From: Robin Smith <smithr>
Date: Sun, 7 May 2006 12:59:02 -0500

In my grade two classroom, fantasy is a staple of their reading. It's funny--seven and eight years olds always want to know if something "is real," and they fight over books about volcanoes and other disasters, but they really love fantasy as well.

For the past two months, my girls have been reading the Rainbow Fairy books by Daisy Meadows. One of the girls went to London for Spring Break and came home with the full set and what a thrill that was! They passed them around until they found a cover that looked like them and then they read the story and acted it out at recess. Over and over again.

Gail Carson Levine's fairy tale chapter books are big favorites with them as well. All of the children have passed through the Mary Pope Osborne time travel series (they hate that the new ones come in hardcovers, by the way) and like Dragonslayer Academy series and Harry Potter. (funny how HP keeps reappearing every year at just about this time) Many are reading Dragonrider by Cornelia Funke, being careful not to get ahead of me as I am reading it aloud. A few have made the leap to Inkheart, but the length is daunting for many...especially since those same readers are currently reading the also-lengthy Harry Potter and comparing page numbers every morning. ("I read 54 pages last night" or "Where are you now?"

Having a big classroom library is a big part of their reading--they like to read books in series and they know I will keep those series intact with frequent bookstore visits. Second graders love series fiction of all sorts and love to read "in order."

Robin Smith Nashville, TN
Received on Sun 07 May 2006 12:59:02 PM CDT