Is your New Year's resolution to read more in 2024? What about motivating K-12 students to read more? Motivating students to read can be a difficult task. Use these motivational strategies from Brandt, Sharp, and Gardner (2021) as a guide to enhance literacy in your classroom and find pleasure-reading favorites for your students with INFOhio eBook collections. 

1. Choice—Give students a choice in what they read based on their interests.
2. Collaboration—Enjoy lively discussions about books and literacy in your classroom to captivate students' attention.
3. Challenge—Provide students with optimal-level learning tasks that include scaffolding.
4. Authenticity—Share titles that relate to students and the world around them.
5. Technology—Motivate students by giving options for reading in print or using technology.
6. Proximal Rewards—Engage students with author visits or read-a-thons to spark intrinsic motivation to continue to read.

The motivational strategies cited in the article support the use of high-interest eBooks, like the ones purchased by INFOhio. Giving students reading choices based on their interests, challenging students with above-grade-level content, providing authentic topics, and using technology are all ways to continue to engage students and motivate them to read, and can be offered using the INFOhio eBook collections. 

Browse the series of favorite topics below to engage students in reading for pleasure. Quality text from eBook collections provided by INFOhio not only supports knowledge-building, and vocabulary development to enhance curriculum, but it can also engage readers with high-interest topics such as animal battles, mythical creatures, sports, and unexplained phenomena. These topics fly off library shelves! If these types of series and topics are constantly being checked out from your school or classroom library, share these links to these popular eBooks. These purchased eBook titles are simultaneous access and unlimited use. 

Battle of the Fittest

Animal Battles

Which animal will win? Share this Animal Battles series from World Book eBooks with students in grades 3-6 who love science, nature, and learning about the world. Here are just a few from this series: 

• Dingo vs. Kangaroo 
• Gorilla vs. Leopard
• Lion vs. Cape Buffalo 
• King Cobra vs. Mongoose 
• Polar Bear vs. Walrus
• Wolf Pack vs. Moose

Bug Wars

Which bug will win? Share this Bug Wars series from Capstone Interactive eBooks with students in grades 3-6 and encourage collaboration with prereading discussions to brainstorm about which bug will win and why. The titles in this series include:

• Assassin Bug vs. Ogre-Faced Spider
• Praying Mantis vs. Giant Hornet
• Tarantula vs. Tarantula Hawk
• Scorpion vs. Centipede

Fantastical Creatures

Discover monsters and fantastical and cryptic creatures in the following series: Abnormal Field Guides to Cryptic Creatures and Mythical Creatures from World Book eBooks. 

Abnormal Field Guides to Cryptic Creatures

• Bigfoot
• Fairies
• The Loch Ness Monster
• Mermaids
• Unicorns

Mythical Creatures

• Centaurs
• Dragons
• Fairies
• Giants
• Mermaids
  
  
  

Sports

Popular sports titles can be found in World Book eBooks, Capstone Interactive eBooks, and Professional Learning and Student eBooks from EBSCO. Share these authentic titles to show students about the world around them. 

Athletes

• Carmelo Anthony
• Stephen Curry 
• LeBron James
• Shark Attack! Bethany Hamilton's Story
• Kevin Love
• Wilma Rudolph: Olympic Track Star

Each book in this Influential People series from Capstone includes an activity. Challenge your students to complete the activity individually or as a group. In this example, the activity challenges students to imagine if they could create their own school as Lebron James did.

Sports Championships

• The Final Four
• The NBA Finals
• The Stanley Cup Finals
• The Super Bowl
• The World Cup
• The World Series

Sports Teams

• FC Cincinnati
• Cincinnati Bengals
• Cincinnati Reds
• Cleveland Browns
• Cleveland Guardians
• Columbus Crew SC

Unexplained Phenomena

Reading about mysteries from around the world can be an engaging topic for students. Share these World Book eBooks with students who like mysteries and reading scary stories. 

The Unexplained

• Area 51
• Atlantis
• Ghosts
• The Mummy's Curse
• UFOs

Scary Places

• Abandoned Amusement Parks
• Creepy Castles
• Creepy Libraries
• Dark Mansions
• Eerie Inns

Video Games

Gaming is popular with many students. Share these engaging titles from EBSCO with students who like to game. 

• How Roblox was Made
• Learn the Language of Video Games
• Minecraft
• Nintendo 

Explore eBook collections from INFOhio to find titles to support readers with specific topics, seasons, and events all year long. With thousands of eBooks to choose from, quality text to keep students motivated, and engaged in reading is just a few clicks away.