Literacy Now

by Jen Scott Curwood

Learning is increasingly global, social, and multimodal. In school, students may use digital tools, including Prezi, Animoto, VoiceThread, and Glogster to engage in collaborative learning and to communicate their content knowledge. More than that, students’ learning may partially or fully take place in online environments. Consequently, I think we need to ask: What does learning look like in a digital age? What motivates young people to learn? What spaces and tools support critical thinking and collaborative learning?

To explore these questions, I draw on the concept of affinity spaces. According to James Paul Gee, these physical, virtual, and blended spaces facilitate informal learning where both newcomers and masters interact around a shared endeavor. Affinity spaces are spread across multiple sites, and can include in-person meeting spaces as well as online websites and social networking tools. In a recent article, Jayne C. Lammers, Alecia Marie Magnifico, and I updated this concept to further define nine key features of affinity spaces:

1. A common endeavor is primary.
2. Participation is self-directed, multi-faceted, and dynamic.
3. Portals are often multimodal.
4. Affinity spaces provide a passionate, public audience for content.
5. Socializing plays an important role in affinity space participation.
6. Leadership roles vary within and among portals.
7. Knowledge is distributed across the entire affinity space.
8. Many portals place a high value on cataloguing and documenting content and practices.
9. Affinity spaces encompass a variety of media-specific and social networking portals.

We argue that learning within affinity spaces is primarily self-directed and interest-driven. Moreover, there are multiple ways that people can participate within the space and explore their passion, whether it’s knitting, running, or traveling.

In my research, I’ve spent the past two years looking at how affinity spaces support young adults’ engagement with literature. As a former high school English teacher, I firmly believe that it’s important for youth to find a book (or an author or a genre) that speaks to them. I don’t want today’s students to equate literature with study guides and vocabulary quizzes. Rather, I want them to read something that changes how they think, how they feel, and how they see the world around them.

Through my research on The Hunger Games, I’ve talked to young adults around the world who love having choice in how, when, and why they respond to literature. Out of school, on their own time, these fans have read The Hunger Games trilogy and are avidly participating in the affinity space. What does this kind of learning look like?

• Through fan fiction, fans explore missing scenes and alternative points of view. To do this, they need to closely analyze the mentor text, understand characterization, and use dialogue as an important part of the plot. FanFiction.net features over 28,000 examples of Hunger Games fan fic.
• Through fan art, they can consider the characters, settings, and events. There are countless examples of Hunger Games fan art, including on DeviantArt and the maps of Panem.
• Through videos, they can storyboard, re-enact pivotal moments in the plot, and share on YouTube.
• Through games, they can closely analyze the text in order to authentically portray a character and engage in role plays, like The Hunger Games RPG.
• Through music, students can write lyrics, compose songs, and share them on Panem Radio.

In many ways, affinity spaces challenged traditional assumptions about the design of learning environments as well as the purpose of digital tools in content area learning. More than anything, I think affinity spaces offer us an idea of what learning truly looks like in a global world.

References: 

Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated language and learning: A critique of traditional schooling. New York: Routledge.

Lammers, J.C., Curwood, J.S., & Magnifico, A.M. (2012). Toward an affinity space methodology: Considerations for literacy research. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 11(2), 44-58.

Jen Scott Curwood is a lecturer at the University of Sydney in Australia. Her website and blog are at jensc.org.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

My first job in teaching began in January, after the previous teacher abruptly decided—sometime in mid-December—that the time was right to retire. After my first week on the job, I understood, deep in my heart, why retirement had seemed so attractive for my predecessor.

My classes were a blend of chaos, flagrant insubordination, and pure noise. The warning from my favorite college professor had been proven true—“Who controls the sound in a classroom controls the class.” My classes were not being run by me, but by a small set of loud, rude, squirrely, out-of-control adolescents.

Desperate to establish at least some semblance of control, I was ready to resort to punishment, threats, pay-offs, anything. However, I had nothing to leverage. So, I rummaged around in the teacher storage room and discovered two old “listening stations” that had been discarded years earlier by the Spanish department. Each listening station had 10 sets of headphones linked together by a single cord. I brought my music player to school, plugged in the two listening stations, and instantly was able to pipe in music to all twenty sets of headphones simultaneously.

The next week, I established ground rules for what I hoped would be a successful inducement: Students who did their work in class and who were not marked down for egregious misconduct could listen to music at the listening stations for the last twenty minutes of class on Fridays. To my great surprise, the ruse actually worked. The lure of listening to music, free from my teacherly witticisms for a brief period of time, was sufficiently compelling to change students’ patterns of behavior. The noise level in my classroom declined and students began to tone down the frequency and intensity of disruptions.

photo: bjdawes via photopin cc

Unfortunately, the transformation in my classes had little to do with better teaching; instead, the improvement was the result of a brazen struggle for control over sound. My experience made me think Friedrich Nietzsche was right when he noted that “without music, life would be a mistake.”

