outstanding
argues successfully that the best way to improve students' reading abilities is to give students time and free choice to read books that they find engaging and to read LOTS of them. Summer "assignments" should be to do lots of leisure reading.
presents teaching tips as well. ( )

Nancie Atwell does a great job explaining how to practically set up a reading workshop. She includes forms to copy to help explain certain processes to students and gives examples of student writing to show teachers how the letter response - letter essays work in the classroom. I will definitely use some of her ideas this year in my reading classroom. ( )

Every teacher, regardless of grade level ad content area,should read this book. We all could be doing so much more to promote reading for our students. ( )

I loved this book. I want someone to finance a trip for me to Maine to visit Atwell and see her ideas in action.Atwell believes all readers need to become good at reading is good books and time to read. A simple idea, but one that is backed up by research.I want to push this book into the hands of every teacher I know, especially junior high and high school teachers. I want to give it to administrators and to politicians. I want to talk to parents about it. I want to try it. I think I can. ( )

Although Nancie disagrees with a few things I've used for years, I still loved this book because I think her thinking is dead on; give kids great books, give them reading time, and they will absolutely, definitely, become readers. She does not like reading strategies or chunking novels IF trying to develop a love of reading, and I see her point. She suggests that reading strategies are fantastic to use with NON FICTION material. Interesting. I agree that someone asking me to stop and make predictions or connections when I'm right in the middle of a great part would be highly aggravating! ( )

Over the weekend, I had an opportunity to take a quick look at The Reading Zone: HOW TO HELP KIDS BECOME SKILLED, PASSIONATE, HABITUAL, CRITICAL READERS. I am always interested to read and hear the experts suggest ways to ensure that children become "Skilled, passionate, habitual, critical readers" because for so many children this does not happen. Ms. Atwell's approach is practical and passionate. She reminds all parents that everyone has reading homework and there is no more important homework than reading. She also discusses the three categories of difficulty: Holidays, Challenges and Just Rights. I look forward to taking my time to thoroughly read and consider her recommendations. At the outset my sense is that this is a book that every parent (and most teachers) should read.

We read this book for our faculty book club. Atwell shares her pedagogy and practice for teaching reading. I really enjoyed the read and thought she was right on with much of her argument. Although one thing REALLY bothered me -- where are the school libraries? libraries at ALL for that matter? She's really missing an important piece and a key ally in literacy. ( )