1 . It’s Wednesday at Lismore South Public School, in northern New South Wales, Australia. A group of eight-year-olds practise _______ with four-legged friend Maggie. Sandy-haired Charlie says he likes her “because she’s so calm”.

Maggic, too, is eight human-years old and _______ enjoys Story Dogs, which is now in 239 Australian schools. Owner, Anne Meagher, says Maggie was rather _______ and good at escaping when she first adopted (领养) her. Now Maggie can stay still and patiently allows readers to _______ books on her stomach.

“It _______ best when the children come face-to-face with Maggie,” Anne says. “I’ll _______ our rug (地毯) under a tree and we always finish with Maggie doing something fun. It’s a simple enough idea, reading to a _______, but somehow the children _______ and find reading easier.” Maggie _______ listens to the children read. She doesn’t ________ them or correct them. She’s non-judgmental. But the facts show she is helping children ________. I haven’t had one student in two years who hasn’t improved. I think we create a space where they can feel ________ to make mistakes and have a ________.

Karen Newton, the Lismore South Public School’s teacher, says ________ are satisfactory. “Parents say their children have ________ in home reading and they are more engaged with it. We’ve found comprehension (理解力) has improved.” she says.

“Story Dogs is ________,” says Janine Sigley who, with Leah Sheldon, came up with the programme, to make reading ________ for children, so they become confident lifelong readers.

“Schools have not only reported improved reading but also ________ self-confidence among readers who become more prepared to join classroom activities,” Janine says. “Story Dogs is helping to build up kids’ interest in reading, and once a child ________ to read, they can do so much ________ at school.”

3 . Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation

by Stuart Gibbs

The CIA is on a task to find an equation (方程式) called Pandora, which could destroy the world if the wrong people get it. For help, they turn to Charlie, a 12-year-old girl who's as smart as Albert Einstein. People who like action-packed mysteries will enjoy reading this exciting book.

AstroNuts

by Jon Scieszka and Steven Weinberg

In AstroNuts, the Earth has been destroyed by humans for thousands of years. Four animals set out from Mount Rushmore, the headquarters (总部) of NNASA. Their task is to find a new planet fit for human life. Finally, they discover one: Plant Planet. The story's theme (主题) is simple: Don't harm the planet. Readers who love fantasy will enjoy AstroNuts.

Stargazing

by Jen Wang

Christine hears that Moon, who's new in town, is the kind of kid who beats people up for fun. But Moon and her mum come to live with Christine's family, and the two kids become best friends. Moon even shares a big secret with Christine. Stargazing is based on author Jen Wang's experiences as a child. The story is about the power of friendship and how people are able to change.

Roll with It

by Jamie Sumner

Roll with It is a story about a 12-year-old girl named Ellie. She has difficulty walking on her own and uses a wheelchair. When Ellie and her mum move to another state to take care of Ellie's grandpa, she must learn to navigate (处理) a new school and new friendships. This page-turner is a must-read for everyone. It's a heartwarming story that really shows the value of family and how being different is special.

4 . Being able to read is one thing, but really enjoying books is completely different. That's what a family book club is all about: exploring books—simply for the fun of it.    1       Here are some tips for choosing books for the family book club and getting fun out of them.

▲    2    When parents choose all the books, it can feel too much like school. Let kids make choices too! Grown-ups, when it's your turn to choose, try to think of books you truly loved and want to share, especially those books that kids might not necessarily come across in school.

▲Try new genres(体裁) and styles.     3     If your family normally prefers fiction, choose a biography(传记) or a non-fiction book instead. Just finished a historical fiction book? Choose a biography next, followed by a mystery.

▲Set aside a whole afternoon or evening. When everyone's had a chance to read the book, make your family book club time something special. You could just chat about it over dinner, but why not turn it into an event instead? Schedule the time in advance, and plan for it together.     4    

▲Include a hands-on activity or craft (手艺). Most kids will get bored pretty quickly if they're just sitting around talking about a book.     5     Color a picture, make a craft, bring together your snacks and so on. Anything fun and hands-on will work.

5 . Here are some best sellers of 2018 at Amazon.

The Car

Fourteen­year­old Terry’s parents never pay him much attention.So when they both disappear after one of their all­too­frequent arguments，Terry isn’t exactly eager for them to come home.On his own，he fixes an abandoned car.Though he doesn’t know much about driving，he gets behind the wheel and heads west，with the intention of visiting an uncle in Oregon.It’s an exciting and sometimes dangerous journey.Along the way，he learns a lot about people，about America—and most importantly，about himself.

Boy Robot

Seventeen­year­old Isaak discovers the truth about his origin：a government­made human.But a deadly military force is trying to kill him.He and the other robots can only find protection from the Underground—a secret network of robots and humans working together to ensure a coexistent future.Isaak must decide whether to hold on to his humanity and face possible death or to embrace his true nature in order to survive.

The Running Dream

Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident.

As she struggles to cope with her prosthesis(义肢) and many other difficulties，Jessica develops a close relationship with Rosa，a girl who has a cancer and sees right into Jessica’s heart.With the support of family，friends，a coach，and her teammates，Jessica is able to run again.But that’s not enough for her now.She doesn’t just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her.