After doing a little research, I discovered a plethora of scientific studies on the effects of sound on the brain. One group of medical researchers seemed particularly interested in using music to help speed healing after a traumatic illness or surgery. Indeed, music appears to promote recovery after a stroke (Särkämö et al., 2010), to reduce time spent in rehabilitation (Karagozoglu & Yilmaz, 2012), and to aid in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia and severe personality disorders (Hannibal, Pedersen, Hestbaek, Sorensen, & Munk-Jorgensen, 2012).

According to Julian Treasure, who has several talks on the auditory sense available on the TED website (this one is my favorite), there are four possible outcomes of sound:

Physiological—Sound can affect breathing, brain waves, and the heart. For example, the piercing sound of an ambulance’s siren instantly increases the heart rate and alters brain waves.

Psychological—Sound can affect attitude and the sense of well-being. The sound of a bird chirping may offer an aura of security and serenity, while the sound of a rattlesnake’s rattle can provoke fear.

Cognitive—Sound can enhance or undermine the quality of your thinking. According to Treasure, productivity in a noisy, open office can be as much as 66% lower than in a quiet environment.

Behavioral—Sound can influence behavior. For example, the sound of a concrete drill can make people want to run away, while the sound of ocean waves might make people want to relax and stick around.

The literature on sound has major implications for teaching. For example, if noisy, disorganized environments really do decrease efficiency dramatically, then the effectiveness of my lessons in those first few days of January was probably nil. In retrospect, the unruly and boorish behavior of a few students in my poorly supervised classroom likely caused panic and dread among other students who might have actually wanted to learn something. The anarchy must have been almost as much of a living hell for them as me.

On the bright side, with the right tools and appropriate know-how, sound’s power can be harnessed to achieve dramatic, positive results. Using a music- and singing-based program to teach reading, researcher Susan Homan increased the reading skills of struggling readers (including many incarcerated youth with very low reading levels) by 27 to 214%.

Similarly, the potential for having reluctant writers learn to write more effectively by listening and speaking is quite exciting. By using voice-to-text technologies, students might be able to avoid short-circuits that sometimes occur between the formulation of an idea and getting down words on paper.

I have been trying out some new voice-to-text strategies with struggling adolescent writers over the past year. I’ll be presenting preliminary results this April, at the International Reading Association’s 58th Annual Convention, in a session titled “Learning by Ear: Sound Principles for Teaching Reading and Writing.” (Susan Homan is one of my co-presenters.)

References

Hannibal, N., Pedersen, I., Hestbaek, T., Sorensen, T., & Munk-Jorgensen, P. (2012). Schizophrenia and personality disorder patients’ adherence to music therapy. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry 66(6), 376-379.

Karagozoglu, F., & Yilmaz, F. (2012). Effects of music therapy and guided visual imagery on chemotherapy-induced anxiety and nausea-vomiting. Journal of Clinical Nursing 22, 39-50.

Särkämö, T., Pihko, E., Laitinen, S., Forsblom, A., Soinila, S., Mikkonen, M., Autti, T., Silvennoinen, H., Erkkilä, J., Laine, M., Peretz, I., Hietanen, M. & Tervaniemi, M. (2010). Music and speech listening enhance the recovery of early sensory processing after stroke. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 22, 2716-2727.

Lawrence Baines is a professor of English Education at The University of Oklahoma who has worked in over 350 schools. Baines is obsessed with the peculiar art of teaching writing to adolescents, and co-wrote the book GOING BOHEMIAN: HOW TO TEACH WRITING LIKE YOU MEAN IT (published by IRA) with his buddy, Anthony Kunkel. Visit him on the web at www.lawrencebaines.com.



Lawrence Baines on Romancing the Topic

Study: Musical training tones the mind, enhances learning

Father Time has turned a page in his calendar again and the New Year is upon us. I, for one, am excited—especially because we have inched that much closer to the adoption of the Common Core State Standards.

I spent a lot of time during my break thinking about the new standards. Re-reading them, listening to and contemplating tons of commentary, unpacking and then re-mixing ways to approach them (and so on), and the more I dive in—the more I reflect, the more I internalize and absorb them—the bigger fan I am of adopting Common Core.

Perhaps I could list 20 reasons why this is the case if I truly wanted to make the effort, but instead I’ll focus right now on a lean and pertinent two.

