Journal Article Review II

Sitomer, A. (2010). Scattering light over the shadow of booklessness. The ALAN Review 37(2),

44-48.

“To be a champion, to be excellent, to be outstanding, notable, or remarkable in any such manner, you must be engaged.”

Alan Sitomer shares his recipe to make students literary champions and he claims it is quite simple. “Engagement leads to motivation. Motivation leads to comprehension. Comprehension leads to performance.”

Sitomer position is clear: the use of textbooks, anthologies, “incredibly dense” great literary works, and “scripted curriculum is buffoonery” at best. And at worst is not in the best interest of kids if we want to live up to the all too familiar slogan that keeps popping up in school mission statements “We will create lifelong readers and critical thinker.” Schools can’t possible live up to those words when according to Sitomer they are boring the kids to death by shoving Pride and Prejudice, and works by Ralph Ellison down their throats and expecting them to be engaged and involved with the text. In other words instead of turning them “on” to reading we are turning them “off”. While he doesn’t deny the literary importance of Pride and Prejudice or the immense talent of Ralph Ellison he feels that “mandating” that students delve into such complicated pieces of literature before they are ready will leave them without “authentic literary skills” because they “don’t get it” or its boring or they can’t figure out why they even have to read “this stuff.” He suggests starting “with books that kids find personally meaningful as a bridge to the “great works” of literature.”

He also points out how the entire textbook industry is doing a great disservice to education by “fleecing American schools.” He goes on to say we need “to stop feeding the corporate gravy train that generates Wall Street-style money for companies that poorly provide for the literacy needs of our kids and start using real books to reach our real students.” He remarks that the textbooks in his classroom are “in a closet” but that doesn’t mean his kids aren’t reading. They’re reading all right and consistently telling him how much they enjoy it.

I couldn’t agree more with the author. I was acquainted with most of the classics students were required to read in high school and I too often wondered “Why do they make kids read this stuff?” Before this class I really wasn’t aware of all the wonderful YA authors and books out there. I have truly enjoyed most of the books I have read. And many of the books my classmates have shared have sounded very interesting. There really is no reason to keep boring the life out of kids when “Diary of a Wimpy Kid…or Twilight… or Speak…or Crank…or Ender’s Game…or The Outsiders…” are out there just waiting to be ravaged by the next reading starved kid.