Bookspotting, 4th Grade
October 13, 2008
I borrow the term "bookspotting" from The New Yorker's Book Bench bloggers. They're always noticing someone reading something interesting on the subway and around town.
During silent reading time in a fourth-grade classroom recently, I spied kids engrossed in these books, among others:
Gregor the Overlander, by Suzanne Collins
The Great Brain, by John D. Fitzgerald
Magic Tree House: Carnival at Candlelight, by Mary Pope Osborne
Warriors: Into the Wild, by Erin Hunter
The People of Sparks, by Jeanne DuPrau
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray, by Ann M. Martin
Photograph: Children Reading 1940, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (via Wikimedia Commons)
I'm getting to be positively tiresome around school with, "What're ya readin'?" but I don't care. It never fails to tell me something about the kid, something about current school culture, or something that I've missed.
Recent observations:
the Titanic - still big
Girls reading seriously scary books
We're gonna need more My Weird School, and soon
Volcanoes - also big
Posted by: your neighborhood librarian | October 13, 2008 at 02:03 PM
I hear ya, YNL.
I'm fascinated by kids' reading choices. The 4th grader in this house is in keeping with your Titanic trend, having read one NF about the ship and one novel (White Star: A Dog on the Titanic).
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | October 13, 2008 at 02:10 PM
Boy do I love The Great Brain. Fourth graders read the coolest things.
Lucas recently read Into the Wild, which I believe may very well be the first book he's read that I haven't. He has attempted to correct this, though, by loaning me the book. I think I'm going to have to read it when I'm done with the new Sarah Vowell.
Posted by: adrienne | October 15, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Into the Wild? Holy smokes. That's quite a book for a fourth-grader! Wait a minute. You probably mean Sarah Beth Durst's novel, right? Not Jon Krakauer's book of nonfiction (for adults). I've read the Krakauer and would like to read the other.
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | October 15, 2008 at 06:07 PM
Oh, I also chose The Great Brain for silent reading time at school around that age! And I am also very interested in what kids are reading (but not their assigned reading). :D
Posted by: Tarie | November 01, 2008 at 03:01 PM
Tarie, me, too. I love to see the books that kids are really into.
Adrienne, now I know that you're talking about the "Into the Wild" from the Warriors. My mistake!
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | November 02, 2008 at 11:54 AM