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Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers
"I believe each of my students must craft an individual reading life of challenge, whim, curiosity, and hunger, and I've discovered that it is not too late in high school to lead a non-reader to reading. It's never too late."-Penny Kittle
Penny Kittle wants us to face the hard truths every English teacher fears: too many kids don't read the assigned texts, and some even manage to slip by without having ever read a single book by the time they graduate. As middle and high school reading declines, college professors lament students' inability to comprehend and analyze complex texts, while the rest of us wonder: what do we lose as a society when so many of our high school graduates have no interest in reading anything?
In Book Love Penny takes student apathy head on, first by recognizing why students don't read and then showing us that when we give kids books that are right for them, along with time to read and regular response to their thinking, we can create a pathway to satisfying reading that leads to more challenging literature and ultimately, a love of reading.
With a clear eye on the reality of today's classrooms, Penny provides practical strategies and advice on:
increasing volume, capacity, and complexity over time creating a balance of independent reading, text study, and novel study helping students deepen their thinking through writing about reading building a classroom library with themes that matter to 21st century kids. Book Love is a call to arms for putting every single kid, no exceptions allowed, on a personal reading journey. But much more than that, it's a powerful reminder of why we became English teachers in the first place: our passion for books. Books matter. Stories heal. The right book in the hands of a kid can change a life forever. We can't wait for anyone else to teach our students a love of books-it's up to us and the time is now. If not you, who?
For information about the Book Love Foundation, which provides classroom libraries to deserving teachers and schools, visit booklovefoundation.org.
Penny Kittle wants us to face the hard truths every English teacher fears: too many kids don't read the assigned texts, and some even manage to slip by without having ever read a single book by the time they graduate. As middle and high school reading declines, college professors lament students' inability to comprehend and analyze complex texts, while the rest of us wonder: what do we lose as a society when so many of our high school graduates have no interest in reading anything?
In Book Love Penny takes student apathy head on, first by recognizing why students don't read and then showing us that when we give kids books that are right for them, along with time to read and regular response to their thinking, we can create a pathway to satisfying reading that leads to more challenging literature and ultimately, a love of reading.
With a clear eye on the reality of today's classrooms, Penny provides practical strategies and advice on:
increasing volume, capacity, and complexity over time creating a balance of independent reading, text study, and novel study helping students deepen their thinking through writing about reading building a classroom library with themes that matter to 21st century kids. Book Love is a call to arms for putting every single kid, no exceptions allowed, on a personal reading journey. But much more than that, it's a powerful reminder of why we became English teachers in the first place: our passion for books. Books matter. Stories heal. The right book in the hands of a kid can change a life forever. We can't wait for anyone else to teach our students a love of books-it's up to us and the time is now. If not you, who?
For information about the Book Love Foundation, which provides classroom libraries to deserving teachers and schools, visit booklovefoundation.org.
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 26, 2012
114 people are currently reading
2363 people want to read
About the author
Penny Kittle
18 books486 followersPenny Kittle teaches writers at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She is the author of Micro Mentor Texts (2022), 4 Essential Studies &180 Days (with Kelly Gallagher), Book Love (2013), Write Beside Them (2008), The Greatest Catch: a life in teaching (2005), and Public Teaching: one kid at a time (2003); she co-authored Inside Writing (2005) with Donald Graves and edited a collection of Graves' work with Tom Newkirk, Children Want to Write. She presents at writing conferences throughout the United States and Canada and sometimes much farther.
But if you want the real story… she dances and sings along to really loud music in her car; she just ate all of the M&M’s out of her trail mix; and she is the first one to keel over when they do those balancing moves in Pilates.
But if you want the real story… she dances and sings along to really loud music in her car; she just ate all of the M&M’s out of her trail mix; and she is the first one to keel over when they do those balancing moves in Pilates.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 455 reviews
March 24, 2013
Sometimes books find you at an opportune time in your life. This book found me too late...only 46 days left in my career, I find a professional soul-mate I would love to visit with for hours. We share a vision for what schools and teachers should be doing, and yet we came at it from different directions. We had amazing mentors early on: she worked with Don Graves and Don Murray. My teachers at Indiana University included Roger Farr and Carolyn Burke--and her mentor Kenneth Goodman called me his granddaughter. We've learned from the best, and we've both taken those lessons to heart.
