
Paul is the General Editor of the two High Interest series. With the publication of the revised editions of the High Interest novels by Robinswood Press, Paul Kropp's expertise in providing exciting reading, with the reading level carefully controlled, is now extended to a wider audience of English-speakers in the UK, Ireland and beyond.
Paul was born in the 1940's in Buffalo, and studied at Columbia University, both in New York, and later at the University of Western Ontario. Having taught for many years in Canada, he now lives in an 1889 town-house in Toronto's Cabbagetown district with his wife, Lori Jamison. Both Paul and Lori are popular speakers and lecturers for teachers and librarians on issues related to reading throughout North America.
Most of the High Interest Series titles were written by Paul Kropp. Details of the other contributing authors accompany the description of their novel(s).
Lori Jamison
All the Teachers' Handbooks in the Robinswood High Interest Series have been developed and written by Lori Jamison.
Lori is a teacher, curriculum consultant and author. She has written several books and articles on exemplary reading and writing instruction, including Guided Reading Basics and The Write Genre. She was formerly a teacher and Language Arts Consultant for the Regina Public Schools in Canada, and member of the board of directors of the International Reading Association.
Ms Jamison is an internationally acclaimed speaker on literacy issues and is "...a passionate presenter, well-known for her research-based sessions full of teacher-tested and student-friendly strategies." (Staff Development for Educators, 2007.)
High Interest Primary
High Interest Teenage
Teachers' Handbooks
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