Do you want to be able to motivate your students to read more? Donalyn Miller has years of experience inculcating the joy of reading into her sixth grade elementary school students, and Miller’s The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child shows teachers and parents how they can get their children excited about reading. Her thesis is that children should be able to choose books they want to read and be given time to read them in school.
In chapter 1, “There and Back Again,” Miller tells the story of how she became dissatisfied with the whole-class novel and switched to reading workshops. Miller tells how she created materials with challenging questions and activities for the novel her class was reading together. Unfortunately, though, students spent little time reading and way too much time answering questions and doing activities. The result was boredom, which students associated with reading. She abandoned this approach and switched to reading workshops in which students chose books from the classroom library and read them during class. In this way, students can read interesting, level-appropriate books. Most importantly, though, they will read much more.
In chapter 2, “Everybody Is a Reader,” Miller describes the three types of readers: developing, dormant and underground. Developing readers haven’t yet learned to read fluently at grade level. Dormant readers can read at grade level; however, they haven’t yet found the joy in reading. Underground readers, on the other hand, love reading, but they see no connection between the books they love and books they read at school. Miller shows how the whole-class novel hurts all of these students and how reading workshops helps. As I read the descriptions and examples of these types of students, I could identify them in my own classes and the desire to switch to workshops grew within me. In the vignette following chapter 2, Miller explains how to create surveys and use the results to recommend books students will find compelling.
In chapter 3, “There’s a Time and a Place,” Miller argues for giving students time to read during class. She starts by giving students 15 minutes and gradually builds up to 30 minutes. Miller claims that if students read in class, they are more likely to read at home. Miller is not advocating independent silent reading in which students read with little or no guidance or feedback. On the contrary, Miller advocates an array of interventions for assisting students in choosing and reading level-appropriate books they enjoy. That is, Miller advocates scaffolded silent reading (ScSR).
In chapter 4, “Reading Freedom,” Miller explains how she assists students. First of all, she has high expectations of her students. She requires them to read 40 books, along with a minimum number of books for each genre but giving students the freedom to choose what they will read. By giving students such a high goal, they are bound to read much more than they have in the past. In fact, Miller says that those who read the required 40 always read more, usually more than 50! Next, Miller empowers her students with the 10 rights of the reader. Then, Miller clearly explains how she attracts student interest through read-alouds and book journals, which she uses to communicate with students about their reading.
In chapter 5, “Walking the Walk,” Miller implores reading teachers to regularly read children’s novels in order to become good models, give students good recommendations, and better understand their students. She recommends children’s books throughout her book, and appendix A provides readers with the “Ultimate Library List,” a list of 100 books recommended not by Miller but rather by her students.
In chapter 6, “Cutting the Teacher Strings,” Miller questions traditional reading activities and recommends alternatives. For traditional teachers, she shows how they can make slight modifications in their procedures to improve learning outcomes. For brave teachers who can defy tradition, she explains how to achieve course objectives while allowing students to choose books and providing them with time to read them in class. Furthermore, Miller offers superior alternatives to traditional comprehension tests, book reports, reading logs and round-robin reading.
In the final chapter, “Letting Go,” Miller laments that the vast majority of teachers do not take her approach to reading. As a result, her students have to go back to traditional reading classes when they move up to the next grade. She wishes that more teachers would inculcate the love of reading into their students instead of inundating them with worksheets.
The Book Whisperer should be read by parents and teachers who want their children to read a lot more. Parents will feel more confident in motivating their children to read. Teachers will feel more confident in creating the conditions for learning and enabling their students to read more than they have ever before. Foreign language teachers will appreciate Miller’s strategies, activities and techniques for extensive reading. In short, this is an indispensable book for anyone interested in creating a culture of reading.
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From the Publisher
About the author
Anyone Who Teaches Reading Needs to Read this book!
I am a 40 year veteran elementary reading teacher, and this book confirmed what I have always believed - LET THE STUDENTS READ SILENTLY EVERY DAY, AND GIVE THEM CHOICES! I am changing how I teach reading because of this inspirational, common sense approach to teaching reading! So glad I bought it! I'm sure I will be rereading it a number of times in the next few years! New teachers....fill your classroom with books of all genres and levels - go to used book stores, flea markets, yard sales...buy them on Amazon... your room should look like a mini library! Find out the interests of your students and find books that fit those interests. And lastly, read your own book while they are reading theirs! I can't wait to see the results in my own classroom! Great, great book!
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Guida AllèsReviewed in Spain on March 23, 2014
Fascinant. Fa ganes de ser mestra.
Format: KindleVerified Purchase - Hannah HampsonReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2025
Recommend this what a great book!!
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase - Elizabeth ArmstrongReviewed in Canada on July 4, 2018
An inspired facepalm
Format: KindleVerified Purchase - Dawood VaidReviewed in India on June 29, 2018
Go ahead, be a Book Whisperer.
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