We both know relationships are what matter in a classroom. Her stories of nudging students into books, and into more complex books, are fun for me, because I could tell her MY stories too. We know kids need to enjoy their books or they won't read. We both have seen too much 'fake reading' in our careers, and are savvy enough to call kids on it.
I appreciate Kittle's bravery to revamp her traditional English classes to incorporate more pleasure reading...along with the required elements. Close to 20 years ago, my colleagues in my English department all incorporated a reading Friday into our classes. We modeled reading with the kids, and we began work on helping kids select books. But we kept it quiet...kids responded.
I decided more than 10 years ago, that wasn't going to be the route that worked for me, and I 'invented' my current class, Reading for Pleasure. This class allowed me the opportunity to concentrate solely on choice reading, reading for fun, and reflecting on reading. Hearing Kittle talk about her success, I wonder if I bailed too soon from the traditional English classes....I know our 9th and 10 grade teachers have students read during class...but not with the intentionality Kittle displays. I really like the combination of reading in class, and the reading homework she assigns. A creative way to add without overwhelming her kids.
I learned new ideas I wish I had the time to incorporate: Reading Break, similar to DEAR...I appreciated her honesty about the teachers and students who tried to subvert the school wide reading. That's kept me from pushing. She admits she teaches at a small high school -- 900, as opposed to the 2400 students we have at my school. More opportunities for resistant teachers and kids. She said her school confronts that by having administrators roam the halls and classrooms during Reading Break, and keeping everyone honest. I like her ideas.
Summer reading AND summer book groups sound awesome. Having school libraries open during the summer to allow students to check out books! Genius.
I'm trying desperately to figure out how to start using her Big Idea Books these last days -- a group of small notebooks, each dedicated to a Universal Theme, in which students can contribute reflections on their books. Kittle says she keeps hers from year to year -- what an amazing idea to connect readers over time...still thinking of how to pull this one off.
There are many ways we work in sync -- we both aim to build stamina and flexibility; we understand the importance of a 'books to read next' list. We both know we must read with our kids, read what they're reading. We both share books with passion. We build relationships with students, knowing that's the door into the books. We are both widely read, in popular books, YAL books, and professional books. We both feel the same frustration with teachers (especially English teachers) who are not readers and writers, who 'cover' a book and assume their job is finished. She highlights several difficult conversations she's had with colleagues who cling to that status quo thinking. I love her courage to confront, and can see she does it with respect and gentleness.
Those long conversations I wish we could have would be focused on some of the ways we diverge: she does conferences; I have students write and provide lots of feedback, carefully crafted to 'listen' in a different way. I read with my students; she does her conferences while they're reading. Because she does her work in the English class, she is able to have students be 'interdependent' readers, and make year-long connections among the books and the canon.
I had a wonderful epiphany as I was reading. She brings up a concept I've heard of before: Fixed and dynamic thinking...do we believe our intelligence is fixed, and if we don't get something the first time, it's just too bad...and if we don't get something the first time, we just need to try another way. She says to her kids what I've heard my experienced readers say to each other..."You just haven't found the right books yet." I had my students create a sticky-note chart of their attitudes about reading at the beginning of the semester, and then asked students to comment on the data. It was an identifiable pattern from students who'd taken my class more than once, that the kids who 'hate' or 'HATE' reading just needed to find that book. My students understand the dynamic aspects of reading and especially reading for their own pleasure.
Loved this book -- wish it'd found me sooner. Add another book to the list of 'books I wish I'd've written.' Add another author who lets me know I'm on the right path...for 46 more days.
We both know relationships are what matter in a classroom. Her stories of nudging students into books, and into more complex books, are fun for me, because I could tell her MY stories too. We know kids need to enjoy their books or they won't read. We both have seen too much 'fake reading' in our careers, and are savvy enough to call kids on it.
I appreciate Kittle's bravery to revamp her traditional English classes to incorporate more pleasure reading...along with the required elements. Close to 20 years ago, my colleagues in my English department all incorporated a reading Friday into our classes. We modeled reading with the kids, and we began work on helping kids select books. But we kept it quiet...kids responded.
