Puffin

There are lots of animations and brightly coloured graphics at Puffin's attractive website. Use the left-hand navigation bar to explore Fun Stuff, Cool Links and the Your Shout notice board, to which readers are encouraged to contribute poems, jokes and reviews of Puffin books. The horizontal navigation bar at the top of the screen provides the key to features about books and authors. These include a roundup of new Puffin books, a book of the month and an Author Zone. Cards give details of authors' likes, dislikes and how they set about writing. Content for children seems a little thin with the better parts of the site providing advice and information about reading to parents and teachers. Books can be bought securely at the site.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Education Zone Click on Resources in the Education Zone to find a set of teaching resources which can be photocopied for use in the classroom, including a set of notes for teaching English as a foreign language using Puffin picture books.

Parent's Zone Puffin have put together an excellent guide to choosing books for children. It includes practical advice on how to help your child to learn to read, how to approach difficult issues such as bereavement through books, together with outlines of the kind of books children are expected to read for Key Stages in school. The Activities option offers a selection of puzzles and crosswords.

Your Questions can be reached from both the Education and the Parents Zone. It offers advice on a range of topics including how to arrange author visits to schools and libraries, who to ask for free posters for schools and joining the Puffin Book Club.