We buy more books from Scholastic than any other publisher—the quality and breadth of their product range is impressive. Scholastic has an "A list" lineup of award-winning children's book favorites, from Goosebumps to Junie B. Jones to Magic Schoolbus to Harry Potter, and many more. The publisher has a highly-evolved line of child-friendly reference books, cutting-edge e-books, and a well of supporting material. Scholastic also offers a massive treasure chest of teaching resources in their Teachers website, including book-specific lesson plans, blogs and videos on teaching strategies, and literacy-building student activities.

The DK Publishing line of beautifully illustrated non-fiction Eye Wonder (primary school) and Eyewitness (secondary school) series is a graphic triumph—never has so much information been presented in such an appealing and accessible way. These "fact books" are very popular with Caribbean students, for research as well as reading. In addition to DK's array of large format, eye-popping books, the publisher's DK Readers (in reading levels from beginner to accomplished) and DK Biography series are a must-send of our Hands Wish Lists. (Along with the glittery Disney Princess hardcovers—a smash with primary-school girls!)

Those daring, resourceful teen sleuths, Nancy Drew and Joe and Frank Hardy, continue to hook Caribbean primary-school and high-school readers, which is why we order a raft of the titles from Penguin Books. There's no mystery here: the page-turning writing of Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories) and Franklin W. Dixon (Hardy Boys Mystery Stories) is just as compelling as ever. Penguin Books offers a wide range of contemporary YA (young adult) fiction, too, in the Young Readers section of their website. And Penguin Books offers picture books for pre-schoolers and up, and help and advice for teachers and librarians.

Capstone Wow! Zip, zap, zowee! Capstone offers an irresistible mix of captivating books for kids. A very short list of titles requested by Caribbean schools includes: A Drop in the Ocean: The Story of Water; Academy of Dance: Hip-Hop Road Trip; Adventures in Sound with Max Axiom; Ashley Small and Ashley Tall: Best Friends Forever; Boys' Guide to Drawing; Charged Up: The Story of Electricity; Fashion Drawing Studio; Girls' Guide to Drawing; James Maddox: Track and Field Takedown; Justice League: Bizarro and the Doppelganger of Doom; Marvelous Me: Inside and Out.

Abrams Books You, along with millions of avid young readers, are no doubt aware of the up and downs of a certain wimpy kid. But Abrams offers much, much more. A very short list of the titles we’ve sent to Caribbean schools in recent years includes: Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor; I Am Human: A Book of Empathy; I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness; Iggy Peck, Architect; Jack and the Genius 2: In the Deep Blue Sea; Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters; Sister's Grimm 1: Fairy Tale Dectectives.

Saddleback Educational Publishing, dedicated to helping struggling learners get up to speed, has created the TERL (Teen Emergent Reader Libraries), a phonics system made specifically for teens. Saddleback's multistep TERL resource is the centerpiece of the Hands Remedial Reading Toolkit, and the publisher offers a universe of great titles designed to help tweens, English-language learners, recent immigrants, and special education students catch up on reading and literacy proficiency. The titles in the Saddleback lineup are enticing, exciting, right on target, and right on time.

Following the requests from educators via our Hands Wish Lists, we buy and send specialty books. The very progressive Annick Press offers a wide-ranging, thought-provoking collection, from jazzy board books for pre-schoolers to examinations of racism, teen sex (and pregnancy), and more. San Francisco, California's Heyday Books, another leading edge publisher, offers topical and adventurous children's books. Human Kinetics has a great lineup of how-to sports books, including cricket—a South Pacific favorite.

Tom Linskey, Co-Founder
T: (64) 0210 88 99 883
E: tom@fijireaders.org
Harriet Linskey, Co-Founder
T: (1) 617 320 3601
E: harriet@fijireaders.org