The teacher who had my 5th grade class last year believed in using trade books to
teach reading instead of a basal reader. She had ordered books for the students to
use this year and one of those was "The Capture" by Kathryn Lasky, which is the
first book in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. We started reading it right after
Christmas and I started noticing sequels to the book on the boys' desks. When we
had class discussions about the book, the boys would tell the class incidents that
happened in the sequels so, of course, other students wanted the sequels as well.
I even bought a copy of books 2-6 so I would know what the students were talking
about. I got interested in the series, too. Two of the boys even wrote their book
reports on the sequels. The boys have checked out every copy of the series that
our library has and several have bought copies of books 2-6.
I have had several of the boys' parents tell me that their sons were so interested
in the series, that they would rather read than play with video games. One of them
was surprised because she said she rarely saw her son pick up a book and now he is
wanting to read all the books. Some of the boys are having races to see which ones
can read the books the fastest.
I have several girls who are reading the series, but not as avidly as the boys. I
asked the students what they liked about the series and they mentioned the mystery,
the fighting, and that the characters are all owls.
Madeline Buchanan
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Madeline L. Buchanan
Retired Library Media Specialist (Birmingham City Schools)
5th Grade Teacher
Jefferson Christian Academy
Birmingham, AL
madeline@mlbuchanan.com
http://www.mlbuchanan.com
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