The Washington Post – Valerie Strauss
“The only way to hook children on reading for pleasure is to allow them to read for pleasure. That means permitting them to choose the books that interest them and then letting them to read at their own pace, without being asked to analyze every single sentence for inner meaning. This is the way kids learn to love to read at the Center for Teaching and Learning, an award-winning non-profit independent demonstration school in Maine…The school has a national reputation for its research-based literacy methods that focuses on engaging and challenging students while fostering relationships between faculty and parents. A hallmark of the school are the collections of books, carefully selected by adults, from which students can choose. Afterward the children develop lists of books they found inspiring, an effort to help guide other young people looking for great books to read. The recommended book lists are on the school’s website and popular with teachers around the country. Here is an introduction to the lists and the school’s reading philosophy…and following that are some of the books recommended by students from each grade.”(more)