Literary Throwdown

A student challenged me today - read Halo: The Fall of Reach (The official prequel to the award-winning Xbox game!) because "it's a really good book, Miss!" He was super excited about this book. In fact, he has read it three times, and it looks like he has read it multiple times. It's all battered and beaten and it doesn't quite close all the way.

This got me thinking. My students really do love to read. I'd like to think that I did that this year by allowing them to read whatever novel their little hearts desire. I mean, as a teacher, it is in my nature to take the credit when something goes right, and to blame the students when something goes horribly wrong. However, I don't think it's all me. While I know for a fact I have several students who are now reading because of my doing, I have tons more who always loved to read. At home. With the lights off and a flashlight on. When no one was looking. Secret readers. Fearing getting teased, these students refused to carry books at school. Some even refused to allow their own families to see that they loved to read. But they have been readers for years and years. And now that almost every single student is carrying a book around, these students can stop being secret readers and read whenever the heck they want. You know, because it's for school and all ... not because they want to or anything :)

One student spent her summer reading the Vampire Academy books.There are six pretty thick books in this series. But that's what she spent her time this summer doing. Then, to my amazement, she and another student got into a heated debate about the outcome of the novels centered around plot lines and characterization. Blew. My. Mind.

Another student rejected every book I gave him as lame. Finally the librarian gave him a copy of Bruiser by Neal Shusterman. I cannot get this kid to put his books down. He has read one Shusterman novel after another. It's like an addiction for him.

I have students who take their books to lunch. I have students who cheer when we have a reading day. I have students begging to go to the library! It has truly been an amazing year so far with reading. I have not ever witnessed this kind of literary enthusiasm in my ten years of teaching.

So we come full circle back to Halo: The Fall of Reach. I never would have picked this book up in a million years. First off, it's based on a video game (one I love to play, but still ... it's based on a video game). Second, it is written for people who play this game a lot. (I'm not going to get into stereotypes here, but you all know what I'm implying.) It is full of very technical descriptions of nouns which do not really exist. Third, it is such a boy book!

But I've been challenged. A literary throwdown of sorts has been issued, so I must answer it. It's a matter of pride ... and good teaching. How can I expect him to trust me when I tell him to read something because it's really good if I won't return the favor? So while I know this will probably be a literary beating, I will spend some time over my break reading Halo: The Fall of Reach.

Because my student asked me to.

This way, I can ask him to read Little Women.