#1: The death knell for weak multiple choice tests has been sounded. Hooray, I say! The fact is, I’m not really sure who amongst us isn’t happy to hear this chime begin to ring throughout the national educational kingdom.

As so many of us know, No Child Left Behind brought us a plague of poor assessments (perhaps the peak of it can be found here), and over the past decade standardized tests have become the unfortunate tail that wags the schoolhouse dog. Principals have been fired over poor test results, teachers have been publicly ostracized—and terminated—over poor test results, and the underground resistance which has vociferously been shouting from the rooftops, “Your tests stink as student performance measures and are actually doing more harm than good to our schools” is about to see the notch of victory be etched into their collective belts.

photo: albertogp123 via photopin cc

Common Core is too complex, too rich, too demanding and too forward-thinking to be captured in a mere A, B, C, or D form of student assessment. In fact, our nation is seeing a bold new series of groups (namely, this one and this one) build better student evaluation mousetraps. Some of the ideas I’ve seen kicked around have me smiling at the notion that, “Hey, this ain’t your momma’s rote memory, lower-level Bloom’s type of test anymore.”

The coming assessments are going to be adaptive, multi-layered, trans-media, technology-based (of course) and far more insightful in terms of actually getting to see what a student really knows than anything we’ve poured billions into over the past ten years.

And yes, they are going to be much more challenging, as well. Which leads me to my second cause for celebration.

#2: The overall academic challenges our students will face will be much more demanding, but also more relevant as well.

The Common Core will raise the bar, and though there are skeptics—some of whom make some credible points —on the whole, I believe that Common Core is an elevation.

• Common Core puts a premium on writing unlike any we’ve ever had before.
• Common Core puts a premium on re-reading and close reading, unlike anything we’ve ever had before.
• Common Core recognizes the interdependent relationship between reading and writing and places a premium on students being able to read well and then write (cogently) in response to what they have read… unlike anything we have ever had before.
• Common Core places a premium on all of the aforementioned occurring in an interdisciplinary capacity—across all disciplines, across all grade levels—unlike anything we’ve really seen before.

This is “life tools beyond the K–12 classroom” stuff. After all, as so much data shows, people who read well and write well attain a sense of success in America that transcends mere income.

Highly literate people:

• Vote more.
• Are incarcerated less.
• Play a more active role in the community.
• Live longer lives.
• And so on…

See, Common Core isn’t shying away from asking more of many, many American students than our classrooms have been traditionally asking of them. “Raising expectations” used to be an empty buzz phrase that admins would casually toss around at their cozy little district offices. With Common Core, expectations have actually been raised and for some folks, the actual sight of this is terrifying.

Being somewhat afraid is a good thing. In a way, American schools have become somewhat stale and those butterflies we’re all feeling in our bellies are a sign, to me, that BIG CHANGE is coming. I’m not alone in thinking that the United States has become too comfortable, too filled with a sense of self-entitlement, and this sense of national hubris could very much be the trigger which precedes a great fall.

Our schools can certainly be more demanding. Common Core plans to tackle this issue head on.

Ultimately, I guess I don’t really have a problem with higher expectations. However, I do have a problem with unrealistic expectations. If the right PD and the resources aren’t provided for the Common Core, and policymakers take a page out of the NCLB playbook and merely want to shame teachers with dubious data without actually making a genuine effort to help them improve their craft, then this column is going to have a different tenor a few years from now.

That’s a promise.

But as the old saying goes, “Don’t fall before you are pushed.” We haven’t not risen to new heights yet, so why pre-suppose that we are not capable of doing so?

Common Core, you hold the promise of a new tomorrow—and it’s the time of year when thinking about new tomorrows excites me.

[The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the International Reading Association or its Board of Directors.]

Alan Sitomer was named California's 2007 Teacher of the Year. In addition to being an inner-city high school English teacher and former professor in the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University, Alan is a nationally renowned speaker specializing in engaging reluctant readers who received the 2004 award for Classroom Excellence from the Southern California Teachers of English, the 2003 Teacher of the Year honor from California Literacy, the 2007 Educator of the Year award by Loyola Marymount University and the 2008 Innovative Educator of the Year from The Insight Education Group. He’s the author of six young adult novels, three children's picture books, two teacher methodology books, and a classroom curriculum series for secondary English Language Arts instruction called THE ALAN SITOMER BOOK JAM. A Fun Look at Our Serious Work appears quarterly on the Engage blog.

