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Making the Match: The Right Book for the Right Reader at the Right Time, Grades 4-12
What do adolescents care about? Chatting on-line with friends, movies, their favorite bands . . . but many are also avid readers. What motivates some of these "typical teens" to become lifelong readers and others to slide by with the minimum amount of assigned reading? Teri Lesesne says the key is finding the books that get them hooked in the first place.
In Making the Match she focuses on three distinct areas that will assist teachers and librarians in steering students to the literature they love:
Knowing the readers: discussion of important theories in the development of adolescents (mentally, physically, morally, socially) and how that information helps educators to reach these kids with books. This background information is brought home through the book's “snapshots” which profile many of the adolescents the author has worked with.
Knowing the books: examination of the various forms, formats, and genres that YA literature has to offer, as well as what special challenges educators face when selecting quality nonfiction or realistic fiction, and the role picture books can play in this process.
Knowing the strategies: an overview of concrete ideas for motivating students to read as well as follow-up activities for post-reading assessment. Strategies discussed include reading aloud, booktalking, alternatives to traditional book reports, and literature circles.
A delightful feature of the book that will help inspire teachers and students alike—as well as underscore the concepts contained in the text—is a series of vignettes by popular, award-winning YA authors that offer glimpses into their own feelings and memories of books and reading. Authors include: Sharon Creech, Jack Gantos, Chris Crutcher, Mel Glenn, Paul Janeczko, and others.
The book concludes with an invaluable set of appendices providing an FAQ on YA literature, bibliographies of professional materials, books by the vignette authors, and over twenty booklists with hundreds of books organized by genre or topic, all with suggested grade levels.
In Making the Match she focuses on three distinct areas that will assist teachers and librarians in steering students to the literature they love:
Knowing the readers: discussion of important theories in the development of adolescents (mentally, physically, morally, socially) and how that information helps educators to reach these kids with books. This background information is brought home through the book's “snapshots” which profile many of the adolescents the author has worked with.
Knowing the books: examination of the various forms, formats, and genres that YA literature has to offer, as well as what special challenges educators face when selecting quality nonfiction or realistic fiction, and the role picture books can play in this process.
Knowing the strategies: an overview of concrete ideas for motivating students to read as well as follow-up activities for post-reading assessment. Strategies discussed include reading aloud, booktalking, alternatives to traditional book reports, and literature circles.
A delightful feature of the book that will help inspire teachers and students alike—as well as underscore the concepts contained in the text—is a series of vignettes by popular, award-winning YA authors that offer glimpses into their own feelings and memories of books and reading. Authors include: Sharon Creech, Jack Gantos, Chris Crutcher, Mel Glenn, Paul Janeczko, and others.
The book concludes with an invaluable set of appendices providing an FAQ on YA literature, bibliographies of professional materials, books by the vignette authors, and over twenty booklists with hundreds of books organized by genre or topic, all with suggested grade levels.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
9 people are currently reading
365 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
October 25, 2014
Reread for the 3rd time. Can you tell it's influential to my teaching paradigm?
July 17, 2013
Bookaday #71. Best advice to motivate a kid to read: be a reader yourself - duh - it's unfortunate that this is not obvious to all teachers. Here are 2 quotes that are crucial to growing readers:
1. Teachers must recognize that the dislike of reading is an acquired taste wasn't born with a love for or an version to reading. Experiences at home and at school with parents, peers, teachers, and a variety of text all help form a students reading attitude.
2. Educators need to know about kids, know about books, and know that ways to tell kids about books.
The book includes good discussions on genre, definitions, poetry, a great read aloud chapter, extensive back matter, book lists and FAQ section.
Remember for teachers: Pg 95 good activity for comparing non-fiction books for authenticity and Pg 137 peck's questions as alternative to book report
1. Teachers must recognize that the dislike of reading is an acquired taste wasn't born with a love for or an version to reading. Experiences at home and at school with parents, peers, teachers, and a variety of text all help form a students reading attitude.
2. Educators need to know about kids, know about books, and know that ways to tell kids about books.
The book includes good discussions on genre, definitions, poetry, a great read aloud chapter, extensive back matter, book lists and FAQ section.
Remember for teachers: Pg 95 good activity for comparing non-fiction books for authenticity and Pg 137 peck's questions as alternative to book report
November 21, 2013
Interesting book for the LIS professionals, educators and teachers. The book provides authors, students, teachers opinion about books and how various people became lifelong readers after getting books that made them the way they are. Book provides various resources as well in appendix.
July 16, 2022
Good PD book about putting the right book in the right reader's hands. I recommend it to English teachers.
July 20, 2016
I have several huge problems with this book. First, there are many books recommended that I consider "junk food" books. I was hoping to find better quality recommendations. There are also books that are recommended for different levels under different sections in the appendix, which I found confusing. Just the fact that so many of the same books were repeated in several sections of the appendix was annoying. Finally, there are so many books recommended whose premise is simply horrifying to me. Books about a kid kidnapped by a pedophile, a true story of the author's murdered teenage daughter, a kid's brother murdered in a drive-by shooting, etc. I find these topics WAY too deep for a middle schooler to read ... heck, I wouldn't even read them! Having an extremely sensitive son, and knowing that the reviewers of this book are mostly teachers and singing the praises of these recommendations, I am very happy that I homeschool. My kid would be in therapy for the next twenty years if some of these books were his required reading!
All that said, there were many books I hadn't heard of and I will be researching them further. I also particularly appreciated the "Humor" appendix ... since everything else was traumatizing!
All that said, there were many books I hadn't heard of and I will be researching them further. I also particularly appreciated the "Humor" appendix ... since everything else was traumatizing!
