Are Books Really Disappearing From American Classrooms?
Measuring whether "whole texts" are truly vanishing—and what to do about it—isn’t clear cut.
Laura Patranella makes it a priority to read at least one novel each year with her elementary school students, relishing both the depth of these works and students’ communal experience of talking about them.
This year, her 5th graders took on Love That Dog, a novel-in-verse by the young adult author Sharon Creech.
Sharon Creech is so good at this, where she just hits you hard
The novel tells the story of Jack, a boy who initially resists poetry assignments from his teacher, but eventually uses them to work through his emotions and find his own voice.
Author summary: Books remain essential in American classrooms.