Have a New Teenager by Friday

Do you know this person?

His bedroom looks like a garbage dump.

She changes clothes three times before breakfast.

It seems that he/she never agrees with you.

Congratulations! You have a teenager in your home.But you needn’t feel helpless.In fact，you’re just five days away from your teenager asking，“What can I do to help？”Internationally recognized family expert Dr.Kevin Leman will help you get real results—really fast.

If you are interested in any of the books，click here for further information：

https：//www.amazon.com/.

6 . The American book “Who Moved My Cheese?”has been a bestseller all over the world. It tells a story which happened between mice and people.     1    

The book tells us that when facing changes in our lives, like a new school or new friends, don’t be afraid.    2    The book gives an example of a change at school. A school is changing from having two terms to three terms because there are too many students. Several teenagers are talking about this. Most of them are unhappy and worried. But Chris laughs and tells a story about two mice, two little people and some cheese.

The four are in a maze (迷宫) looking for the cheese. Here, cheese means something important in life, like moving to a new class or getting into college.    3    The mice realize that they can’t change what has happened and have to find more cheese. This means finding different dreams. The little people, however, can’t do this.    4    

After Chris finishes the story, his friends understand one thing:    5         His friends understand how this can be used in the changes all teenagers face, such as doing well at school or having good relationships or just feeling good about yourself.

7 . How parents can help children with reading skills

Making sure that your children read well can help them perform better in school and increase their confidence in their ability to communicate well. The following ways can be very helpful.

Have your children choose their favorite book and sit down to read with you each evening.     1     It doesn't matter whether that starts after dinner or around the time your children go to sleep.

    2     It is reported that children who have different kinds of books and magazines to choose from at home actually score higher on standardized tests.

    3    

Researchers suggest having your children read signs on the road, menus, game directions, movie listings and other daily things. This will help your children try to understand the importance and applicability (适用性) of being able to read well.

See how well your children can sound out words, understand what they have read and use reading context (上下文) to understand the meaning of new words.     4     For example, you can take them to reading learning centers.

    5     Take games as an example, try to use them as much as you can, since they can make children look forward to and enjoy the process (过程) of improving their reading ability.

8 . Many people are complaining that work and study are quite difficult at time. They need a method to relax. I have found that the best way to reduce ________ is to read a good book. It ________ me to escape from real life, it gives me a(n) ________ view on the world, and reading a book is a very ________ activity.

First, reading a good story is the best way to ________ about my troubles during the day. Many of the books I read have ________ plot lines（情节安排）, which attract me to the characters and action. When I am ________ reading, nothing in the outside world seems to exist anymore. One   cannot ________ in this dreamland forever, of course. ________ for an hour or so a day, it is very calming.

Second, reading books can also give me a new way to ________ the outside world. Even a fictional book can have this ________. When authors write a book, they ________ their ideas and feelings about how the world works. By ________ works of different writers, I find that I ________ more about other people, and ________ they think. This helps me to learn to ________ others just as they are.

Finally, the most ________ reason why reading is good for ________ is that it allows me to ________ the most amazing peace. For a devoted（投入的）reader, it is ________ to go to a bright, beautiful place to read. You can just stay at home, sitting in your favorite chair. With the house being completely quiet, you can enter the peaceful world of knowledge and imagination.

I love reading. At age 6, I could be found reading Harry Potter, a difficult book for a 6-year-old but I     1    (enjoy) it all the same.     2     soon became obvious that spelling for me was not difficult and I had a wide vocabulary. This is one way I benefited     3     reading at such a young age.

My advice for you as English learners would be to read the English novels     4     you have often read in your native language. Reading novels is a great way of     5    (improve) your vocabulary and spelling without realising it as you are absorbed（全神贯注的）in the storyline. You know the sorry well, so its     6    (usual) easy to follow it in English even if you do not understand every word.

This is another essential（基本的）point: it’s not necessary     7    (understand) every word. If you understand the     8    (mean) of the sentence, each word is not necessarily important. Quite often, if a word is used several times in a text, you’ll gradually get an idea of     9     it means.

Give it a try. If you like reading yon could open up     10     whole new world of literature.

10 . Having a great collection of books at home doesn’t really mean that you are a person who loves reading. It may be got from your father or your father’s father, and it can just impress people around you with the fact that you are a person of culture.

From my point of view, reading is very important in our daily life. For example, reading is a way of gaining knowledge in different areas. It can help us have a great imagination, and it makes things easier when it comes to making compositions on different themes. It gives you the possibility to speak about science, even if you don’t work in this field. You can express your opinions about a political event because you have read something about that.

Secondly, reading gives us the possibility to enter the world of imagination. We can imagine what life will be like in the future. Sometimes, we compare ourselves with the people in the stories we read and they can give us some clues to solve the problems and tell us what to do in certain situations. Books are based on real life. Even if writers are considered to be somehow different from common people, they often face the same problems as we all do.

In short, I would like to say that literature is the perfect way of enriching our culture, expressing correctly, having a rich vocabulary, being able to understand different fields and really being considered to be a learned person.