The Book Whisperer

by Donalyn Miller

  My students select from a range of materials, including poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Poetry anthologies, nonfiction texts (including biographies and informational texts), and traditional literature selections (including mythology, folktales, and legends) are generally shorter books of less than a hundred pages. Fiction titles (fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and realistic fiction) are chapter-book length. I set a specific number of books that students must read in each genre, but I also allow them to choose nine from any genre to complete the forty-book total. The number of books set for each genre is not carved in stone; in fact, I change it from year to year. When my students asked me to create a mystery category, I did so. When my district curriculum set guidelines for a poetry unit, I added more books to my poetry requirements.

  FORTY-BOOK REQUIREMENT

  Poetry anthologies 5

  Traditional literature 5

  Realistic fiction 5

  Historical fiction 2

  Fantasy 4

  Science fiction 2

  Mystery 2

  Informational 4

  Biography, autobiography,

  memoir 2

  Chapter-book choice 9

  This reading requirement exposes students to a variety of books and genres so that they can explore books they might not ordinarily read and develop an understanding of the literary elements, text features, and text structures of most books. Furthermore, a wide range of genres enables me to design instruction around my district’s mandates and state standards and still give my students the chance to select their own books in order to complete assignments that are already part of the curriculum. Students can use a wide range of books to access the broad concepts and themes they are expected to learn. As a language arts and social studies teacher, I prefer to integrate these subjects by layering reading and writing activities within Texas’s sixth-grade world cultures curriculum.

  I like that I have to read a variety of books because otherwise, I wouldn’t.

  —Rachel

  For each region we investigate, I gather books on the history, people, and fiction indigenous to that part of the world. When we study the history and culture of Europe, students read folk and fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen. They try their hand at writing traditional literature by mirroring the motifs and themes of the classics we read. When we explore the culture of Japan, we read and write haiku poetry.

  I have learned that students hunger for more information, beyond what their social studies textbook offers if we go the extra mile to provide it. To this end, I line the marker rail under our classroom white boards with regional text sets. This gives students an additional opportunity to read and research regional cultures and to become engrossed in regional literature. It also encourages students to explore and pursue their particular cultural interests. All of it ties back to our social studies discussions, furthering inquiry.

  It’s About Reading, Not Requirements

  Requiring students to read a certain number of books has led to some unanticipated challenges. The first year I set such a reading goal, I noticed that my developing and dormant readers selected the shortest books they could find to get the job done. Expecting such a large number of books was an issue for a few of my underground readers, too. How would they ever read forty books when the books they loved the most were epic tomes with a staggering number of pages? I solved this problem by letting students count any book over 350 pages as two books toward the requirement. This prevents students from choosing books simply because they are short, acknowledges the preferences of students who like to read hefty volumes, and frees all of them to read whatever books they want—short or long.

  Bongani recalls his reaction when he heard he had to read so many books: “When you said forty books my heart stopped and I blacked out for several seconds. Then it struck me. Forty Dr. Seuss books for forty days! When you told us about the genre requirements, I immediately said, ‘I am going to bomb this class.’”

  During a conference with Paul, he admitted that he began the year by picking the shortest books he could find from each genre so that he would meet the class goals, but he wasn’t doing that anymore. When I asked him what brought on this change, he told me that he had already read seventeen books by the end of the first nine weeks of school and he knew he would reach the forty mark by June. “I am going to read whatever I want, and just let it happen,” he told me. This tells me that Paul has gained reading confidence. Because he had never been given the freedom to choose his own books, extensive time to read them, or high expectations from a teacher, he did not believe he could do it. A few weeks in our class has changed Paul’s view of himself as a reader and what he can accomplish.

  This year I learned that I can actually enjoy realistic fiction! I used to read only fantasy, but now I read a lot more.

  —Alex

  I like having a wide selection because

  I am a very picky reader and I can’t

  force myself through a book I don’t

  like. I would much rather choose a

  book than be assigned one!

  —Molly

  Does expecting every student to read the genre requirements always work? No, it doesn’t. Every year, I have students who are so attached to their beloved genres that, in fact, they do not meet the genre requirements. One year, Tommy, a staunch fantasy fan, read sixty-five fantasy and science fiction books but avoided almost every other genre of book. Like Randy, his identity as a reader was strong. He knew what he liked, and he enjoyed the freedom to read whatever he wanted. I tried to entice him with other books, but if he showed no interest, I did not press the issue. I got it this time, and left Tommy to read what he wanted. Is there anyone who doubts that Tommy is a reader because he did not complete my structured genre requirements?

  Reading widely expands a reader’s knowledge of a variety of texts, but there are benefits to reading deeply in one genre, too. Talking with Tommy for two minutes revealed the depth of knowledge he had acquired about fortresses, armaments, mythology, and medieval history from all of those fantasy books. He also understood complex literary ideas like tone, allegory, and character archetypes right away when I taught them, having already discovered multiple examples from his books.