August 9, 2010
I can't say enough good things about this book. I feel it should be required reading for every English/reading teacher of grades 4-12. The book addresses one of the most important issues in teacher education today--Why aren't our students reading? How do we get them reading?
Lesesne shows teachers how to match every student in their classrooms with a novel, providing information about book lists, awards, genres, trends, and book talks. She also gives practical suggestions to help teachers implement a reading program (i.e. reading logs, book charts, student interest surveys...) She provides numerous book suggestions separated into book categories and genres.
This is a book that would benefit both experienced and new teachers. I highly recommend it!
Lesesne shows teachers how to match every student in their classrooms with a novel, providing information about book lists, awards, genres, trends, and book talks. She also gives practical suggestions to help teachers implement a reading program (i.e. reading logs, book charts, student interest surveys...) She provides numerous book suggestions separated into book categories and genres.
This is a book that would benefit both experienced and new teachers. I highly recommend it!
July 12, 2009
I liked this book, but I felt like it would have been more useful for me to read it back in my undergrad work or earlier in my grad program. I wound up realizing a lot of what was said in this book over the course of the past few years. It was very nice to have that all validated, but I didn't get much in terms of answers for what to so with my kids in practicum or with kids if I were to have new students in the fall. I did like the lists of the books, and would like to work on reading more of the authors she mentions many of whom I hadn't heard of or read. I think this will be a great text for me to come back to when I return to teaching.
July 20, 2008
I love this book and I love Teri Lesesne! This is a MUST-READ for any secondary ed English teacher or pre-service teacher! And, if you've ever had the pleasure of attending one of Teri's presentations, you will be happy to find that her irrepressible and gregarious style has found its way into this book. While this book covers grades 4-12, anyone working with middle schoolers should also read Naked Reading.
December 5, 2010
I know I rated this book already, and I am not sure why it disappeared! This is an incredible book that I recommend for all English/Language Arts teachers. I am very familiar with Young Adult literature and still found it to be incredibly helpful when I designed my Young Adult Literature elective because it divides the important aspects into many sections. Passages from authors about Young Adult literature are interwoven throughout the book. It's amazing.
April 1, 2016
This book is chock full of ideas for inspiring kids to read. Whether you are a reading specialist, librarian, English teacher or any other kind of teacher, this book has a lot of useful discussion and ideas. This book made me excited to be a teacher every time I read it, and it makes me want to be a librarian. I recommend it for any educator or parent who wants to instill a love of reading in their kids.
March 8, 2013
Making the match is an inexact science, but there are some decent insights into pairing books to reluctant readers and introducing new genres. Nothing mind-bending; I've been doing much of what she writes about for years without reading this book. Nice of her to give voice to it and provide useful appendices, which might be the most helpful feature. Probably best utilized as a resource for teachers in training and new teachers.
July 30, 2009
An excellent over-view of one of the failures of too many Language Arts teachers: we don't hook students up with the right book. Sure, we try and sometimes stumble into success, but Lesesne shows us what we can to to really improve our average. The brief essays by YA authors are quite interesting, and I share several with students.
January 30, 2012
I really liked the conversational tone. Easy to read. Teri is someone that I would like to meet. She seems like a genuinely good person who cares about students and about good literature. Some of the book recommendaitons feel a little dated. I would love to see what updates she would make now...
May 18, 2017
I upped the rating on this from four stars to five as I realized how influential this book was on how I work with students on finding them a book. I know the actual book recommendations could use an update, but the advice in the book is still effective today. Thanks Prof. for recommending this book to me back while I was prepping for student teaching.
September 7, 2014
Full disclaimer- I am a big Professor Nana fan: of her blog, #bproots chats, and tweets. This book, even though it is more than a decade old, is loaded with practical advice from an experienced and wise teacher. I love the short essays from authors, the advice about how to booktalk, the appendices, and the description of the library "nomad". I will be sharing this title with teachers of reading.
July 31, 2008
I've been reading this book as part of a YALSA class. We've been skipping around, but so far the information I've read is valuable. Especially Chapter 2, which introduces the reader to some basic developmental concepts.
December 5, 2010
I can't believe I didn't already have this on my list--just an oversight kn my part. I got this book for Christmas several years ago and spent all of Christmas day reading, nodding, and highlighting. I love, love, love this book and recommend it to anybody who works with kids and reading.
June 27, 2016
This book gave me so many excellent ideas to inspire my students to select books they will get hooked on! I can't wait to plan my next "book talk". The appendices are incredible and offer a depth of suggestions in each genre. Excellent resource for reading teachers!
July 10, 2007
worth skimming, but best for its extensive appendixes (a-y!!), which categorize, list, and give blurbs for a slew of great books for teens.
August 14, 2008
This definitely deserves a closer look in the future. Many contributing authors, lots of good ideas. The premise is (1) knowing the kids, (2) knowing the books, and (3) making the match.
December 23, 2008
This is a great resource for my teaching. I have used it frequently.
August 11, 2010
An awesome resource, specifically the "What Young Adults Tell Us", "Motivating Readers", and "Book Talking" chapters. I do wish she would do an updated book list.
April 7, 2011
This book is life changing
May 25, 2011
Ch.1-6 are skimmable, especially if you have read her other book. Appendix section and book recommendations are very valuable.
November 19, 2011
Good ideas in the book but the lists in the back are totally out-dated. Needs a second edition!
June 6, 2012
Easy reading icin kitap onerileri var.
November 18, 2013
Fantastic professional book on knowing your students, knowing the books, and knowing the strategies to make them readers.
September 13, 2015
A must read for all teachers who believe that becoming a
Lifetime Reader is a possibility for all children!
Lifetime Reader is a possibility for all children!
March 3, 2016
This is a great resource for classroom teachers!
December 27, 2023
So many great ideas, and so many books to think about.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews