Re: Target: ELEM: The Giver

[Shelly & Mark Beseda <beseda@CVTV.NET>]

I used The Giver in my 7th grade Reading class.  The response to the book
was mixed.  As with most books, some of my students liked it and some did
not.  Several of my students did not understand why the book was given such
a prestigious award as the Newbery Medal.  We discussed this issue, and
decided that it was because the book makes the reader think.  Although some
of my students did not really like the book, they all admitted that they
enjoyed the  lively discussions that resulted from the controversial issues
presented in the book.  As a teacher, the book fullfilled one of my ultimate
goals--to encourage thought.

The thing that most discouraged me about the book is something that bothers
me about many books--the reading level that it was assigned was something
around 6th grade.  While most of my students had no problem deciphering the
language in the book, very few of my 7th graders really understood the
themes of the novel.  I think that when people assign reading levels to
books they should not only take into account the length of the words, amount
of white space on the page, etc., but they also should pay close attention
to the content of the book.


Sincerely,

Shelly Beseda, Librarian
Fayetteville I.S.D., Fayetteville, TX
beseda@cvtv.net

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