[LIT] New Books Please!

[Beverly Maddox]

Great suggestions--keep 'em coming.  We're talking about books for the
spectrum of reading , aren't we, not just whole-class novels?

Working with whole class reading the same novel is not something I
enjoy so I don't do it very often.  However, under pressure from the
district's curriculum supervisor, I did it more often than I wanted to
this year.  Perhaps because my classes were more consistent in reading
ability, most students benefited.  these are four whole class
selections my kids connected with:

The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream (Davis,
Jenkins, and Hunt) -- learned about the qualities of a
autobiographical writing, used to inspire discussion and writing.  I
used it with Pre-AP only--will use it with the AVID electives I'll
teach next year.  Not particularly literary, but passages are pretty
gripping and the relationship among the three friends presents a much
needed model of  supportive, loving friendship.

Jip: His Story by Katherine Paterson.  Used to learn qualities of
historical fiction.  Needed LOTS of backgrouond before we started
reading and long about the middle, but worth the preliminary work
since it enabled the kids to connect with the story.  Also inspired
good discussion and a writing exercise on two essential questions.
Please contact me off list if you'd like my writing assignment.

My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt.  Just a little background on
the 1950s needed and on Louisiana.  My Inclusion class loved this book
and attendance improved while we were reading it. For the first time
ever, I showed a video on the last day of class--the HBO production of
this book.  If you're not familiar with this book, find a copy and
read it--you'll see why the kids liked it so much. They surprised me
with their insights into characters.

The Pearl by John Steinbeck.  Pre-AP class. I hadn't taught this old
chestnut in about 8 years, but the unit may have been my most
successful whole-class novel in several years.  Built lots of
background prior to and during reading--taught the nature of
fables--also symbol and figurative language.  Great discussions

Just a note on Jip, My Louisiana Sky, and Pearl-- We did all the
reading in-class and I did not linger once we began reading--I paced
the reading using recorded books (great readers on the recordings--
only a few kids in my Pre-AP class read faster silently than the tape
and they were able to tune out the readers-- this year's crop of kids
were mostly very slow silent readers, so the recordings may actually
have improved their fluency)


Beverly Maddox
bmaddox at comcast.net
--
If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the
library?  --L. Tomlin