Welcome to 2013 and the beginning of a new reading year. The Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association wishes everyone a Happy New Reading Year and would like to begin the year with some new reading possibilities for students and teachers. So many organizations listed their best and/or favorite books of the year and 2012 certainly had a wonderful crop of new titles. The list below reflects some of the later releases in 2012 titles but we also begin discussing some of the new titles coming out for the 2013 publishing year. Thanks to all the publishers who sent books for review to get the New Year launched! Over the next several weeks we will be honoring the 75th anniversary of the Randolph Caldecott Award so watch for Caldecott connections in the reviews.

GRADES K-3

Beake, Lesley. (2012). Little lion. Illus. by Erika Pal. London, UK: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books.

One bright sunny day, Dad brings home a pet that uncle has given him and says it is a dog. Mum, twin brothers Bob and the narrator of the story, look at the animal and can clearly see it is a lion! For months, the “dog”, now simply called Dog, gets accustomed to living in the house and truly becomes the family pet. However, Dog is growing and growing into a fully-grown lion with roars and scratches and big animal needs. Mum has slowly accepted Dog and gotten used to having him around and tells the boys they need to get him outside for regular exercise. The boys are afraid to take him around the neighborhood so they keep him in the garden and backyard. The school bully, Big Jonno, starts asking questions about the roars he hears coming from their house but the brothers continue to keep Dog out of sight. One inevitable day the lion escapes and Bob and his brother find him on top of Jonno who is terrified! They slowly manage to get their lion off Jonno, lingering just a bit to make sure Jonno won’t mess with them again. Retold from a South African tale, “Little Lion” makes a fun companion to 1953 Caldecott winner “The Biggest Bear” by Lynd Ward to compare what happens when wild animals become pets that are too big for a home. Use ReadWriteThink’s lesson idea for creating two Venn Diagrams to introduce the concept of comparison.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Marasli, Armen and Aida. (2012). Winds; a legend from the Lower Yukon. (retold). Illus. by Zepur Hanimyan. Agoura Hills, CA: World Legends for Kids.

A folktale from the lower Yukon region of Canada begins the new series from the publisher “… designed to introduce children to cultures around the world through pictures and traditional stories.” The story opens describing a time long ago when the Earth was young and there was no wind; no fierce storms, no gentle breezes. Along the Yukon River lived a couple that desperately wanted a child. Years went by and they remained childless. One night, a dream came to the wife telling her to make a blanket with bird feathers and so she did. On another occasion in a dream, a sled pulled by three dogs and an old driver appeared in her dreams. The driver took her on a dream journey to show her a solitary tree and told her she needed to make a doll from the trunk of this tree to bring her good fortune. When she awoke, she insisted her husband find that tree which he did. She then made the doll as instructed in her dream and placed it on a pillow by her bed. The next day the doll had become a little boy. As the young boy learns the village and ways of his people, he ventures to the edge of the world and sees four holes in the sky, each covered by a piece of animal skin. Being curious, he uses his spear to cut a slash through the skins. As the holes open warm airs pushes through in addition to birds and animals and he calls this Wind and says, “Wind, sometimes blow hard, sometimes soft, and sometimes not at all.” (p.26) As he continues to open each of the four holes, different seasonal winds and animals push through. And so, the young boy brought wind to the Earth. In celebrating the anniversary of the Caldecott Award this year, read this Yup’ik story along with Gerald McDermott’s 1975 Caldecott “Arrow to the Sun,” Paul Goble’s 1979 winner, “The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses,” or 1976 winner “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears” (Leo and Diane Dillon, Verna Aardema)  to compare native people stories. Watch for more at the publisher’s website.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Seven, John. (2012). A year with friends. Illus. by Jana Christy. New York: Abrams Appleseed.

This beautiful new picture book will be a great way to start the New Year in classrooms with young readers. Illustrated with soft shades and panels across double page spreads, the story line alternates between a young girl and a young boy having fun each month of the year. In August, they meet each other for the first time at the beach and build a sand castle together. Each double page thereafter shows the two friends together. Each month of the year offers a writing pattern “January is time for rolling down hills,” “April is time to get messy,” “August is time for the beach,” and concludes with “A new year is time for fun with new friends.” Primary teachers and school librarians will find a multitude of ways to use this book in classrooms and libraries. Learn more on the husband and wife author/illustrator team's website. ReadWriteThink offers a lesson plan on cycles and circular plot structures. Read aloud the 1965 Caldecott winner, May I Bring a Friend? (Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Beni Montresor) to continue the theme of friends.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

GRADES 3-5

Rau, Dana Meachen. (2013). Dessert designer; creations you can make and eat! Mankato, MN: Capstone Press.

