Books for Low-level Readers

[MsFish]

I know this is long, but I have a point.  I promise.    

So I was helping my mom clean up her classroom today.  She teaches 8th grade English to the low level students, mostly English language learners and kids with learning disabilitys, but also kids who've just sort of slipped through the cracks and gotten to 8th grade without really learning to read.  These kids hate to read, and it's no wonder why, because they feel stupid that they can't do it while it seems like everyone else can.  

I was sorting my mom's library into bins according to reading level.  Most of these kids are reading at a third grade level or below.  As in, there are 120 kids in her classes, and only five can read at a fourth grade level--everyone else is somewhere below that.  To give you an idea, Harry Potter is a sixth grade level book.  So is Lemony Snicket.  Bunnicula is upper fourth.  Third grade level books are things like the Babysitter's club and the Amber Brown books--stuff I read in elementary school, because that's the interest level.  

I was thinking, there must some books out there that are written for these kids, books in the Hi/Low market category.  I mean, these kids need something that deals with real issues that teenagers care about, the kind of books that have the content of the eighth grade level books and the vocab of a third grade level book.  My mom says the only one's she's been able to find are the Time Warp Trio books, which are fun (fantasy even), but don't exactly deal with real life issues.  Plus, that's only one series.  It makes me so sad that these kids don't really have access to the kinds of books I read in middle school.  I'd never really thought about it, because I can't remember a time when I couldn't read whatever I wanted to pick up.  

So here's my question.  Does anyone know of any books that are like this?  More to the point, does anyone have any ideas how you'd go about writing something like this, and then getting an editor to pay attention to you?  If one could write a book in a teen voice, about real issues, geared toward someone with teenage emotional and cognitive capacities (as opposed to third grade, like the stuff that's available to these kids) and then aim it toward an educational market (and do it well, of course), I'd think there'd be a huge demand for it.  Anyone have any ideas, or know where I could find information?  EUOL?  Stacer?

[stacer]

I'm away from home right now, so I don't have the info handy, but there's a whole huge market for hi/lo. Not sure if the stuff is any good--certainly it's not getting any awards. But I know people who write it. I'll try to remember to look it up when I get home, but that won't be for almost a week, so remind me next Friday or so.

[MsFish]

Awesome.  Thanks.  I'd heard there was a huge market, but I've never actually seen any of it that I know of.  I wonder what kind of subjects it generally deals with.  

[fuzzyoctopus]

Well a quick Google search brought up a bunch of pages, many of which are dead links.  There are some lists though.  I can't even remember not reading at a third grade level so I can't give any personal help here.

http://www.watertownlib.org/high_interest_low_vocabulary_fic.htm

http://www.resourceroom.net/comprehension/hilow.asp

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Uhhh... Confidential Confessions manga series? >_>;; (That's definitely one you'd want to screen for content though...but it does have teens dealing with all sorts of teen issues.)

[MsFish]

Given what's already in my mom's library at school, I don't know that screening for content is going to be a problem.  She gave me a couple books to read that I was like...well then....  Good books, though.

[MsFish]

Hey Stacer, do you have access to that info now?  

[stacer]

I'm sure it's here somewhere. It's been taking me forever to get out of the house today, so, since I'm actually about to leave, I'll look for it when I get back.

[stacer]

Okay, I promise to look for something tomorrow. I can't find it tonight, and my little excursion downtown might have been premature. A couple hours out and about completely exhausted me.

On the bright side, ALA Midwinter is here in Boston, so I'll also keep my eye out for you as I browse the exhibit hall.

Speaking of which, I got the exhibitor list--Tor is not exhibiting, but Tokyopop is. *shrug*

[MsFish]

No rush or anything.  I was just wondering.  

[stacer]

MsFish, I completely forgot about this in the last couple weeks, and at this point don't have time to do my own research. What I'll do instead is send a message to the Child-Lit listserv and see what they come up with. They're all teachers, librarians, and publishers, so they are a great resource, and I'm sure I'll have a huge list in a day or two.

[stacer]

The replies are coming in. I'll mainly paraphrase what everyone said, so when it praises the quality, that's coming from the responder.

Perfection Learning (www.perfectionlearning.com).  They have hi-lo books at different grade levels. (This one was from one of their authors, Tracy Barrett, who published a book with them on the Trail
of Tears.)

Harcourt Achieve aka Steck-Vaughn and its Power Up Readers Series. It has great books for middle school aged kids, especially boys, with lower reading levels.

Orca Soundings series from Orca Books (http://www.orcabook.com/) Responder says:

I bought the first few when they came out. Showed them to our reading specialist, kids passed them from hand to hand and constantly asked for 'more of the same'.  I've since bought the whole series (something like 22 titles) and due to demand from kids and teachers am ordering at least one more complete set.

Many of the books are by pretty big name authors, very catchy covers, and very high interest subject matter. Reading level from 2 through 4.5. Teachers note that the quality of writing is very good. My eighth grader has read a couple and said 'Just like a regular book, just shorter', which I think speaks well for the quality of plot and characters.  Available through Orca, and bookstores.

Townsend Press--has a series of books that appeal to urban middle schoolers, written at about a third grade level:  The Bully, Brothers In Arms, etc.  Both companies (Orca and Townsend) have web sites, and offer teacher's guides to complement the books.

Another response said:

I enthusiastically second Jennifer[the Townsend Press respondent]. Both series are very attractive to my 8th graders. I have had kids that have never finished a book reading all ten Blueford Books (Townsend Press) within three weeks. They then usually move right into the Orca books. By the end of the year, they have finished nearly twenty novels on their own. I find this sets the hook for reading better than my lectures and incentives ever have (pizza coupons, candy, Extra Credit, etc). Another great thing about Bluefords is that they are a dollar a piece and ship VERY quickly (I ordered a set on Monday and received them on Wednesday).

[MsFish]

Thanks, Stacer!

[stacer]

One more response from a teacher:

Hi, Stacy. I taught these same kids in the late 80s--disaffected, full-of-attitude sixteen year old 8th graders--word recognition skills of 2nd graders, comprehension skills of 10th grade and above, so they were insulted by the books that they could actually decode. Here's what I did:
1) Introduced storytelling. Got them to tell stories, which I taped and then transcribed for them, and we used these as texts.
2) Typed The Giving Tree up as a regular story, not a picture book (I know--it's probably illegal). They could read this, and we could talk about it at many different levels.
3) This is what really got them, though. I actually had two classes--one low-level, and one really low-level. I had them read The Outsiders. For the really low-level students, I let them watch the movie first--it generated interest and lowered the risk. For the low-level readers, I held the movie out as a carrot--if we do a good job on reading the book, we'll get to see the movie, which we did. It was magic. They kept asking, when can we read another book? So we moved on to Bridge to Terabithia.

So my advice is to get a class set of The Outsiders, and expect two things: 1) expect half of them to "lose" their books once the reading is over. 2) a miracle. (And this from a world class cynic!)

[stacer]

Another one:

Orca Soundings might be something to look into...  On the website (http://www.orcabook.com/SoundingsFrame.htm), they explain the series as:

Teen fiction for reluctant readers
Interest level ages 12+
Reading levels from grade 2.0 to grade 4.5
Contemporary, compelling stories
Accelerated Reader selections
Now 22 titles
Best-selling authors