From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 05:51:59 -0800

I would imagine that those children who enjoy Orson Scott Card will enjoy Enchantress from the Stars. And my guess is that those will be readers who haunt the library already. But what about the use of Enchantress from the Stars in the classroom? While Sylvia sees its audience as teen and up, I suspect that if it ends up being used in the classroom that it will be in upper elementary grades (e.g. 5 and 6) more than 7th and 8th. The 5th grade teachers in my school, for instance, teach The Giver (even though the author feels it is for an older audience) and I could easily see them add Enchantress to that unit. The upper grades where the book would be more suitable are busy reading classics and other standards (e.g. The Crucible and The Outsiders); I doubt those teachers would be willing to consider teaching Enchantress. (Actually, I don't think many of them care for science fiction or fantasy - bringing me back to the point made in my first post.)

Those of us teaching self-contained classrooms in elementary school have more flexibility over the books we use in our teaching than do those teaching in departmentalize situations which is usually the case in grades 6 and up. As kids in our self-contained classrooms express interest in more and more fantasy and science fiction we look at times to work that may appear above them. I've had, for instance, one or two kids each year
(ten year olds) who loved His Dark Materials and Ender's Game (and the sequels). Such kids would appreciate Enchantress from the Stars.

Perhaps others on the list know of schools where Enchantress would be brought into a middle or high school English curriculum. I'd be very curious to know about one.


Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Thu 15 Nov 2001 07:51:59 AM CST