  Meeting Students Where They Are

  Madison did not meet her requirements, either. She was neither an enthusiastic nor a fast reader when she came to our class, and she did not find much joy in reading. With encouragement and lots of recommendations from her classmates and me, Madison read twenty-six books in sixth grade. She read more books that year than she had read on her own since starting school, a monumental achievement. Madison’s preferences in books mirrored her favorite topics. She enjoyed realistic fiction about teen issues like popularity and dating. Without a community of readers to support her and the expectation of daily reading, Madison most likely will never read this much again.

  Students who enjoy the social aspects of school, like Madison, read when it is required to participate in the culture of a class, but may not do so when the classroom climate changes. This point is particularly relevant in middle school, when students’ behavior is dictated by what their peers value. Madison read because all of her friends in class did. Don’t overlook the peer pressure and the need to belong that all adolescents succumb to as a powerful force in motivating students to read. I have seen many students pick up a book because it was recommended by a friend when they might not do so otherwise.

  I refuse to take the control of students’ reading back from them, even when they don’t want it. Take Brandon as an example. The first two days of school, Brandon broke down and told me that he was never going to be able to read all of the books I expected him to because he hated to read and was not a good reader. He reluctantly chose Well-Wished, by Franny Billingsley, because a girl he liked in class was reading it. I would never have recommended this book to an active, sporty boy like Brandon. The readers who seemed
to love this book were dreamy, fantasy-loving girls. Predictably, Brandon labored through this book for almost a month. At first, I cheerily asked Brandon how it was going. He would mumble that it was going OK, but I knew he wasn’t in love with the book and he wasn’t reading it very much.

  I begged Brandon to abandon the book and choose another one, but I realized that this is exactly what Brandon was trying to avoid. Abandoning Well-Wished would mean he had to choose another book, and he did not want another book; he did not want any book. I think Brandon hoped I would give up, but he underestimated me and himself. I am sure that Brandon had been able to wear down teachers before me, managing to skirt the reading issue altogether.

  My new tactic was to show Brandon stacks of books that he might enjoy more—books about boys having adventures. I simply kept plying him with books, stacks and stacks of books. We still talked about books at every conference, but now we talked about books Brandon might read instead of the one he wasn’t reading. He finally gave in one day and chose Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. Brandon read the first half of Hatchet begrudgingly, but he fell in love with it and sped through the last fifty pages. He proudly announced it to me when he was on the last chapter and then asked, “Do you have any of the other Hatchet books?” Now he is plowing through all of the Brian stories (God bless the prolific Gary Paulsen!) and planning camping trips—a Paulsen-inspired interest—with his family.

  By refusing to take responsibility for Brandon reading or not reading, I forced him to take it. Reading was previously an act that the teacher controlled for him, and therefore, in his mind, failing to read was not his fault.

  My goal for all of my students is for them to discover that they can be readers, but some of them struggle with going from no reading to a great deal of reading in one school year. It is important to celebrate milestones with students and focus on their reading successes, not their failure to meet requirements, which only serves to discourage students. Instead, I encourage and ask questions: “Did you read more than you thought you would?” “How many books did you read last year?” “Wow, look at how many more you read this year! Did you read books that you enjoyed?” “What surprised you about that?” When a student like Grant tells me that he had read one book in his entire life and that this year he had read twenty-three by March, how can I do anything other than celebrate and encourage him?

  Validating Reading Choices

  Another characteristic of readers is that we read for pure escapism sometimes. How many adolescent readers are reading books that adults deem to be of limited nutritional value as part of their reading diet? I need only look at what my own students are reading to learn everything I need to know. Andrew, who is not an avid reader, is currently absorbed in the book series that follows the story arc of his favorite video game, Halo. Bryce is reading an anthology of collected Star Wars stories. Lauren and Patty cannot get enough manga, Japanese comic books. And Tiffany is recommending Caroline Cooney’s mystery The Face on the Milk Carton to all of her friends. None of these books would appear on a list of best books for young readers, but my students love to read them. No matter what books I try to provide for my students via our class library or recommend for them to read, I need to acknowledge some of their less-than-highbrow choices in reading material, too.

  Books that are widely read are not always the books by the most esteemed authors or with the best reviews. Similarly, many of the books that are touted as works of great literary value are not read by many readers. Readers travel through both worlds, that of high art and that of popular culture. I believe that every American should read the Pulitzer Prize winner To Kill a Mockingbird, but I think they should also read Stephen King’s cult classic The Shining. The books I choose to read with students, use in my teaching, or offer in my library may be different books than the ones I would wholeheartedly embrace for students’ reading. By allowing and encouraging students to read what they want, I also endorse their culture and their interests—something we do not do enough in school.

