Tuesday Tidbits: Week of May 7, 2007
I wish that school could be cancelled for a day due to sunshine. I would park myself outside and read up a storm.
My reading lately has been start and stop, start and stop. I hate that. Nothing is getting finished. I casted away Waiting for Snow in Havana as soon as book club met. I don’t usually do that. I usually slog my way through until the end. But I am tired of memoir. I think during the last two years we have read at least 6 memoirs. Time for a break.
Then there is the children’s literature stack. I have titles from the two readers’ choice programs that my students are involved in. A librarian created an off shoot reader’s choice to hone in on the titles that are more for fourth and fifth grade. We want kids to read. Sometimes the selections are beyond the reading level and background knowledge level for our clientele.
We meet in two weeks to decide what books should go on the list. Last year it seemed the choices were easy. This year not so much. I gave M.T. Anderson’s Whales on Stilts to a fourth grade teacher to read aloud. her boys wanted adventure. Adventure, odd happenings, and kids taking risks, how could you not have a winning combination?
But the book returned in a couple days. The teacher’s comment? It just was too confusing for many fourth graders. They didn’t get that it was set in the future. The teacher felt that perhaps as a silent read it would be better. The reader has time to process the scenes.
It makes me wonder why some chapter books work for read alouds and others don’t. And sometimes it has to do with the person doing the read aloud. I like reading chapter books out loud for fluency and readability on my fourth and fifth graders. I have done this a bit with the nominations for next year. I love how Whittington by Alan Armstrong reads. There was something about the style that grabbed me and almost made me cry. I don’t cry in books much these days.
So I hope that by May 23, 2007, I will have more of the list read. I would like to choose without relying on reviews solely.
Here are the two lists:
Sasquatch Reading Award (Washington State, 4th -8th Grade):
Legend of Murphy Spud
Whittington
Owen Foote: Mighty Scientist
Abby Takes a Stand
Airball
Stumptown Kid
Ghost’s Grave
Misadventures of Maude Marche
Giant Rat of Sumatra
Defiance
The Sisters Grimm
Chicken Boy
The Young Readers’ Choice (Five Pacific Northwest States, Grades 4-6)
Scarecrow and his Servant
A Dog’s Life
Double Identity
Listening for Lions
Shakespeare Secret
Princess Academy
The Day Joanie Frankenhauser Became a Boy
Whales on Stilts
If anyone has read these and has thoughts, please chime in. In the meantime, I am trying to finish the ARC of Blackbringer by Laini Taylor. Much rather be reading this today.
What’s on your night stand?
Happy Reading.
MsMac
6 Responses to “Tuesday Tidbits: Week of May 7, 2007”
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Hi Jone: Those are quite the lists! Let’s see…I’ve read (of these) Maude March, The Sisters Grimm, and Scarecrow and his Servant. And, I think for a readaloud, The Sisters Grimm or Scarecrow would be your best choices. Maude is a wonderful book, but there’s one troubling scene that would be difficult reading aloud. Plus it’s much longer than the other two books. The Sisters Grimm is fun and the students will have fun picking apart the fairy tales. I love “Scarecrow,” but The Sisters Grimm would be an interactive read.
Hope this helps! As you can see, I haven’t read many on the list!!
I’m reading my way through those lists, too!
Let’s see–
I *loved* Maude March, and the 4th grade teacher at my school read it aloud this year and the kids really liked it, even though it is pretty long. I don’t remember a troubling scene…Kelly, which one are you thinking of?
I listened to Listening for Lions on CD recently, and I think it would make a good read-aloud too.
Not sure about the Princess Academy as a read-aloud, even though I loved it–somehow it seems more internal to me.
I teach 4th grade and have a few self-imposed rules for selecting books to read aloud.
1. I rarely, rarely chose a book over 200 pages. I assume that of those 18-22 children listening there may well be a few always who are not loving the book. They may not tell me, especially if the majority loves the book, but I always assume they are there. And because of this I never read a very long book because I don’t want them having to listen too too long.
2. I have to consider each class differently. What works for one may well not work for the next. This is especially true of humorous books. I am not surprised that Whales on Stilts did not work. That sort of humor is really not for everyone. I would similarly not read aloud the Lemony Snicket books, big fan of them that I am.
3. I check in with the kids to see how they are responding to the book. I can usually tell by the degree of raptness/restlessness, but I also ask them to write in their journals as another save place to let me know if they like the book or not.
4. Episodic books work especially well. Two that always work well are Polly Horvath’s The Trolls and Gary Paulsen’s Harris and Me.
Of the books on your lists here are my thoughts on the ones I’ve read:
Legend of Murphy Spud
I’m sure this would work well as a read aloud, but also think it is a great independent reading book, especially for boys.
Whittington
I have to say I wasn’t wild about this one. Dragged for me.
Misadventures of Maude March
I just read and loved the sequel, but think it is way, way too long to read aloud.
Giant Rat of Sumatra
Very engaging and I’m guessing a solid choice for reading aloud. Most of his books work well in this regard.
The Sisters Grimm
These are fun and would probably work as read alouds, but I think they are a tad too long and would go for something that had broader appeal.
Chicken Boy
This is a lovely book and I think it would make a splendid read aloud.
Scarecrow and his Servant
Love this one and have thought about reading it aloud.
Shakespeare’s Secret
This would do well, I think, as a read aloud, but probably for older than 4th. Our 5th graders read it as a unit study and enjoy it tremendously.
Princess Academy
Way, way, way too long to read aloud in my opinion.
The scene I was thinking of is when Maude’s sister kills a man. True, they were threatened and have no choice, but it seemed kind of violent for a read aloud.
Jone,
Thanks for stopping by Wild Rose Reader. I agree that it can be the adult who reads a book aloud to children that determines their response. I once recommended Polly Horvath’s EVERYTHING ON A WAFFLE as a read-aloud to two fourth grade teachers. One loved the book; the other returned it because she didn’t like it. There are also adults who don’t read a novel themselves prior to reading it aloud to children. This is not a good practice. So often the stage has to be set for children…maybe background information provided if it’s a work of historical fiction–for children to truly appeciate a book.
[...] A small group of librarians met last week to decide which eight books would be on our district’s reading choice list. Our titles come from two other reading lists; Sasquatch(Washington State’s list) and the Young Reader’s Choice Award (a five state list). See all the titles here. [...]