You know how people drive by an accident on the highway and slow down so they can gawk at what is going on, even though they know it's not polite. Well, this book reminds me of that slow drive by the wreck. The state of reading in schools is in sad shape. I knew that already, but this book takes a slow drive past the scene, zeroing in on the details with painstaking precision - so much so, it almost hurts to read about it. Because teachers are spending so much time on test preparation, there is little room in the school day for just "plain 'ole" reading. And on the occasions when reading is done, it's often chopped up into little pieces so that students never get into the "reading flow" and have the chance to enjoy the book. One thing I like about Readicide is that the author, Kelly Gallagher, gives lots of suggestions for what teachers can do. For instance, he espouses the dire need for more books to be available in schools. He shares with teachers several options for scrounging up money for books, including being a pesky asker to the principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent, school board, and media - whatever it takes. He says this is the one thing we should all go to bat for. My question is, why aren't we already going to bat for more books in our schools? Duh! This should be a given.
My favorite quote is not from Gallagher, but from Lev Vygotsky, "Children grow into the intellectual life around them."
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