The Academic Achievement Challenge: what really works in the classroom?. Chall. Guilford Press. New York. Recommended. 'Required reading' for people who work in and run our schools.
www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/spring2001/chall.html

All Must Have Prizes. Melanie Phillips. Pub. Warner. Recommended. A 'must read' for anyone interested in education, especially the chapter on literacy 'The War of the Words'.

Myths and Misconceptions about Teaching: What Really Happens in Classrooms Vicki Snider. Pub. Rowman and Littlefield. (USA)
Review: http://d-edreckoning.blogspot.com/2006/09/book-review-myth-and-misconceptions.html

Inside the Secret Garden: The Progressive Decay of Liberal Education. Tom Burkard. Pub. UPB.

Malkin Dare of the Society for Quality Education (Canada) has put her book, 'How to get the right education for your child', free, online: www.societyforqualityeducation.org/parents/HTGTREFYC.pdf

The Alphabet. David Sacks. Pub. Hutchinson. The story behind each of the 26 letters which comprise the English alphabet- where do our letters come from, how did they get their shapes, assigned sounds, their sequence...
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/referenceandlanguages/0,6121,1112273,00.html

When Children Don't Learn:understanding the biology and psychology of learning disabilities. Diane McGuinness. Pub. Basic Books. Contains a useful chapter on hyperactivity (ADHD). Out of Print -try www.abebooks.co.uk

The Nurture Assumption. Judith Rich Harris. Pub. Bloomsbury. 'Explains why parents have little power to determine the sort of people their children will become. It is what children experience "outside" the home that matters most in the long run. Children, not parents, socialise children' (Amazon.co.uk).
www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=9275 'Why home doesn't matter'.

The Schools We Need: and why we don't have them. E D Hirsch Jr. Anchor Books.(USA) Recommended.

Sense and Nonsense about Hothouse Children: a practical guide for parents and teachers. Howe. Pub. BPS.

Who Needs Parents?: The effects of childcare and early education on children in Britain and the USA. Patricia Morgan. Pub. IEA. Recommended. This book 'will one day be recognised as the Silent Spring of domestic life' The Guardian.

The Language Instinct. Pinker. Pub. Penguin.
Fascinating book on the development of language in humans.

Home Education:

'Educating Your Child At Home Jane Lowe / Alan Thomas. Pub. Continuum. This is a clear and considered, authoritative guide to home education in the UK - useful and reassuring for parents still contemplating the step or for those just starting out.

School's Out. Jean Bendell. Pub Ashgrove Press (1987). This book covers the experiences of an English, home educating family. A delightful and inspiring read. Out of print -try www.abebooks.co.uk

The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. Wise and Bauer. Pub. Norton (USA) Recommended.
A comprehensive and systematic, language-based, history-intensive home curriculum based on a three-part pattern of progress; first memorization, then logical organisation and lastly, expression. www.welltrainedmind.com

First Language Lessons for the well-trained mind. Jessie Wise. Peace Hill Press (USA) Scripted, step-by-step lessons to develop oral and written work.

One to One: a practical guide to learning at home, age 0-11. Williams (Lewis). Nezert Books. Full of practical suggestions including games for arithmetic, handwriting, gardening, cooking and crafts (ignore his ideas on teaching reading though!).

Unqualified Education: a practical guide to learning at home. age 11-18. Lewis. Nezert Books. Lewis's book for secondary-age, home-educated children. Includes history, literature, music, cooking and gardening. Lovely!