Holding My Enemies Closer

A Spoon Full of Sugar

Okay, Accelerated Reader isn't my enemy exactly, but it does make me cringe when I watch kids put down an AMAZING book because it doesn't fall within their AR or Lexile score (even though I have to admit, I get all fluttery inside when I select the "Librarian" option on the AR site's main page, it's like a confirmation, "Why yes, I am a librarian.  It makes something inside me sing).  There are also the parents who come into the library for their kids and ask me where the "2nd grade books are" and are annoyed/bemused/confussed that the Children's Room doesn't divide the children's collection up by grade level.  I know they want the best for their kids, understandable, but can't we foster the love of reading for the sake of reading rather than for the sake of a grade?  I guess no.  The kids who like to read are going to read anyway and everyone else feels judged based on their AR score.

The flip side is the point made by Teri S. Lesesne in Naked Reading about reluctant readers enjoying magazines, and how magazines are a valid form of reading, that it's just important that these tweens are reading in the first place. 

Well, if giving good books that I review on this site AR scores will hypothetically make these titles more accessible to students who are reading to meet a quota, I might as well help them out with that by giving them book titles that are worth reading.

Then again, here's an essay I completely agree with.