December 12, 2013

Logo for Dockside
Dockside appeals to older children with low reading ages

Stage 3 of the Dockside series has now been quizzed for Accelerated Reader. Published by Rising Stars, Dockside appeals to older children by introducing themes that interest them, while using carefully selected vocabulary to make them accessible to struggling readers.

The eighteenth book in the stage, titled Whatever, is typical of the series. The plot centres on Maya’s social media page Mybook. Two boys pull a prank on her, first by sending her a mysterious text message on her mobile, then by adding their own photos to her Mybook page. Texting and social media are part of many of the stories, connecting the Dockside characters with the communications habits of the teenage readers.

Meanwhile, the text of the books is focused on teaching particular elements of English language. Whatever particularly emphasises the ph and wh sounds – so Maya’s photos feature dolphins, whales and elephants.

Stages 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Dockside are now available to quiz with Accelerated Reader. Because these books appeal so directly to teenagers despite their extremely low book levels (as low as 0.8), they have been highly requested by teachers, librarians and support staff. We have carefully considered the lowest stages of the series and have determined that they are not suitable for reading practice quizzing due to the limited scope of the text and detail in the plot. Stage 3 is the lowest level deemed suitable for quizzing, so we are pleased to be able to make the quizzes available for use.

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