This set of twelve books is written for upper primary and secondary aged students who have lower than average reading skills.

Struggling to make sense of a range of advice, bewildered by participation in classroom lessons that are above their reading level, and lacking basic decoding skills, many of these students have lost all confidence that they will ever learn to read well. With their friends reading Harry Potter, students with any residual self respect do not want to be seen grappling with books written for 5 year old beginner readers.

The Rip Rap novels are designed to look like the books that similar aged students read.

With a strictly controlled vocabulary, and introducing digraphs and spelling patterns one at a time, these exciting, often funny, stories build confidence in reading and a solid foundation of phonic understanding.

These high interest, low reading level novels are intended to be read in sequence. Each builds on the skills learned in the previous book. Confidence is built through success and practice of word families.

We know that many students with reading difficulties are intelligent people, who are just as capable of thinking deeply and critically as their peers. The Rip Rap books are good springboards for class discussion. As students progress through the series, the stories touch on a range of increasingly challenging subjects, such as terrorism, domestic violence, supernatural events, cloning, war and time travel. It would be appropriate for more advanced readers to share these books and discussions.