The cover of this book alone invites creativity ensured to result in a tasty bite – just in time for Valentine’s Day treats. The contents are divided into chapters on cupcakes, cookies, candies and cakes. Opening with ideas for decorators and an itemized photograph for the decorator’s toolkit, photographs of beautifully decorated delectable desserts with step-by-step recipes await! Though most of these decorated beauties require an adult hand, there are a few that children could manage with adult help. The sidebar tips and ideas are especially helpful for those masters of the kitchen who like to expand on an idea. ReadWriteThink offers a lesson plan to have children write recipes that will make a suitable companion for this book. Bon appétit! A fresh start right from the oven.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

GRADES 5 - 8

Bausum, Ann. (2013). Our country’s presidents. Foreword by President Barack Obama. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic. 

As the nation begins a fresh start with the next term of the President, National Geographic has released this book in time for the Inauguration of the President of the United States on Jan. 20 and 21 for President Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States. Each section opens with a full-page portrait of the president with biographical information to follow. Quick fact boxes open each section as well and historic paintings, reproductions, newspaper articles and photographs complement each article. The articles are grouped into eras with representative timelines including: The Presidency and How it Grew, 1789-1837; From Sea to Shining Sea, 1837-1861; A New Birth of Freedom, 1861-1897; America Takes Center Stage, 1897-1933; Seeking Stability in the Atomic Age, 1933-1981; Footprints on the Global Frontier, 1981-Present. A comprehensive index, resource guide, and a chart of presidential election results are found at the end of the book. This book is the revised and updated edition from 2005 by author Ann Bausum. The publisher refers to this volume as “… the definitive family reference guide to the fascinating lives of our leaders past and present.” Learn more about the upcoming inauguration and the history of the ceremony.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Fleming, Candace. (2012). On the day I died: Stories from the grave. New York: Random House/Schwartz & Wade.

In this delightfully creepy book, nine different ghosts describe in ghastly fashion what happened on the day they died. The fear factor is heightened by the fact that the stories are being told in a cemetery and all of the deaths occurred in or near Chicago.  Teen Mike Kowalski listens empathetically as the stories seem to grow sadder and more horrifying. Upon their conclusion, he realizes just how close he came to being one of them.  One of the most appealing aspects of this collection is how the author draws from familiar suspense stories for inspiration. For instance, her story “Lily” describes what happens to that cursed paw from the original story "The Monkey's Paw." She chillingly combines elements of Edgar Allan Poe's "Berenice" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" in her story "Edgar."  A perfect read aloud on a dark and lonely night or during a slumber party, this collection is likely to prompt readers to slow down, make a fresh start and appreciate the days that lie ahead, just as Mike learns to do. Readers won't want to skip the back matter in which the author explains the inspiration for each of the short stories.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

GRADES 9-12

Avery, Lara. (2012). Anything but ordinary. New York: Hyperion.

Bryce Graham, now age 22, is coming out of a five-year coma, and has to start a new life. Bryce hoped for a shot at the Olympics when an error in judgment during her dive at the Olympic trials left her hospitalized for five years. On the brink of giving up hope, her parents are ecstatic that Bryce has returned, but Bryce discovers that the five years missing from her life have left a gap she has to work through and decide about her new steps forward. Miraculously, her recovery moves very quickly. Her doctors are concerned at how quickly this miraculous comeback is taking place. Many things have changed, however, and life has certainly moved ahead while Bryce was in the hospital. Her parents seem to be struggling with their marriage. Her once sweet little sister, Sydney, has become a goth and bitter wild teen. Her best friend and boyfriend, now graduated from college are also now engaged … to each other! As Bryce tries to sort out all these new scenarios and find her place in the contemporary world, questions and decisions abound. Carter, the young hospital intern has been at her side from the beginning as Bryce discovers. As her recovery seems to keep moving at an incredible pace, her decisions about what is next for her take an unexpected turn. Read more at the author's website.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Blumenthal, Karen. (2012). Steve Jobs: The man who thought different. New York: Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends.

This biography about Steve Jobs describes the deep contradictions within the man who changed the music, film, and communications industry. The life story of the man who became the face of Apple is framed around a 2005 commencement speech he gave at Stanford. It’s interesting to note that Jobs himself never earned a college degree. The author weaves in personal and anecdotal information around the three stories Jobs related to the graduates at that ceremony, allowing readers to decide for themselves how they feel about the man. As successful as Jobs was in his business efforts, he also experienced failures, sometimes very public failures, and had to overcome challenges. It's never quite clear--other than his having been adopted--what formed his unique personality and drive to succeed and to control so many aspects of the company he was trying to run. Readers may shake their heads as he seems to deny that he has cancer or even possibly wonder about the ethics of a company keeping the health of one of its top officials a secret. Nevertheless, Job’s philosophical reminder not to waste the limited time each of us has is an excellent thought for the start of a new year.  Teen readers will enjoy reading this title and trying to tease out this man's motivations and understand his personality while smiling at the black and white photographs of the young Jobs.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Condie, Ally. (2012). Reached. New York: Penguin/Dutton Children’s Books. 