I decided more than 10 years ago, that wasn't going to be the route that worked for me, and I 'invented' my current class, Reading for Pleasure. This class allowed me the opportunity to concentrate solely on choice reading, reading for fun, and reflecting on reading. Hearing Kittle talk about her success, I wonder if I bailed too soon from the traditional English classes....I know our 9th and 10 grade teachers have students read during class...but not with the intentionality Kittle displays. I really like the combination of reading in class, and the reading homework she assigns. A creative way to add without overwhelming her kids.
I learned new ideas I wish I had the time to incorporate: Reading Break, similar to DEAR...I appreciated her honesty about the teachers and students who tried to subvert the school wide reading. That's kept me from pushing. She admits she teaches at a small high school -- 900, as opposed to the 2400 students we have at my school. More opportunities for resistant teachers and kids. She said her school confronts that by having administrators roam the halls and classrooms during Reading Break, and keeping everyone honest. I like her ideas.
Summer reading AND summer book groups sound awesome. Having school libraries open during the summer to allow students to check out books! Genius.
I'm trying desperately to figure out how to start using her Big Idea Books these last days -- a group of small notebooks, each dedicated to a Universal Theme, in which students can contribute reflections on their books. Kittle says she keeps hers from year to year -- what an amazing idea to connect readers over time...still thinking of how to pull this one off.
There are many ways we work in sync -- we both aim to build stamina and flexibility; we understand the importance of a 'books to read next' list. We both know we must read with our kids, read what they're reading. We both share books with passion. We build relationships with students, knowing that's the door into the books. We are both widely read, in popular books, YAL books, and professional books. We both feel the same frustration with teachers (especially English teachers) who are not readers and writers, who 'cover' a book and assume their job is finished. She highlights several difficult conversations she's had with colleagues who cling to that status quo thinking. I love her courage to confront, and can see she does it with respect and gentleness.
Those long conversations I wish we could have would be focused on some of the ways we diverge: she does conferences; I have students write and provide lots of feedback, carefully crafted to 'listen' in a different way. I read with my students; she does her conferences while they're reading. Because she does her work in the English class, she is able to have students be 'interdependent' readers, and make year-long connections among the books and the canon.
I had a wonderful epiphany as I was reading. She brings up a concept I've heard of before: Fixed and dynamic thinking...do we believe our intelligence is fixed, and if we don't get something the first time, it's just too bad...and if we don't get something the first time, we just need to try another way. She says to her kids what I've heard my experienced readers say to each other..."You just haven't found the right books yet." I had my students create a sticky-note chart of their attitudes about reading at the beginning of the semester, and then asked students to comment on the data. It was an identifiable pattern from students who'd taken my class more than once, that the kids who 'hate' or 'HATE' reading just needed to find that book. My students understand the dynamic aspects of reading and especially reading for their own pleasure.
Loved this book -- wish it'd found me sooner. Add another book to the list of 'books I wish I'd've written.' Add another author who lets me know I'm on the right path...for 46 more days.
August 3, 2016
This is a five out of five for me. I have read quite a few professional books--almost everyone dry as overcooked turkey. This one was practical, it was written well, and it carried a philosophy I could completely stand behind because it put students before content. I absolutely recommend every teacher read this.
December 20, 2016
Great resource for English Language Arts teachers at the high school level. Although I set aside time in our weekly class schedule for my students to choose their own books in our classroom, I know that I still need to go the extra mile and support my struggling readers.
Penny Kittle writes in a respectful and down to earth tone. This was important to me because I resent preachy professional development books. Having read her book "Write Beside Them," I feel safe in saying that Kittle speaks directly to her reading audience and by using her story of ups and downs, carries her passion from the classroom directly to the text.
A must read!
Penny Kittle writes in a respectful and down to earth tone. This was important to me because I resent preachy professional development books. Having read her book "Write Beside Them," I feel safe in saying that Kittle speaks directly to her reading audience and by using her story of ups and downs, carries her passion from the classroom directly to the text.
A must read!
February 11, 2015
Originally reviewed here.
High school teacher and literacy coach Penny Kittle knows something that many English teachers don't: kids don't actually read the books they're assigned in class. And far too many kids are graduating from high school not having experienced the joy and pleasure of living inside the pages of a book, let alone many books. And that's just the problem. Administrators, curriculum writers, and law makers assume that in order for students to become better readers they must only read intensively and not extensively. They forget that in order to become expert readers, students must build stamina. They can only do that by reading. A lot. Sometimes even books that are too easy for their reading level. And that's where the expertise of the teacher comes in: when do you pull back and let students experience the joy of some "brain candy" and when do you decide the right moment to challenge their thinking and give them a "reach book" as Penny likes to call it.
