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3/9/13 14:36Teachers, principals, school administrators:
Please do not assign the entire school, or the entire grade, to read a book that's been out of print for a decade and that costs $50 on AbeBooks.
Please do not assign them a book that's only out in hardcover.
Unless your school district is so wealthy that you're sure that 95% of your students will be able to buy the book outright, go to the public library catalog and check how many copies we own. It may be a classic, but that's no guarantee. We don't have 400 copies of anything except the latest two or three Wimpy Kid books. (And those have an astonishing rate of getting ripped and chewed.)
I can put on my Stephen Krashen hat and implore people to let children read whatever books they want to over the summer, but if you must choose a single book for your whole class, keep it to one class. 30 or 35 people. Or supply the books through the school, rather than shifting the financial burden onto kids who don't want to read the book in the first place.
Please do not assign the entire school, or the entire grade, to read a book that's been out of print for a decade and that costs $50 on AbeBooks.
Please do not assign them a book that's only out in hardcover.
Unless your school district is so wealthy that you're sure that 95% of your students will be able to buy the book outright, go to the public library catalog and check how many copies we own. It may be a classic, but that's no guarantee. We don't have 400 copies of anything except the latest two or three Wimpy Kid books. (And those have an astonishing rate of getting ripped and chewed.)
I can put on my Stephen Krashen hat and implore people to let children read whatever books they want to over the summer, but if you must choose a single book for your whole class, keep it to one class. 30 or 35 people. Or supply the books through the school, rather than shifting the financial burden onto kids who don't want to read the book in the first place.