From: Brooke Shirts <chaitivole>
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 13:49:36 -0400

Hello --

Shannon Hale (author of _Princess Academy_) has been addressing the issue of aliteracy on her blog. Specifically, she is addressing YA reluctant readers
-- and puts a lot of blame on high school English literature curricula. She writes:

"The argument, 'Teach the classics in high school and let kids read whatever they want on their own' is seriously problematic. Many teens don't have time to read during the school year outside of class or have any inclination. For many teens, their only exposure to books of any kind is what they're assigned. According to a recent study, reluctant readers cited their English teachers as their number one source of book recommendations."

I'm breaking the quote here to ask -- does anyone know if this is true? Anyway, Hale continues:

"If we offer more types of books in class, more teens will find a genre they love and continue to read on their own after school and after high school."

Read the whole article, the many controversial postings, and Hale's own list of an ideal high school literature curriculum here:

http://oinks.squeetus.com/2006/08/a_story_for_eve.html

What a gal -- she doesn't even include her own books on the list!

Enjoy, Brooke
Received on Mon 07 Aug 2006 12:49:36 PM CDT