In the satisfying final installment of the Matched series, Cassia, Ky, and Xander are all busily working to create a better world, each in their own way.  Since the story is told through each of their eyes, readers are able to understand each of the three main characters’ motivations and feelings. The author does a splendid job of showing how the two sides to the conflict, the Society and the Rising, start to resemble each other more as this book moves to its conclusion. In the first book, the Society seems so all controlling and evil, but now readers will notice that neither side is without blame. The rebellion of the Rising and its leaders has been so infiltrated by Society members and vice versa that it becomes hard to sort the good folks from the bad ones. Maybe in the end, there is little point to generalizing groups of individuals. Teen readers will enjoy thinking about several ethics questions at the heart of this novel, and some will even savor the poetic language with which the author tells this story of survival, determination, and ultimately, hope. The author's decision to circle back again to a few important events in the first book adds to this one's power and shows the characters’ growth. The ruminations about how easy it is to fall in love the first time since you don't know about the possible heartaches and losses and how brave it is to try to love again are particularly apt and worthy of much consideration. By the time the end of the novel has been reached, its main characters have that fresh start they dreamed about, even if things don’t turn out quite the way they envisioned.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Hesse, Karen. (2012). Safekeeping. New York: Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends. 

Discord erupts in the United States after the American People’s Party assumes power while teen Radley Parker-Hughes is volunteering in an orphanage in Haiti. She returns home to restrictions on travel from one state to another and an empty house. She decides to walk from New Hampshire to Vermont, and when her parents are nowhere to be found, she heads north to Canada where she hopes to find sanctuary. Along the way she meets another traveler, Celia, and together, they fashion a makeshift home in an abandoned schoolhouse. As Radley travels, she must be wary of others and the risk of being caught and jailed. Overheard conversations and newspaper snippets describing the riots and illnesses in the overcrowded prison systems are her source of information about her homeland. The fact that she is traveling through fairly sparsely inhabited areas also adds to her limited perspective on national events. The inclusion of several black and white photographs (taken by the author) alongside the text oftentimes reflects Radley's mood while also representing her photographer mother's keen visual eye. A child of privilege, the introspective Radley reminds herself of the many times her parents have helped her out of messes she has made, something she wishes they could do now. In the end, though, the book's power and impact can be summed up through the words of Madame Seville, a kindly Canadian who has befriended Radley: “‘As long as you live, it is never too late to make amends. Take my advice, child. Don't waste your precious life with regrets and sorrow. Find a way to make right what was wrong, and then move on’” (p. 277). What perfect words to follow for the rest of our lives! Enjoy more from Hesse in the Engage post "In Other Words: Karen Hesse (SAFEKEEPING) Writes the Future."

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Hoose, Phillip M. (2012). Moonbird: A year on the wind with the great survivor B95. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

This amazing nonfiction title describes a feat that is stranger than many fiction stories. In eight engaging chapters, Phillip Hoose makes readers care about the most unlikely of winged heroes, the rufa red knot, known as B95 because of its band number, and affectionately called the Moonbird because the distance he has flown during his lifetime equals a trip to the moon and halfway back. Each year this amazing bird flies from Tierra del Fuego near the bottom of the Earth to San Antonio Bay and then to Delaware Bay where it gorges before heading further north to Southampton Island. There it mates, breeds, and eats before flying south once again. The bird was first banded in 1995, and scientists think he is around 20 years old. Each year, when scientists band and count red knots, they look for him since he has become a symbol of survival and persistence, and his existence represents an amazing feat. This tiny bird has survived predators, long, tiring flights, and threats from various viruses as well as dwindling food sources, thanks to constant human encroaching on his feeding grounds. As he does with every topic he tackles--the ivory-billed woodpecker, civil rights, basketball--Hoose provides interesting details about his topic, and then, provides ways that they can act to make a change. Additionally, the thumbnail sketches of scientists and youngsters who are involved in making sure there is a place for B95 and others of his species answer any questions readers might have as they are reading. Above all, this is a survival story nestled within a story of conservation, one that reminds readers of the interconnection of species. There are several photographs and maps that help readers understand exactly how far this bird has flown and how unlikely his survival really is. Given the odds against him, how can we not care about the fate of B95 and others like him? Nonfiction doesn’t get better than this.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Howard, A. G. (2013). Splintered. New York: Abrams/Amulet Books.

