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The teacher speaking here:

By 5th grade, kids are well experienced at "doing something" with a book after reading it. These activities may have included doing packets of comprehension worksheets, vocabulary worksheets and teacher determined projects. They've had to identify themes and defend that choice when often they don't understand the difference between a theme, the main idea, or the author's message and sometimes even genre gets mixed up in their minds. They've often come to dread discussing books because the questions are low level on Bloom's taxonomy--simple recall and factual, rather than connective and synthesizing. This damage is documented in the book Readicide...we teachers unintentionally kill reading for many kids because of our need to discuss it to death--and make sure kids comprehend it in ways that mean they'll pass the state test.

Book shares, book talks and book reviews often have been taught in a formulaic way, so that they all read alike--and boringly. Many kids haven't had a chance to share a piece of the book through art or drama or song or poetry or just plain talking about the book and what they liked and didn't like. So...

This wiki grew from trying to figure out how to involve kids in book think and discussion in better ways--so we came up with an idea of trying to think of thick questions that would really get at the thinking and fun and horror and sadness and thrill and astonishment and wonder behind the book, through the book and past the book... The kids also wanted to attach the potential for a Today's Meet in this activity, so that they can continue the conversation outside of school if they so choose. Thus the "Our Ideas" page has a place for a link to that as well.

So. we're trying to think on ONE question a book that would get a great discussion going. Join us and add yours or change one of ours. think about ours, read our book suggestions and have fun.

After all, aren't the questions more important?