The Book Whisperer (12 page)

As part of their education as readers, it is necessary for students to learn the common language that readers speak when discussing and investigating books. I frame instruction and discussions all year long around genre, the formal categorization of books. Some students are not familiar with the term, but they understand the difference between fiction and nonfiction and that books can share character types, plotlines, and settings. These story elements have been covered in classes before, but I am expected to revisit them, according to state standards.

Rather than force students to endure a boring rehash of information that they have learned previously, I use what students already know to build an understanding of how these elements differ across genres and how characterization, plot, and setting are used to classify books. Through class discussions, we develop guidelines for identifying nonfiction, too, exploring what types of information are provided by biographies or informational books, as well as text features and formats. Because most of my sixth graders have yet to be introduced to memoir, I find that this is a good time to introduce it; I define a memoir as an autobiography that focuses on a specific period in the author's life. Poetry I save for last because it does not clearly share the structure of other genres and has its own unique elements. I start our investigation of genre the same way each year because that allows me to assess students' prior knowledge of literary concepts and, at the same time, lay a foundation for future reading based on genre requirements. I need to get a feel for what students already know before we can move forward.

With a pile of books in my hand and a grin on my face—a sight that will become all too common to my students as the year progresses—I call out to them, “Ladies and gentlemen, get out your genre notes so that we can talk about fantasy.” Students pull out their genre notes, where they record the characteristics of each genre as we explore it, and find the heading for the fantasy section. “Keeping in mind our conversations about characters, what do we already know about the characters in fantasy books?”

One student claims, “Well, most characters in fantasy books are wizards or witches like Harry Potter.”

“I agree that if a book has a wizard or magic user in it, then it has to be fantasy, but do
all
fantasy books have these kinds of characters? Can anyone give me an example of a book that doesn't have a wizard in it, but is still fantasy?”

Several students provide examples of books with realistic settings and characters that contain magical events, such as
Tuck Everlasting
and
The Word Eater
. This leads to another heated discussion about whether books that have talking animals in them, such as
Charlotte's Web
and
Redwall
, are fantasy or not. We decide they are. I dash off as many of my students' ideas as I can onto chart paper, all the while urging students to avoid generalizations by staying away from words such as
all
and
every
when making their suggestions. Because twelve-year-olds can still be fairly literal, I explain that there are subtle distinctions even within a genre.

I remind them, “Honestly, fantasy books could have any type of character you could imagine, including everyday people, but what we are looking for are character types that cannot occur in any genre
but
fantasy.”

We eventually decide on some broad character types that earmark a book as fantasy: magic users, talking animals, and mythical creatures. During this conversation, we have discussed scores of books and even some movies in order to provide evidence that supports our opinions. Students may not have had enough reading experiences to illustrate the genre discussion with book examples, but they know stories. Basic story grammar is found in the movies and television shows they watch, too. Encouraging students to give examples based on any knowledge they have, not just from books, prevents the avid readers from dominating all of the early discussions we have about books and shows students that I value what they do understand. This practice provides yet another inroad to meeting students where they are.

Moving on to discuss the settings and plotlines common to fantasy novels, we add these characteristics to the list. Over the course of two weeks or so, we investigate all of the genres in our class library and create lists of the elements of each. We also review characterization, plot, setting, text structure, and figurative language. We talk about how time travel by magic determines that a book is fantasy, whereas time travel by means of advanced technology renders it science fiction. We debate whether historical events have to be the center of a plot to make a book historical fiction. New terms such as
anthology
and
novella
arise naturally from these conversations, too. We talk and talk about books.

Through these conversations, I am able to assess my students' prior knowledge and reading experiences. Melissa's notes from this series of class discussions show how these conversations shaped her understanding of the characteristics of each genre (see
Figure 4.1
).

While we create definitions, we also look at stacks of books to determine whether students' knowledge of the characteristics of each genre can help them determine a book's genre when previewing it. Understanding the basic structure and plotlines of different genres helps students choose books and make predictions while reading. Students without a reading identity, who do not know enough about books to know what they might like to read, gain a greater understanding of the kinds of books available to them, too.

In order to move our discussions of the characteristics of individual genres beyond a merely academic exercise, I expect students to be able to apply what they have learned to books they may not have read. Our classroom library is organized by genre, and I want to know whether students can use their understanding of genre to select books in our library and make assumptions about what each offers to readers.

A few weeks into our unit on genre, students walk in the door to find several unmarked tubs from our class library waiting for them at every desk group.

I lead them to today's topic by sharing one tub of books with them. “In this tub, I have several books that are from the same genre. As I read to you the teasers on the backs of these books, use your notes and our class discussions to determine which genre you think this tub contains.”

FIGURE 4.1
:
A Student's Notes on the Characteristics of Genres

After students determine that the books in my tub are realistic fiction because the events, settings, and characters seem plausible to them, I direct their attention to the tubs on their desks: “Now, I want you to work with your table groups. Use your knowledge of genre characteristics to identify the genre of the books in the tubs on your desks.”

Engrossed in note taking and previewing books, students dig into the tubs at their desks. Two girls in the back of the room wave me over to serve as mediator. Their group is at an impasse and cannot agree on which genre their plastic tub contains.

“We think the books are historical fiction because the back covers of different books mention historical things like Ben Franklin and World War II, but Stacy and I do not think that the boy in this one was a real person from history.”

Cody, a member of the group, chimes in: “Ben Franklin was a real person, and World War II really happened. These books are informational.”

I guide them back to our class discussions: “Well, what is the difference between an informational book and one that is historical fiction?”

Cody asserts, “We don't know if this boy was made up; he could be real.”

I urge the group to use their genre notes as a checklist to see whether all of the books in the tub have elements of historical fiction or elements of informational books. Determining whether the events and people in every book are real is the deciding factor here.

Cody lost the battle; the girls were right.
Foster's War
, by Carolyn Reeder, clinched it. After deciding that despite the World War II setting and plot events revealed in the teaser, the protagonist, Foster Simmons, was a fictional character, Cody grudgingly agreed that the tub they were previewing was historical fiction. He did not really lose. I saw him ease the book into his desk later.

This hands-on session allows students not only to reinforce what they have learned about genre by applying what they have learned to real books but also to preview a lot of books and become acquainted with the layout of the class library. Following this exercise, I always notice how many books disappear out of tubs and into desks, to be checked out later. As the culmination of our genre unit, I give the students a practical exam. Each student is given four books, and he or she must identify the genre of each. I rarely find a student who can't identify the genre of most of the books.

In a few short weeks, the groundwork has been laid for our reading year. Students have settled into the routine of reading each day and have a reading plan based on broad requirements for self-selected materials. I have built students' background knowledge of a wide range of genres and authors, and they know that I value their book choices and celebrate any reading they do. What I do and what they do wraps around this structure and provides a base for the reading, writing, and response activities at the next level of our workshop.

Because every student in my classroom is reading her or her own book, I must converse with each of them in order to determine their progress toward reading goals and give them the individual support they need. I cannot wait for weeks to discover that Danny is not reading or that Kaitlin abandoned her last four books. If I waited for the products of our reading activities such as book reviews or independent strategy practice to discover that some of my students were struggling to read their books or understand them, it would be too late. Through conferences and reading response entries, I assess whether students are enjoying their books and comprehending them. This exchange between my students and me has a common jumping-off place: our reader's notebooks.