Sounds
simple enough, but it also raises the question: what constitutes a book?
Do novellas count as books? What about children’s stories? What about a short 100 page history book intended for young adults? Is a comic book a book? Is a textbook a book? Is a workbook or language book a book? What about a children’s book? Or an abridged book? Or a simplified book?
Recently,
as part of the extensive reading program at my school, I’ve been reading a lot
of graded readers with my students.
Graded
readers are books specifically written for students studying English as a
second language. They are carefully
controlled for vocabulary and grammatical complexity, and are usual part of a
series that is divided accordingly into several levels, or grades—hence the
term “graded reader.”
My initial
instinct was not to count these as real books, but lately I’m beginning to
wonder.
Some of
these books are longer than others, but some of them, especially the higher
levels, are what may be considered “book length” and it can take me a few days
to read through them.
Many of
these graded readers are just simplified versions of other classic works. And yet, in some cases I’m beginning to
wonder if these simplified versions may be the only contact I might ever have
with some classics. After all, I’m not
going to get around to reading every
classic work of literature before I die (especially since I’m such a slow
reader.) If I’ve read a simplified
version of Last of the Mohicans, does
that count as some sort of contact with the book?
Another
factor is that graded readers appear to be growing in recognition. And probably will continue to grow in
popularity in the future. Simply by pure
numbers, the majority of the people in the world reading English are not native
speakers, and simplified graded readers are going to have an appeal to a large
percentage of the world’s population.
I’ve
noticed for example that some of the graded readers I’ve done in class have
their own goodreads page, where readers comment and review them just like any
other book. (See this goodreads page on the Pocahontas Graded Reader Here).
Also, as
I.S.P. Nation notes in his book TeachingESL/EFL Reading and Writing , there is an effort by some groups,
like the Extensive Reading Foundation “to
recognise quality in the production of graded readers. Awards are given to the
best books each year just like the Oscars for movies” (Nation, p. 53)
So, for all
these reasons, I’ve decided I may want to start doing including Graded Readers
under my book review project.
I’m going
to use the following guidelines:
In
accordance with the my general policy of using this book review project for
books that are new to me, and not reviewing books that I’ve re-read, I’m not
going to post reviews of graded readers that are simplified versions of classic
books that I’ve already read.
I will,
however, post reviews of simplified versions of classic books that I haven’t
read.
So, for
example, in my classes we’ve done simplified versions of Dracula, Hamlet, Call of the Wild, Of Mice and Men, The Phantom of the
Opera, and Tom Sawyer. All of these books I’ve read before, so I don’t
feel a need to review them. (None of
these books are on my book review project, because I didn’t start
that project up until I was 27.
But I’ve read them all at some point in my youth.)
On the other
hand, we’ve also read simplified versions of Oliver Twist, Frankenstein, and Last
of the Mohicans, and these books are new to me. So I will be reviewing them.
Also, there
are a fair amount of Graded Readers that are originally material, and I’ll
include them as well.
I will not
be writing long reviews—I’ll just maybe write a couple sentences or a
paragraph.
And if I’ve
designed any teaching materials to go with the book, I’ll include that in the review.
Link of the Day
Media Control and Indoctrination in the United States
And from the Global Post The truth about America’s Mandela policy: Official US policy toward the now-revered freedom fighter makes for some uncomfortable reflections.
Link of the Day
Media Control and Indoctrination in the United States
And from the Global Post The truth about America’s Mandela policy: Official US policy toward the now-revered freedom fighter makes for some uncomfortable reflections.
No comments:
Post a Comment