RELUCTANT READER? PERCY JACKSON, YES, BUT FOR RIGHT NOW...

     Okay, I know the major boy series out there right now is Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but I haven't read those yet. My next review will be on at least one of those, I promise. But I did just finish the first three of Anthony Horowitz's eight Alex Rider books. (Okay, so I'm a bit late with discovering these. Am I the only one?)

     And what a ride these books are. A fourteen-year old British schoolboy turns into a reluctant-yet-highly skilled government spy after the mysterious death of his uncle. Unlike Bond, Alex does not want this life, but M16 threatens and bullies him enough to get Alex on these missions. Alex breaks away from his school routine just long enough to stop deadly computers from killing all the country's school children, to destroy Project Gemini and its goal to develop a racist world, and to save Russia from a nuclear attack. Along the way Alex must outrace crazed brutes, fly down mountainsides, step behind a crane's controls to outmaneuver others, escape a shark, live through the Cribber -- and, of course, much more. And as with Bond, Alex is supplied with tech master gadgets for his espionage, though his gadgets are zit cream, yoyo, Game Boy, CD, book, others.

     I raced through the three books, and I am not driven by action-based books. I found the boys in my classes, too, couldn't get enough of the books -- that is, if their reading ability was strong enough (about a fifth grade level).

BOOK CHARACTERS: A CHILD'S NEW BEST FRIEND

     

A mom contacted me, worried that her eight-year old daughter had not improved in reading, at least according to her latest standardized test results. I was worried, too. This would usually call for a change in my instruction with her. But wait, I am beginning a new unit, one that teaches inferential comprehension, something I knew her daughter needed.
     But I also wanted to know if Kim* was reading at home. I have found that once my students actively tackle challenging books on their own, their reading ability usually soars. So I asked.
     The mom paused. "I don't think Kim's reading any this year," she answered.
     This doesn't surprise me. Students who struggle with reading usually don't read many books -- or any  --  on their own.
     Not good. Kim needs to read for her own skill improvement. For her own growth. For her own pleasure.
     Four years ago I decided to learn how to write fiction. I've come to understand, really understand, how favorite stories are all about the characters. So why do we teachers and parents just ask, "So did you read?"
     I know Kim to be a social creature, very generous with her friendships. Could Kim see books as a place to meet new friends?
     Okay, I know that thought isn't original. Sophisticated readers expect to bond with many of the characters they meet in books. But does this eight-year old? At night, after dinner, with her personality bubbling over and no other girls around...?
     I talked to her mom. "Downplay the word, "reading," I advised. "Just talk about the kids in the books. Maybe bring up a few book characters she -- or the two of you -- have met in the past...?"
     Kim came in the next day, all enthused. And the next day, too. "I like reading now," she tells me. Given the book she's carrying, the first of the Wimpy Kid series (see earlier post), I'm not surprised. That is the magic of Kinney's Greg Heffley.
     Good for you, mom. Whatever you did -- talking to her, finding a character she'd like, worked. And there are three more Wimpy Kid books after this one.
     But I need to keep Kim on my radar for when she's finished Wimpy Kid. There are so many more friends for her to meet.
  
*Name changed


PHOTO CREDIT: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lanier67/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

WIMPY KID SERIES -- A (MUCH DESERVED) HIT WITH KIDS

     

The librarian at our school told me that when kids come to the library for their weekly class, she stops them at the door and throws her hands up. "I have no Wimpy Kid books," she announces, "so don't ask!"
     I read the first Wimpy Kid book when it appeared a few years ago and was quickly enamored. Greg is so  believable, so flawed, so funny in his innocence.  The cartoons Jeff Kinney (author and illustrator) scatters throughout the book are laugh-out-loud.
     I had no idea, though, Wimpy Kid would take off as it has. In every third and fourth grade group that comes into my room now, at least two of the students (of the usual 6) have one of Kinney's books with them. (The reading level of the books is approximately third grade. I have several second graders who keep trying to check out my copies, even though the books are a bit too difficult for them. I make them a bargain - they can get the Wimpy books if they read 15 other books in "their" bucket. A huge motivator.) Last week when I checked the AR website (AR is a popular web-based program that helps teachers test students' knowledge over books read independently), the Wimpy Kid series is the most-checked out book in 2009 for grades 3-6. Of course.
     Thank you, Mr. Kinney. I often tell parents it's not that boys don't like to read. They do - if they find something that talks to them. The boys run for Wimpy Kids. Girls do, too.

A RIVER OF WORDS, BRYANT/SWEET

     I am an avid follower of picture books. I run to the nearby bookstores to study how a talented illustrator has enhanced the world of children. I first bought A River of Words because it was a Caldecott Honor Book, but the more I look it over, the more themes I see -- and like.

     Jen Bryant and illustrator Melissa Sweet tells of the poet, William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), and how he managed to be both an active pediatrician and major poet of the day. I'm not sure if children will appreciate the art as much as I do, but the collages of prescription pads, lined pages, poems, textbook pages, celestial maps, and childlike drawings create an energy that should keep the kids visually engaged, as should the story of a boy who lives between a world of both boys and nature.

     And for those adults reading it, it reminds us that we really don't have to restrict ourselves into one lifestyle, one interest.