Alyssa Gardner is not the typical teen. Able to hear the thoughts of insects and plants, she fears being hospitalized just like her mother if she admits to those delusions. But are they delusions? Her father has finally given permission for shock treatment to help her mother get better, a decision that Alyssa does not support. In order to find out the truth about her mother, she steps through a mirror and into a completely alien world on the night of the prom. She is lured there by Morpheus, a figure she remembers from her childhood. As she makes her way through this strange place, she realizes that some of it seems familiar and yet is twisted slightly.  It seems that Alyssa is inextricably linked with her ancestor, the original Alice from the Lewis Carroll stories. Accompanied by Jed, the handsome boy next door, Alyssa must undo all the havoc caused by the original Alice when she went through that famous rabbit hole long ago. All the tasks set before her are challenging, and she must find inner strength to complete them. Along the way, she becomes a pawn in the middle of an insane political battle between opposing sides, neither of which can be trusted. The author builds a credible world, by turns alluring and in the next second, frightening or horrifying, through which Jed and Alyssa. While readers will find it helpful to have read Lewis Carroll's works, including “Jabberwocky,” this title is engaging enough on its own to hold their interest or to prompt a peek into the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865. Wonderland is filled with much that is not as wonderful as might be expected, and yet, it is in Wonderland that Alyssa accepts her true nature. The cover with its swirling tendrils and insects surrounding Alyssa will surely attract teen readers who will not disappointed with this magical, edgy tale.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Marsh, Katherine. (2012). Jepp, who defied the stars. New York: Hyperion.

Edgar-Award winning author Katherine Marsh has blended a footnote from history into an intriguing story set in the 16th century about the life of Jepp, a dwarf born in Brussels. Raised in a country inn by a loving mother and the people who frequent the inn, Jepp is one day offered a life at court by an impressive traveler. Thinking it is the best for Jepp’s future, he sets off with this courtier to begin a new life with the Spanish Infanta. However, life at court is not as he imagined as he is placed with other dwarves as part of the court “collection” of oddities used for the entertainment of the queen. Jepp is not only disappointed but also humiliated and plots his escape. The narration of the story is deftly told through Jepp’s voice, especially when his escape plot is foiled and he is imprisoned in a cage and deported to his new life as the court dwarf for astronomer Tyche Brache on his island castle Coudenberg in Denmark. Jepp’s life takes a dramatic turn as he becomes accustomed to this new scientific atmosphere in which he discovers an affinity for astronomy that offers a whole new factual look at the stars. An important thread throughout the story is the question of Jepp’s father’s identity. Gnawing at him always, this question leads him to search for the answer taking him back to Brussels in search of answers. Steeped in historical and unusual facts, this is a most unusual but fascinating adventure. This book is a 2012 NY Times Notable Children’s Book and The Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Books of 2012. Read more about the author and view some background videos of the period on Katherine Marsh’s website, and see her "In Other Words: On a Writer's Journey, Finding a Fellow Traveler" post on the Engage blog. 

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Meyer, Marissa. (2013). Scarlet: The Lunar Chronicles. New York: Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends.

Who thinks of combining fairy tales and science fiction? Well, not only does Marissa Meyer do exactly that in the first installment of The Lunar Chronicles when she creates a Cinderella-like character that happens to be a cyborg, but also she does it very well. In the second title in this saga, she introduces Scarlet Benoit, who lives in the rural part of France where she grows vegetables with her grandmother. Scarlet has red hair and usually wears a red hoodie, and is determined to find her missing grandmother. When she happens to meet a fierce street fighter named Wolf with a strange tattoo, she suspects him of having something to do with her grandmother’s disappearance and then hopes he can offer some clues about her whereabouts. Despite her misgivings, she decides to trust him, and they set off for Paris. Meanwhile, Linh Cinder manages to escape from prison and look for links to her past. Readers will turn the book's pages as fast as they can to find out how the paths of these two strong female characters come together, to reveal the link between Scarlet’s grandmother and Cinder and to see how long Emperor Kai can keep the treacherous Queen Levana at bay. The title is filled with twists and turns as well as romantic possibilities, leaving readers desperate for the next two titles. In her own way, Scarlet is just as interesting as Cinder.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

These reviews are submitted by members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) and are published weekly on Reading Today Online. The International Reading Association partners with the National Council of Teachers of English and Verizon Thinkfinity to produce ReadWriteThink.org, a website devoted to providing literacy instruction and interactive resources for grades K–12.