You see, Book Love my friends, is a revelation. It belongs up on the pedestal where I hold The Book Whisperer. While reading it can benefit teachers of any grade, and I highly encourage every teacher to pick it up no matter what grade you teach, Penny addresses the contention most high school teachers seem to have that reading and writing workshop is just a "middle school thing." Not only does Penny show that workshop absolutely belongs in the high school classroom, but she allows us to see that it's a necessary part of the high school English and literature experience if we are to prepare our students for college and careers beyond the classroom.
Filled with concise, logical arguments as well as emotional stories of Penny's own students to drive her points home, Book Love should be required reading in every high school English department across America. I finished reading the last half of this book on the plane home from NCTE thinking that it would be safe plane reading. Oh how wrong I was. I shed many tears for Penny's students in the last few pages of this book. Her love and commitment to them made me wish to be the teacher to my students that she is to hers. This is a book that is impossible not to think of the Maya Angelou quote (and I'm paraphrasing here): when you know better, you do better. Teachers, read Book Love. And then when you know better, do better for your students. They deserve so much more than the fake, passionless reading they are currently experiencing in classrooms across America. Get them out of the those SparkNotes and into the pages of a real book. LOTS of real books. Let them read widely and voluminously so that they can become lifelong readers. Fill your shelves with many different books, not just the handful of classroom sets of classics that don't even get opened when you "read" them in class. Give them a buy in. Let them drink the Kool-aid. Then and only then will those dusty classics sitting on your shelf seven months of the year actually get read.
High school teacher and literacy coach Penny Kittle knows something that many English teachers don't: kids don't actually read the books they're assigned in class. And far too many kids are graduating from high school not having experienced the joy and pleasure of living inside the pages of a book, let alone many books. And that's just the problem. Administrators, curriculum writers, and law makers assume that in order for students to become better readers they must only read intensively and not extensively. They forget that in order to become expert readers, students must build stamina. They can only do that by reading. A lot. Sometimes even books that are too easy for their reading level. And that's where the expertise of the teacher comes in: when do you pull back and let students experience the joy of some "brain candy" and when do you decide the right moment to challenge their thinking and give them a "reach book" as Penny likes to call it.
You see, Book Love my friends, is a revelation. It belongs up on the pedestal where I hold The Book Whisperer. While reading it can benefit teachers of any grade, and I highly encourage every teacher to pick it up no matter what grade you teach, Penny addresses the contention most high school teachers seem to have that reading and writing workshop is just a "middle school thing." Not only does Penny show that workshop absolutely belongs in the high school classroom, but she allows us to see that it's a necessary part of the high school English and literature experience if we are to prepare our students for college and careers beyond the classroom.
Filled with concise, logical arguments as well as emotional stories of Penny's own students to drive her points home, Book Love should be required reading in every high school English department across America. I finished reading the last half of this book on the plane home from NCTE thinking that it would be safe plane reading. Oh how wrong I was. I shed many tears for Penny's students in the last few pages of this book. Her love and commitment to them made me wish to be the teacher to my students that she is to hers. This is a book that is impossible not to think of the Maya Angelou quote (and I'm paraphrasing here): when you know better, you do better. Teachers, read Book Love. And then when you know better, do better for your students. They deserve so much more than the fake, passionless reading they are currently experiencing in classrooms across America. Get them out of the those SparkNotes and into the pages of a real book. LOTS of real books. Let them read widely and voluminously so that they can become lifelong readers. Fill your shelves with many different books, not just the handful of classroom sets of classics that don't even get opened when you "read" them in class. Give them a buy in. Let them drink the Kool-aid. Then and only then will those dusty classics sitting on your shelf seven months of the year actually get read.
September 8, 2015
Great teacher book about developing middle school and high school kids who love reading. I found it to be very similar in philosophy to 'The Book Whisperer' and 'Reading in the Wild'. And very similar to my own reading philosophy: In order to get better at reading, kids need to read freely and joyfully the books that they choose. My job as a teacher is to encourage that joyful reading. While there wasn't much new to me in this book, it's still affirming to know that what I'm trying to do in my classroom is best practice. And I now want to teach high school English like the author.
