From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 12:38:39 -0500

I'd hate to see books that look like easy readers be used as such. Mildred Taylor's The Friendship and her other shorter books about the Logan family and Vera Williams' Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart are sophisticated stories with some tough themes not really meant for the youngest readers. They are not early chapter books or easy readers, even though their prose style is acccessible. More for later 3rd grade and up, I'd say. Wonderful books, though; Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart is one of my favorite books of the year; it's just not for the audience we're discussing at the moment.

The same is true of lots of picture books, too. They look as if they're for the youngest of audiences, but the subject matter says otherwise. Books such as Shin's Tricycle, Rose Blanche, Golem come to mind -- books I read aloud with my older students when we're reading certain novels.

Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Mon 08 Oct 2001 12:38:39 PM CDT