My 10-year-old came home with a Recommended Reading List which was generated from a
Scholastic SRI test he took, based on the lexile score. Here are some of the
"recommendations": Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz, Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye
Gibbons, The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Haley, and Coping with Substance Abuse
by McFarland! Now, I am not all in a tither about language, or even, uh, colorful,
situations (the review notes that the Malcolm X book covers his experiences with
drugs and as a pimp!), but am distressed that there has absolutely been no regard
for a 10-year-old's interest level or grasp of material. Charms for the Easy Life
is a lovely book, but he would have no frame of reference (coming of age story with
strong female characters during the 1940s) or even a remote interest in this book.
The substance abuse book is copyright 1987 and there are books ranging from 912
pages (Mists of Avalon by Bradley) to 32 pages (the Silk Route by Major).
I am seriously concerned that students will be turned off to reading books on these
really poorly designed lists. In addition, the school district is located in a
very conservative area and some of these titles could invite controversy. It
infuriates me that Scholastic just arbitrarily spits out titles based on reading
scores! I am also irritated, once again, that there is no degreed media specialist
at the school who would have caught this and perhaps suggested alternate choices.
I am meeting with his teacher today and need ideas for other reading lists which
are arranged by reading level. Can anyone recommend some decent or
librarian-designed lists? Or, does anyone have suggestions for high-level reading
5th graders? I'm not a supporter of AR, so please don't send that as a suggestion.
I welcome any thoughts or suggestions.
Susan McCaffrey, Media Specialist and District Coordinator
East Grand Rapids Public Schools (MI)
smccaffr@egrps.org
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