Upon years of research into best practices in reading, I unearthed an amazing approach to teaching reading that has been shown to consistently boost student performance. This secret could cause a stir across American classrooms if implemented widely. The editors of Engage have permitted me to share it for a limited time, in the hope that this highly-innovative teaching strategy catches the fancy of policymakers, the media and general public. It is a remarkable “reading makeover” that could save countless precious budget dollars while producing phenomenal results.

It has been shown to work with all ages. I have found that I can train teachers, administrators and parents how to easily and affordably implement this program in a matter of weeks. It has been shown to work from coast to coast, in both affluent schools and under-resourced ones, from the inner city to suburbs to rural areas. English language learners and special needs students have seen dramatic improvements in reading using this innovative method. There are even unconfirmed reports that many educators report significant increases in their job satisfaction when utilizing this technique.

So what exactly is this “reading makeover?”

It starts with you providing a variety of high-interest reading materials in your classroom, from magazines to digital books, newspapers to novels, poetry to informational texts.

But you already knew that, right?

And it should go without saying that the best way to improve students’ reading aptitudes and attitudes is by giving them plenty of opportunities throughout the day to actually read various texts and discuss reactions to these texts. This is commonplace in today’s schools, isn’t it?

We recognize that reading aloud to students of any age is one of the single best ways to engage students’ interest in reading. So that’s why you can go into any middle school or high school as well as elementary schools in America and see students absorbed in a teacher’s daily read aloud.

Right?

Sadly, this is not the case. A lot of really smart folks with good intentions have spent a lot of money searching for The Holy Grail of teaching reading, ignoring the solution that has been right under their noses all along. Some really good educators have quit their jobs in frustration, while concerned parents across the United States search for answers to how they can help their children succeed.

At the same time, scores of children have been bombarded with test preparation materials while being denied the very resources that have been shown to improve reading: interesting reading materials, time to read and discuss what they are reading in class, and daily read alouds.

One of the bummers about writing articles about the importance of reading to members of the International Reading Association is that it is preaching to the choir. So why devote any space to revealing best reading practices that everybody already knows about?

Well, there are plenty of folks (myself, included) who find themselves at the beginning of 2013 resolving to live healthier lifestyles, but how many of us will take action? I see so many educators who are fearful to devote any precious class time to reading for fun because they think it will seem they are wasting time that could be “better-spent” addressing Language Arts Standard 13.96.87. I constantly ask audiences attending my presentations the simple question: “What good is it teaching students how to read if they never want to read?”

Working with students of all ages, I have seen firsthand time and again that once students see reading as a pleasurable activity, they start to read more, and the more they read, the better they get at it. It does not matter if the students choose to read James Joyce or JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH; people who read more, read better.

I am on airplanes virtually every week, and I cannot remember the last time I sat next to someone reading Dostoevsky, Moliere, or Shakespeare, but I sit next to plenty of folks who read USA TODAY, PEOPLE magazine, and FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. And that’s great! These are folks who choose to read rather than look at the back of an airplane seat or watch an airline’s edited version of the latest Jennifer Lopez movie. People who read make so much better conversationalists.

The secret to teaching reading rests in the title of this blog: Engage.

So I challenge administrators to engage their faculties by opening faculty meetings with great read alouds (and if you are an administrator reading this, I will gladly provide you with your own customized list).

I challenge teachers to talk about their favorite reading materials with students, ask students which genres and authors rock their worlds and read aloud a variety of texts to their classes, while also providing time in class for students to read different works.

I challenge schools to fund their libraries and stock shelves with titles that will appeal to broader audiences than those studying 18th century British literature.

I challenge parents to support their local independent bookstores and public libraries and make reading an integral part of their daily rituals. And I challenge policymakers who are so interested in reading research to start reading the research.

Folks, we know what to do. I used to always send my students home with one maxim: education is valuable, but execution is priceless. Are you up for the challenge? If you choose to provide your students with lots of interesting reading materials, facilitate time to read in class with discussions about what various individuals are reading, and read aloud a variety of great texts in your classroom, I guarantee that your students —however young or old—will become lifelong, passionate and more proficient readers.

Now make it happen.

Invited to speak to over 100 international venues last year alone, Dr. Danny Brassell is considered “America’s Leading Reading Ambassador.” He is part of the Invited Speaker Symposium, "Readin', Writin', and 'Rithmetic: Revisited Through the Common Core State Standards," with Ruth Culham, Steven Layne and Greg Tang at IRA's 58th Annual Convention, April 19-22, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. Danny (www.dannybrassell.com) will also present a session on building home-school reading connections.