  Lucy Calkins’s words from The Art of Teaching Writing remind us, “Our... workshop will not feel alive and significant if our students sit through it bored and uninvolved, waiting for the bell to ring and life to begin.” Teachers lose credibility with students when they ignore the cultural trends and issues that interest them and instead design classroom reading instruction around books that are “good for you.” There is a certain amount of disdain from teachers in regard to popular fiction for children because some of those books are mind candy, but I’d bet that some of those teachers go home and read escapist books like Shopaholic or a James Patterson thriller and never make the connection. Are we teaching books or teaching readers? I would rather have my students read books of questionable literary value than not read at all. Once students find at least one book they like and receive approval for reading books of their own choice, it is easier to move them toward books you suggest.

  Take Mary, for example. She was not a big reader when she came to my class. She had read only one book that she really enjoyed, The Day My Butt Went Psycho, by Andy Griffiths. This book, the first in a trilogy, follows a small-town teenager whose backside and those of his fellow townspeople reveal themselves as an alien race of beings intent on world domination. Yes, they are from the planet Uranus. Mary suggested the book to me and offered to loan me her much-read copy. Setting aside my teacher hat and addressing the issue reader to reader, I did what readers do when someone recommends a book with such enthusiasm; I took the book and read it. Filled with gross body humor, awful puns, and an outrageous plotline, if this book added to Mary’s vocabulary, they were probably words she didn’t need to know.

  What really mattered was that it meant everything to Mary that I had read this book and we were able to laugh about it for the entire year. Because I trusted and validated her as a reader, Mary trusted herself. From then on, she took many of my recommendations for more inspiring reading material. She moved on to more sophisticated novels and developed a love for historical fiction. By the time she left my class, Mary’s favorite book of all time was Girl in Blue, by Ann Rinaldi, a novel about a girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to fight in the Civil War. A lot of students who start out reading books like The Day My Butt Went Psycho because they are immature as readers, do not have much experience in choosing books for themselves, or have not had much guidance. Most will branch out and broaden their repertoire of books with support from a more experienced reader. This is where you, the teacher, come in. What we must do is give our approval when students make their own reading choices, no matter what books they choose, because this is far preferable to their deciding not to read at all.

  Especially with boys, I think letting them read books that are provocative or borderline appropriate, such as Robert Cormier’s controversial The Chocolate War and The Rag and Bone Shop or Christopher Paul Curtis’s shocking Bucking the Sarge, is motivating. What draws middle school and high school boys to the edgy themes of certain movies and video games, the visceral imagery, the suggestive scenes, the subversive tone can be found in young adult books; they just don’t know it. One year, I had a whole group of boys who passed around The Chocolate War because they couldn’t believe that a book could explore bullying and the teenage boy’s experience in such a raw, honest way.

  Teachers and parents often scorn the type of reading that boys most enjoy. Who cares if they want to read a book with bathroom humor or car crashes? Why should these boys read at all if they can never find their interests or relatable characters in the books adults steer them toward? I want to show the boys in my class that they can find themselves in books and can make reading an avenue for pursuing the topics that consume their attention.

  Introducing Authors Through Read-Alouds

  I teach sixth graders, so many of the books I read aloud to them are particular to this age and their concerns about moving into middle school. The first book I read aloud every year is Tripping Over the Lunch Lady, edited by Nancy Mercado,
an anthology of school stories by popular authors. The stories cover a range of topics of interest to my students—being the new kid, having dyslexia, and the challenges of working with a group of strangers to complete a class project. We also share-read (I read and students follow along in their own copy) The Sixth Grade Nickname Game, by Gordon Korman, a favorite author year in and year out. No need to explain why I choose this realistic story about a group of sixth graders who are not the best readers but manage to ace the state reading exam by power-reading tons of books.

  The memoirs of Gary Paulsen are also a consistent favorite. Paulsen’s novels—like the survival classic Hatchet— are superb, but his personal memoirs, including his own survival tale Guts; the memorial to his beloved dogs, My Life in Dog Years; and the tales of his extreme stunts as a teenager, How Angel Peterson Got His Name, are annual hits. Because students’ limited encounters with biographies and autobiographies usually start with a research assignment, they come into my class thinking that these types of books are dry time lines recounting the accomplishments of dead heroes. Paulsen’s personal adventures can broaden a student’s appreciation for reading about the lives of other people.

  By reading these selections and others with my students early in the year, I expose them to about fifteen widely published fiction authors who are popular and interesting to young readers. These shared reading experiences enable me to make recommendations by connecting new books by the same authors to the stories we have enjoyed as a class. The following list of read-aloud favorites includes a range of titles from popular authors and genres for use with your class. The suggested age range for elementary titles is third through fifth grades; for intermediate titles, it is sixth through eighth grades. Elementary titles may also be a good fit for intermediate grades, and intermediate titles may work in elementary grades, depending on the needs or interests of your particular group of students. You may have your personal read-aloud favorites, but remember that my purpose for reading these books is to share several high-interest books with students as an introduction to authors who have written many other books that students can read on their own.