The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child

I had picked up this book once or twice at book fairs last year, but was never compelled to buy it. Then this year I dropped in on one of the teachers in my new school at back-to-school night. She is an amazing teacher -- she teaches the 4/5 G/T class with such creativity and flexibility, and tremendous freedom for her students to be struck by inspiration and run with it. She told parents she devotes a lot of time during the school day for independent reading -- far more than most other teachers. She said she read a book a few years ago that changed her life, and since implementing the practices from the book in her classroom her students' reading scores had gone through the roof. Well, of course, I had to find out what the book was, show more and she lent it to me. I am very impressed, and wish every child could have a teacher like this one, but in this era of nonstop assessment those teachers are few and far between.

Ms. Miller's belief is that endless instruction of discrete reading skills, worksheets, and testing have killed the love of reading for students. She advocates for a dedicated time every day for self-selected independent reading, arguing that student choice should be honored, that students who grow to love reading in the classroom will continue reading at home and beyond, and that what kids need to master those discreet, tested reading skills is actual practice time reading actual books. Ironically, struggling readers receive more reading instruction, but are allowed less time to actually read, and very rarely catch up. Her success stories with students are amazing, but what I found most inspirational was her love of reading that she instills in each student. She has a requirement of students to read 40 books a year, which is often 10 times or more than they have ever read in a year before. She offers alternatives to time-honored but joy-killing practices like book reports, book talks, reading logs (oh, how we hated those!!!! My girls read constantly, but reading logs were an intrusive chore that we usually made up the night before they were due), reading incentive programs, whole-class novel studies and more well-used reading instruction strategies and assignments. I'm not sure this book would be interesting to anyone not teaching, but for the sake of students everywhere, I sincerely hope teachers do read it. show less

Although this book is about the author's teaching experiences with the 6th grade, there is much to be learned and applied to any classroom. Miller discusses how modern education sucks all the joy out of reading for students. If we want students to love reading, then we need to rework our classrooms and reading assignments. There should be choice, there should be opportunity to change books, there should be constant access to books, and there MUST BE TIME TO READ. This book will revolutionize the way I teach English in the coming years (if we ever get back into our classrooms).

Wish I had read this book in 2009 when it first came out. It's every bit as relevant now and validates what many teachers and librarians have known all along. To motivate children to become lifelong readers, they need choice and time to read, not worksheets and test prep.

I have always been a big believer that the traditional way of teaching literature/reading -- assigning books that kids should read, and then quiz the hell out of them or make them construct dioramas or do other projects that prove that they read the book -- is definitely not the way to instill a love of reading. What quicker way to turn a kid of than giving him vocabulary words from the books and make him them write down the definitions? Teachers suck the fun and joy out of reading.

Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer gave me renewed joy for reading for pleasure and conviction to speak out about how important it is to let kids read for pleasure and fun. She points out all the obvious advantages -- which she needs to do because educators show more sometimes forget those obvious advantages, and then gives us guidance about how we can return the LOVE of reading to our students.

I offer a middle school elective class that consists of kids coming into the library, finding a comfy place to sit so they can read for 40 minutes -- uninterrupted and not questioned. They read what they want for how long they want. If they want to abandon a book and pick up something else, they are welcome to do so. If they want to pluck a book off the library shelves and look at the pictures, they are welcome to do so. When they leave the library, I say good bye and they go on with their day. I don't question them to make them prove that they have read. If they want to tell me what they are reading, I love hearing about it, but it's not required for my class.

Sometimes in our society we tend to place negatives on the things we do for pleasure. Reading is among them -- if we're sitting in a comfy chair and read the day away, our societal mores tell us that we wasted the day because we didn't do something productive. I ask everyone, since when is reading -- which stimulates our brain, improves vocabulary and comprehension, and gives us knowledge -- unproductive. Thank you for Donalyn Miller for writing the book that gives us the freedom to read again. show less

I am a parent of 4 girls who has been trying to instill the love of reading in them. I am only half way through and LOVE this book and highly recommend it to everyone! It has made realize that even as a parent who loves to do nothing but shove my nose into a book, I need to look at each child's interests, personalities etc. I am now changing my "tune" and let them choose their own books with recommendations and not say no to any book that they decide to take out. It's all about getting them to read right?!

I want to run through the streets, tossing copies of this book at every teacher I know. "The Book Whisperer" is a wonderful exploration of why students in the U.S. are not becoming readers, and how to implement classroom practices that will lead kids to have a lifelong love of books.

I wish I'd had the author for my sixth grade English teacher. Her anecdotes from her own class are engaging, and often quite funny (Though I won't say "compelling," ha ha). Drawing upon experience culled from her years of teaching, Miller makes a convincing case against the traditional Language Arts staples -- book reports, extensive test prep, reading logs -- in favour of having children read freely and extensively in the classroom. I know, I know, some of show more you may be dubious. Read the book. It's well-rated by almost every Goodreads.com reviewer for a reason. show less

I absolutely loved this book. It was on my to-read list for the longest time and once the school year ended in June, I finally had the time and energy to read teaching-related books. I initially borrowed this book for our local library, but immediately purchased it after I finished it (in one evening) so I that I could have my own copy to write in and plaster with post-its.

This book was everything I was hoping for and more. This is the book I wish I was around when I first started teaching. It is no secret that I love reading and have loved reading for as far back as I can remember. One of the reasons I became a teacher was because I wanted to share my love reading with kids and instill that same love of reading within them. Even though show more I think I've done a decent job of sharing that with my students over the years with various things that I've implemented in my classroom, I loved that this book gave me practical ideas that would be easy to introduce in my classroom right away.

The hardest thing about being a teacher nowadays is the pressure to perform on tests. It's all about the test scores and subsequently, what we know to be "good teaching" goes by the wayside because there really isn't any time to do it. About a year ago, I was almost at the end of the year and realized that I just did not like teaching reading anymore. I dreaded that part of the day because it was so dull to me. It was all about reading passages and answering test questions. No wonder they were bored, I WAS BORED! My grade-level and I had a deep discussion about it and we decided we need to do read-alouds again, not because we wanted to teach some standard or whatever, but just to enjoy the act of reading and sharing a story together. Go figure.

I devoured this book in one evening and then promptly raved all about it on my facebook to share with my fellow colleagues and teacher friends. I feel like it started a little "Book Whisperer" revolution amongst my closest teacher friends and several of them bought, read and also implemented ideas from the book as well. My grade-level team also read the book and we started off this school year with a mutual enthusiasm to create lifelong readers in our students.

My students plowed through the book tubs full of books from my classroom library on the first day of school. We all read together and it started my year on the right foot with reading at the core of my mornings. They are currently deeply into their 40 book challenge this year (and beating my measly 8 books) and on fire with the number of books they are reading. We have book commercials on Fridays and I love seeing how many of them are reading books that their peers have recommended. Even though sometimes I curse myself for doing them because they take up a lot of time each evening, my students and I converse once a week with letters that we write back and forth to each other in their reader's notebooks. I really know my students as readers. They come to me asking for recommendations and it delights my heart when they dig through my classroom library each day looking for their next favorite book.

Thank you, Donalyn Miller, for helping me to create the classroom of readers that I always dreamed of.

Overall:
It was an fantastic read and I highly recommend it to teachers who love reading and want to create a classroom of lifelong readers. While it shared some theory and education philosophies, it definitely provided a lot of practical tips and ideas that were easy to implement into my classroom. The way Miller writes makes you feel like you're having coffee with an old friend. Her love of reading pours out of this book and it is so contagious, you can help but catch it and want to pass it on. Get this book now, you won't be disappointed! show less