Summer's over--but the reading is still required...

This summer while I was in Charleston I had the pleasure of hearing the RockNRoll Chorus, a group of high school singers from all different cities in New Jersey. These teenagers audition and practice to prepare for a summer of weekly performances and a three week tour of several different cities from Chicago to Orlando and up the coast back to NJ.

When you first hear the RockNRoll Chorus you look around for the orchestra and then you realize that all the sounds are coming from their voices. This is an acapella chorus, but you would think that there are some hidden instruments accompanying their performances. Their music is delightful. Of course, I am rather biased about the group since my niece sings with the chorus. She’s the one on the right in the picture on this blog. Tell me what you think--listen to one of their performances on this YouTube video.





So, I know you are wondering what all this has to do with reading.

The singers in the RockNRoll Chorus are high school students. They sing in the chorus because they love performing and all summer long they sing at different events. But, they still have summer reading to complete before the start of the new school year. In between performances, traveling to different cities and numerous practice sessions, they still need to complete their summer reading. My niece was just finishing up one of her required books. I imagine several others had packed their summer reads—-even if they only got to the first chapter. Face it --summer reading is required. Just get it done. Maybe next summer you can give your teacher some good suggestions for other titles.


Here’s a review of one of the books I read this summer.


Hero by Mike Lupica

Fourteen year old, Zack’s dad (his hero) is killed in a plane crash when he was returning home from a trip. His Dad was the special advisor to the President, but Zack he really didn’t know what he did when he traveled. Zack doesn’t believe that his father death is an accident. On a hunch, he visits the crash site –an empty field at the end of Long Island in New York. While he is alone looking at the place his father plane went down he is surprised when an older man appears and tells Zach that he knew his dad and he has been waiting for him. Not long after his visit from the old man, Zach discovers he has superpowers. Then the “bads” come and try to attack him and that’s when Zack realizes there was a lot he didn’t know about his dad.

Lupica’s Hero is very different from his other novels that read like sports commentaries. This is a fast pace, action, adventure thriller. And yes, he does throw in some sports innuendos, but not nearly as much as in the past. Definitely look for a sequel to this one.


Book Ratings
L=1, V=2, S=1
Recommended Grades 4-8th

L= Language, V=Violence, S=Sexual Content
1= None or very little
2=Moderate
3-Excessive

Book Cover Pictures from Barnes & Noble

So what does it take to get a 5th grader to read independently?

On Friday mornings I have sixteen 5th graders that visit the library. In spite of the fact that we are now in the second half of the year and most of these kids are too big for the room and are beginning to get the “I know everything 5th grade attitude,” I love them all. However, they continue to surprise me (and frighten me) with some of their comments. Let me give you an example of a discussion that took place yesterday.

On February 11 we will have a pizza party and vote for our favorite books from the list of SC Children’s Book Award Nominees. Students must read at least five books to vote for their favorite book. If they read more than five there are different levels of incentives. To receive a $10.00 gift certificate to the Scholastic Book Fair they must read all 20 nominees.

I asked the group how many of them had read at least five so I could get a count of participants and know how much pizza to get. I saw a show of hands of about 6 students and then I received some of the typical responses that I expected:
“The books are too long.”
“I don’t have time to read.”
“I didn’t want to do it this year.”
“I don’t like reading.”
“We have to read in class all the time.”

But the responses that surprised me were--
“Can someone read the books to me?”
“Is it OK if I read the books to Kathleen?”
“Could I read one page and she reads one page?”

These are not students with any kind of reading disability. In fact, the one who asked if she could read to Kathleen had already read all 20 books. So what does it take to get a child to sit down independently and read five books? They were told about the challenge in August. They had seven months to figure out how to read five books and yet many of them did not participate in the challenge. Of course, it is an optional assignment. All library activities are more or less optional. As we get closer to the date of the pizza party more students wish they had read the books, especially because the pizza is different from the school lunch pizza and they want to be part of the party, but there is no independent motivation for them to read.

So what does it take to change this attitude? Is it OK to let a parent read to a 5th grader? Would any parent want to and have the time for this task? Are we disabling our students by giving them only assigned reading? Does anyone ask students to read on their own and submit a book report? Shouldn’t 5th graders know how to write a book review?

One or two students asked if they could listen to the books on CD or cassette. Yes, absolutely. I believe that audio books work better for some students. Unfortunately, our library does not have any audio books and when I checked the public library catalogue I could only find one available as an ebook. Oh, how I wish I had money for Playaways.

Comments anyone?

OPS Book Club

Friday is the first meeting of the OPS Book Club. So what is a book club, what should we do and why would anyone want to come?

Traditionally book club members all read the same book and get together to discuss the book. This is an excellent way to understand everyone's perspective on the book and the author's writing style. However, at OPS we have 30 minutes for our club meeting. This is not enough time to allow all the members to thoroughly discuss a book. So we'll have to do something different.

This time we will try having all our members read a different book and post their comments and opinions about the book on our wikipage. Here's the link: http://OPSBookClub@wikispaces.com

All of our members can access the wiki and add or edit anything on the page. If one member posts the name of the book she read and a brief review about it then other members can comment, about the review, ask questions, insert images or add their own review if they have read the book. And, not only can book club members access the wiki page; everyone can.

We'll also blog about our books and our club, create a book club wordle and eat chocolate chip cookies. So, OPS book club...it's not what you think.
See you there.

Mrs. Price