Reading Challenge

This week I am going to kick off our 20 Book Challenge. I found it via the Readingzone, and couldn't help but be excited. I have some kids who are voracious readers, as well as quite a few who are more than slightly ambivalent. The 20 Book Challenge will look something like this...

By the end of the school year, you are challenged to read 20 different books. Of those 20 books, 5 books will need to come from a predetermined list (1/4 of the books). There will be a list of approximately 40 books for the kids to chose from, with the list coming from National Book Award winners, ALA Notable Books, Newberry Winners and those nominated, Sasquatch Award books, Battle of the Books, and Global Reading Challenge books. They can read other books, they need to get those cleared through me.

Why am I doing this? Kids need to develop a love of reading, and reading often isn't their first choice of spare time activities. Additionally, many of the kids I have taught in my two years struggle to find a book that they like independently. That being said, I have had tremendous success with kids once I have steered them to a book, author, or series. Beyond my work in novel study, I want kids to have read a variety of books with a myriad of characters and storylines.

The math behind this looks something like this...

• 20 books at an average of 300 pages per book= 6,000 pages
• We have 34 weeks between now and the end of the school year, including school breaks but excluding the last half week in June... 6,000/34= 176 pages per week.
• You should be reading everyday of the week, so 176/7= 25 pages per night.
• Say you take one day off, and only read 6 days of the week... 176/6= 29 pages per day.
• 2 Comprehension Projects (one by the end of January, one by end of May)- book reviews, book jacket, book talk presentation, etc.

You might ask, what happens if they don't finish? My response is: We are going to read 20 books. There isn't anything punitive. But I don't want to lower the bar at all, because lowering the bar will give all my kids an escape route to not finish.