From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd_at_ensworth.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:49:43 -0500

I teach 7th- and 8th-grade English and pride myself in choosing class books that appeal to both boys and girls and in having a big classroom library. My 8th-grade class books include Jacqueline Woodson's MIRACLE'S BOYS, THE O UTSIDERS, HITLER YOUTH, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, and THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPIO N, all of which are equally popular with girls and boys. Same in 7th with G OODNIGHT, MR. TOM, THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, RED KAYAK, THE EAR, THE EYE AND THE ARM, and ELIJAH OF BUXTON among others. However, I am quite careful in my choice of books, and that's one of my criteria-will it appeal to both. Also , I want to choose books that kids are likely to like, that may well turn o n reluctant readers to reading. Some books do flop because boys perceive th em as "girls books," though you can get away with an occasional such book, if you balance it with a "boys book." But it does seem to be true, in my ex perience, that with class books, girls are more open to reading everything.

And as I write this I see that Pat Scales wrote about her experience in get ting boys to read. I agree: In my free reading program, a lot of it is in students coming to trust my judgment. When they see that I know books and t he first couple of my suggestions for free reading are good, they will be b ack for more. The boys come to realize I've read John Feinstein, Mike Lupic a, Anthony Horowitz, and other sports, adventure, fantasy, and good realist ic fiction; their tastes do run in this direction. And the girls know I'm a book reviewer and have read lots of "girls books"-Ally Carter, Sarah Desse n, Ann Brashares, and others-and some girls come in every three or four day s, saying, "OK, Mr. Schneider, I need another book." I keep stacks of the b est older YA books behind my desk, ready for 8th graders who read everythin g and I figure can handle more mature themes. It's almost always girls who seek out these books.

The arrangement of my classroom library would demonstrate how kids read. In the olden days, I just had all the books mixed together, but now I do orga nize them according to gender, to some degree: On the counter, the books to the right are books "that tend to appeal to girls," as I tell them, and to the left are books "that tend to appeal to boys." Then, further to the lef t are bookcases with books all mixed up, where boys and girls can find all sorts of things. And, of course, kids can select their books from anywhere.

And some blockbuster books appeal to everyone-boys and girls of a wide vari ety of ages: THE HUNGER GAMES, the Percy Jackson series, Harry Potter. What seems to make these so great is the voice of the characters, the underlyin g mysteriousness of things, and the page-turning action. Voice is essential -even in a fantasy, a character's voice that is immediate, a bit edgy or sa rcastic (ie, like my 7th and 8th graders), and struggling to make sense of things.

Some days I worry about the fate of reading in our electronic age. Every no w and then, I lapse into thinking reading is doomed. But then I spring back and say, "And yet...." We can create a culture of books in libraries, clas srooms, and homes, even if it seems more of a dissident act nowadays. There are plenty of parents, librarians, and teachers who love books and find wa ys to get good books into the hands of children, to turn them on to reading . I would say at my school, a lot more students are big readers now than wh en I first came here 21 years ago.

I hope this note is coherent, as I wrote it between classes and wanted to s end it off right away to join this discussion.

Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, Tennessee
Received on Tue 20 Apr 2010 10:49:43 AM CDT