Finding the Right Books To Teach
You're considering teaching a book in class...but why? Is it because the school owns 30 copies of this title? Because this book has always been taught in 5th grade? Or because you can't bear to let kids leave your class until they know this story that you love so much?
Whatever the reason, books that we teach have tremendous influence on our students. They need to be special in several ways and memorable. But how to find those books?
FIRST, TRY ASKING THESE QUESTIONS:
- Is the TOPIC of this book of real interest / concern to children or is it an expression of adult / author angst? (e.g, No student has ever told me that he just loved reading about death, divorce, or alcoholism.)
- What are the three main goals for teaching this book? If one of them isn't pleasure, consider another book. Literature is for enjoyment; textbooks are for instruction--a mighty big difference.
- Can I teach this book in 5 -10 class periods or fewer? (Even War and Peace can be taught in this time!)
- Is the book relevant to my class's experience, or can I make it relevant through teaching?
- When finished reading, will at least half the kids in class want to read another book on this topic or by this author? OR...are we reading this book purely for joy? If so, forget all guidelines and just have fun. Students need to learn in school that reading for pleasure is as important as reading for information.
FACT: One third of your kids
learn best through their ears.
They'll remember mainly what you read aloud.
NEXT, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:
THEME
A strong book has a timeless, universal
theme. In Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, the theme is the
necessity for self-reliance. In my own Aunt Morbelia and the Screaming Skulls,
the theme is overcoming a disability
through perseverance.
LANGUAGE
A strong book has clean, clear language.
It may appear very "simple," but writers know that the
simpler it looks, the harder it was to do and the longer
it took. For testing language, read the first few chapters
of a book and consider: Are there memorable analogies?
Are there "just-right" adjectives and not too many?
A few well-chosen adverbs, but only a few?
You can depend on Strunk and White's The Elements of Style as a language / writing guide. Another writers' favorite is William Zinsser's On Writing Well--a witty treasure that reads like a novel.
CHARACTERS
A strong book is character-driven,
not plot-driven. The plot develops as it does because
of who the characters are, unlike typical series
fiction, where plot is imposed on the characters.
Believable characters come to life in a good book and
draw us in quickly, making it easy for us to experience
the story right along with the characters.
PACING
A strong book must move at a smart pace for
today's TV generation, used to "sound bites," yet a
good book does not sacrifice all characterization,
description, setting, etc., to a fast-moving plot.
Give a piece of juvenile fiction or factual literature
about two chapters to "pull you in." If it
hasn't grabbed your attention by then, consider another book.
SETTING / TIME
Setting and time may be vitally
important or totally irrelevant, depending on the book.
In Lowry's The Giver, and Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy,
setting and time are major factors, well worth discussion.
In Howling For Home, my early chapter book, the setting
could have been any suburban or urban locale. When plot
does depend on time / unusual setting, as in my Stolen Bones,
set at a dinosaur dig in Montana, you can have good
class discussions about the importance of these elements,
and kids can try using this new locale in writing of their
own.
PLOT
Plot is "the story," and very important to
most readers, but amazingly insignificant if the
characters are appealing. Consider the Ramona books
or anything by humorists Ellen Conford, Richard Peck,
Barbara Robinson, and Louis Sachar, who can all create
such wonderful characters, such sparkling dialogue, and
hilarious incidents that we go along happily for the
ride, lost in the fun of it all. Mainly, ask these
questions about plot:
- Will it keep my students attention?
- Is it logical or is it terribly manipulated by the author?
While no book is going to score 100% in all categories for all teachers and students, really successful children's books appeal to lots of us in many ways, and on many levels.
FACT
Today's kids have 10,000 fewer words in
their vocabularies than kids just one generation ago.
But we can change that dismal state of things with the
right books--ones that make kids ask, "Have you
got another great book like this?"
For Read-Aloud laughs, try Howling For Home, by Me.
Click here for Author Interview
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