Children and Young Adult Novels

I really enjoyed this unit. It was exciting because Speak and Stargirl were book I always wanted to read when I was younger, but never got a chance to. I also really enjoyed this unit because since I really want to teach sixth grade, this unit was very useful to me. Sixth grade seems to be the age where students start to "dislike" reading. I really want to be that teacher in their life that can show them that reading can be fun, it can be interesting, and there are books out there for everyone. I know that all three of the books we have read I will use in my future career.

-Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

-Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

-Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket

I also really want to look into other books by these authors. I think the most important thing that I learned from this unit, is that it is important for teachers to read children and young adult novels. It is important because then teachers will be able to recommend books to students. They will get to know their students and will be able to tell what kinds of books they will like. Students will be more likely to enjoy reading if they are reading something they enjoy. It will make students feel special knowing that their teachers have taken the time of finding a book they think that student will like. I think another thing that I learned was that children and young adult novels aren't always "fluffy." They can talk about tough issues and they can use big words. Students, especially sixth graders are going to want to read those books that push the limits. They will feel like rebels knowing that they are reading something that isn't necessarily rated G. I think that it is important for students to read books that talk about tough issues to make students aware. It is important for teachers to open their students eyes to the world around them, and these types of books can do just that. I cannot wait to have group and class discussions in my future class about literature. I am going t strive to push all of my students to become "good" readers. I want them to be excited about what they are reading and excited about discussing literature in my class. These novels that we have read during this unit are not so black and white and I think thats great.

I want to use the following websites later on :

Children's literature website- www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/ it has tons of suggestions for books as well as other great resources

I would love to use www.readwritethink.org (even though I have already mentioned this website in my blog I think it is a great one to write down again)

This is a great website for young adult novels http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/printzaward/Printz.cfm

Author's webpages:

www.lemonysnicket.com

www.jerryspinelli.com/newbery_002.htm