Sneak-reading: Books We and Our Students Can't Put Down

I love writing blog posts. Especially when my neighbor across the street, Stephanie, tells me she reads my blogs and gets excited when she sees a new one! To think that anyone would actually take the time to read what I have written! During this same conversation the other evening (over a glass of wine on the sidewalk while children were playing) I was sharing with Stephanie that I am currently addicted to Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy. I cannot put the books down; I finish one and download the next as soon as I can.

Stephanie nodded understandingly and described going into middle-school classrooms to observe student teachers. She said that she always pays attention to and tries to read the books that students have hidden between their laps and their desks—the ones they are sneaking to read when they should be paying attention to their teacher! One of those titles was The Hunger Games and it is now on Stephanie’s bedside table to read.

Stephanie’s anecdote reminded me of a lesson study cycle when 20 of us were in the classroom observing a teacher teach the research lesson. We were collecting data and closely watching the students. And, even in that context with all of those teachers in the room, a young man was so engrossed in the book he was reading beneath his desk that he could not stop reading to pay attention to the teacher. I wish I had been as thoughtful as my friend Stephanie and written down the title of the book he was addicted to for my later enjoyment!

My eleven-year-old son, Reid, said he used to do this all the time in fourth grade but he hasn’t been able to read under his desk in fifth and sixth grade because the school doesn’t have the kind of desks that have a drawer beneath the writing surface—perfect for “sneak-reading” a book. I asked him what kinds of books he used to read when the teacher wasn’t looking—he said he read the Harry Potter series, Warriors, and Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. There is something special about a series that hooks you, isn’t there? Is it the familiarity with the characters? Maybe the ease of starting the next book? It does seem that series are often the ones kids are addicted to and choose to “sneak-read.” What are some other titles you have noticed children not be able to put down? And, should we “ride this horse in the direction it is headed” and just let students read more in schools?

Isabel McLean is a National Education Consultant at Developmental Studies Center