Guidelines and Reading Criteria

All books must be read between 11 May and 21 August 2009.
Premier's Reading Challenge School Coordinators, teachers, librarians, parents or carers all play a role in helping which books are selected to read, to ensure that children aim to improve their current reading levels.

Reading Criteria for Prep to Year 2 students

Prep to Year 2 students can read independently and/or engage with 20 books. Engaging with a book can include classroom or at-home activities such as shared reading, listening and reading along with a text, or being read to.
Students should share their reading with parents, carers, teachers, aides, siblings, student buddies or classmates. Reading aloud and reading picture books is encouraged.

Reading Criteria for Years 3 to 7 students

Unless considered to have a special need, all Year 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 students are required to read, as opposed to experience 20 books.
Students should select from a range of fiction and non-fiction books suited to their ability.
Students are encouraged to read independently and can also read with peers and adults.

Year level	Number of books needed to complete the Challenge
Prep to Year 2	20
Years 3 to 7	20

Additional information

Students with special needs can engage with books using any or all of the methods already described. Students who do not speak or read Standard Australian English at home may also use one or more of the following resources:

Customised or personalised books using graphics (including digitised graphics)
Braille books
Large-print books
Audio books
Books that have graphic support (text-to-speech support)
Electronic books such as a CD (including those made with PowerPoint or other commercially available software)
Graphic support for text.

Additional consideration should be given to English as a Second Language (ESL) learners and Indigenous students so they can choose to read books in their first language (local libraries should hold some of these). ESL learners who are learning to read for the first time should also have the opportunity to engage with texts that are appropriate to their level of English. All ESL learners would benefit from access to texts which are culturally inclusive of their backgrounds.

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