May 30, 2015
I can honestly say that I've never had tears in my eyes at the end of a professional read before. Until now.
This book is full of ideas for making sure that students (all students - not just high school kids) are reading. I can't wait to share with friends, colleagues and my students!
This book is full of ideas for making sure that students (all students - not just high school kids) are reading. I can't wait to share with friends, colleagues and my students!
October 19, 2020
A great read -- absolutely helped me revision my outside reading requirements for my students and reaffirm my pedagogical stance on outside reading. I have always believed students should have choice in what they want to read, but I will admit I don't believe what I have done for over a decade has worked for the majority of them. I just want them to learn to love it and realize they CAN read no matter if it goes a little slowly at times. Now, I am excited to help them learn to love reading again -- like so many did as little kids! Using Kittle's model, I have a brand new reading log all set up for my students, and am ready to help them build their stamina; hopefully they too will be impressed with how much they can read on their own. And a bonus feature is that this is going to work in any model we find ourselves going to school in thanks to the pandemic, so no need to adjust it if we go fully remote, hybrid, or full in-person.
July 16, 2018
So many take aways for teachers in implementing independent reading time during the balanced literacy model. Volume, matters. Daily book talks matter. Daily conferencing matters. Building life long readers, one reader at a time.
July 16, 2019
This book is an inspiration. A lot of English teachers have a gut feeling that allowing time for independent reading during class time--even when you have so many other things to get though!--is a good thing. Penny Kittle tells you why.
February 11, 2013
Book Love is a book I love. The message is one I passionately believe: every kid must learn to love reading by picking up whatever book piques their interest. English teachers who think they know what's best clearly don't know what it's like to try and read Tale of Two Cities as a young teenager (as you'll find out in the book, I didn't much appreciate that one bit).
July 15, 2016
Loved it! Not only is it a great reminder of the philosophies and passion that drove me to teach English, but it also provides practical ideas and titles to help implement those philosophies in the contemporary classroom. I would highly recommend this book to any middle school or high school teacher!
July 10, 2019
I love Penny Kittle, and I am embarrassed that it took me so long to finish this one. During the past school year, I was very concerned about reading and how much my students read. I feel that I didn’t do enough. Now that I have finished this and 180 Days, I am thinking of not teaching whole class novels at all. Students need choice, and I worry that the whole class novels drive them away from reading. So, I have a month to rethink and redesign my plans. I have to be the one who helps them, so if I can implement even a little bit of what Penny suggests then I know I can be the miracle my students need.
July 17, 2018
Inspiring and validating.
Read this in a big gulp of reading. But not without a bunch of notes.
This is a book that will reignite the idealism of a seasoned teacher. More books like this please.
Read this in a big gulp of reading. But not without a bunch of notes.
This is a book that will reignite the idealism of a seasoned teacher. More books like this please.
April 10, 2017
Excellent resource for creating lifelong readers
September 7, 2021
This is probably one of the most important books that I have read. I'm so inspired and plan to, and hope to, inspire my own students the same way that she did! Amazing!
March 15, 2016
"A book isn't vigorous if students aren't reading it." Ah, Penny Kittle, you had me from the very start when I read this line in your introduction. I was an English teacher for 18 years before I became a librarian, and I have always believed students needed more choice and empowerment when it comes to what they read. We English teachers spent more time in our department meetings arguing over summer reading and classics vs contemporary book choices than we did discussing test scores, common units, lesson plans, writing skills, etc. The argument continues today. It has taken me 7 years as our school's librarian to convince teachers that they should allow students to read graphic novels and graphic nonfiction and to listen to audiobooks. Of course, it is our responsibility to help students scaffold and choose more complex texts, but we also need to make sure they are really reading and are not faking it (they are very good at doing this and succeeding at assignments even when they don't read the book). Let students be successful with a text before asking them to read more challenging texts.
There are days when I cringe during the junior research paper project because staff insist students only read certain books and certain authors, not the authors they want to read or research. I love the excuses given. Let's just be honest with students instead and say, "I don't like that author" or "I don't think that author's quality of writing/stories/ characters is worthy of reading/research". Tell students the real reason! Okay, I will step off my soapbox now.
