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ESL: Accelerated Reader Program: Home

A guide to Accelerated Reader titles and resources

What Is Accelerated Reader?

Accelerated Reader is a program designed to improve reading skills by encouraging students to read independently. 

In this program, the student picks a book at his own level and reads it at his own pace. When finished, the student takes a short quiz on the computer.

Students using AR choose their own books to read, rather than having one assigned to them. This makes reading a much
more enjoyable experience as they can choose books that are interesting to them.

AR Bookfinder

AR Bookfinder is a great website for finding interesting titles, checking reading levels, and locating quizzes for your chosen AR book.

You can search by title, author, interest level, ATOS book level, and countless topics (ex. Classics, Folklore, Historical Fiction, etc).

Click here to begin your search. 

Additionally, you can browse titles by collections of award winners, state collections and Librarian's pics.

Click here to browse.

What is ATOS Book Level (BL)?

ATOS Book Levels are reported using the ATOS readability formula and represent the difficulty of the text. For example, a book level of 3.6 means the text could likely be read independently by a student whose reading skills are at the level of a typical third grader during the sixth month of school. Of course the content may or may not be appropriate for a third grader which is why we also use Interest Levels.

AR Bookfinder. Renaissance Learning, Inc., 2010. 25 January 2011.

What is Interest Level (IL)?

The interest level attached to the book helps the students choose books by indicating age group appropriateness. Interest level designations reflect the judgment of the book's publisher and the professionals at Renaissance Learning. Interest Levels are divided into these 4 groups: LG = Lower Grades (K-3); MG = Middle Grades (4-8); MG+ = Upper Middle Grades (6 and up); and UG = Upper Grades (9-12). Most MG+ books are marketed as YA (Young Adult) for Interest Level.

The Interest Levels are based on the recommendations of the publisher and/or literary book reviews by professional organizations.

AR Bookfinder. Renaissance Learning, Inc., 2010. 25 January 2011.

Remember...

The USA Marx Library holds many more Accelerated Reader titles than those listed in this guide. 

For more titles, choose your book using the ARbookfinder.com, then search SOUTHcat to see if the library has your chosen book.

Additional Web Resources

Check out these links for more Accelerated Reader information:

Guide Creator

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Jia He
Contact:
Marx Library
University of South Alabama
5901 USA Drive North
Mobile, AL 36688
251-460-7711