Kittle offers ideas that echo Donalyn Miller, Kelly Gallagher, Cris Tovani, and Lucy Calkins, to name a few. She provides easy, concrete lessons/ideas; she has experience and is honest with what works, and she shares stories about her students that put all of the lessons in context. Kittle is so lucky that her principal supported her/ had the vision to be a leader for literacy.
Literacy belongs to everyone in a school and not just English teachers, but I am driven mad by those who teach English and are not readers themselves. "We can't teach something we don't practice." Amen, Penny Kittle, amen.
There are days when I cringe during the junior research paper project because staff insist students only read certain books and certain authors, not the authors they want to read or research. I love the excuses given. Let's just be honest with students instead and say, "I don't like that author" or "I don't think that author's quality of writing/stories/ characters is worthy of reading/research". Tell students the real reason! Okay, I will step off my soapbox now.
Kittle offers ideas that echo Donalyn Miller, Kelly Gallagher, Cris Tovani, and Lucy Calkins, to name a few. She provides easy, concrete lessons/ideas; she has experience and is honest with what works, and she shares stories about her students that put all of the lessons in context. Kittle is so lucky that her principal supported her/ had the vision to be a leader for literacy.
Literacy belongs to everyone in a school and not just English teachers, but I am driven mad by those who teach English and are not readers themselves. "We can't teach something we don't practice." Amen, Penny Kittle, amen.
July 28, 2013
I have 7th graders, but the students described in this book fit some of my students to a "T." Those "fake readers" or the kids who don't like to read... YET. I will be reading many of the books she book talks with her seniors, and I will try to get my colleagues reading this book - for many of them DON'T READ. How can you sell a book you haven't read?! I am more determined than ever to get all of my kids hooked on reading...
This book was the most relevant to my profession so far this summer. I can use almost all of the ideas listed, and Penny Kittle doesn't make it seem like it's impossible. She writes about the ideal world, but knows we don't live in it, and offers suggestions to help us get closer to it, at least. I thought it would be a lot like Donalyn Miller's THE BOOK WHISPERER, and that's why I kept putting it off, but it's even better. It's more applicable to my students and the teachers at my school. I needed this book. Every middle school and high school teacher who teaches reading should read this book. Heck, every PARENT should, too!!
This book was the most relevant to my profession so far this summer. I can use almost all of the ideas listed, and Penny Kittle doesn't make it seem like it's impossible. She writes about the ideal world, but knows we don't live in it, and offers suggestions to help us get closer to it, at least. I thought it would be a lot like Donalyn Miller's THE BOOK WHISPERER, and that's why I kept putting it off, but it's even better. It's more applicable to my students and the teachers at my school. I needed this book. Every middle school and high school teacher who teaches reading should read this book. Heck, every PARENT should, too!!
January 30, 2023
As someone who has been following Penny Kittle’s work for years, none of this was super new or revolutionary for me. She explains a lot of her philosophies (with more & better examples, I believe) in 180 Days or 4 Essential Studies, which I would definitely recommend first.
I appreciate Kittle’s passion for choice reading, and I 100% agree with her philosophies. This is also a great book to reference when you need research to support independent reading. I have some admin that don’t see the value and I’d love to put this book in their hands 🙃 But it was really repetitive and already feels outdated. She really makes impossible things seem easy sometimes & can read as overly optimistic. But I really admire her as an educator and think her ideas are worth amplifying. If I had read this book first before her others, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
I appreciate Kittle’s passion for choice reading, and I 100% agree with her philosophies. This is also a great book to reference when you need research to support independent reading. I have some admin that don’t see the value and I’d love to put this book in their hands 🙃 But it was really repetitive and already feels outdated. She really makes impossible things seem easy sometimes & can read as overly optimistic. But I really admire her as an educator and think her ideas are worth amplifying. If I had read this book first before her others, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
December 3, 2015
A great guide for how to implement independent reading in the classroom. It could almost be titled How to Do Independent Reading in the Classroom for Dummies because Kittle fills in all the gaps and has examples and models of everything from book talks to notebook entries and questions. A really useful, helpful guide. I know what my department is reading this summer! Seriously, though, Kittle makes you feel like you can do this, you owe it to the students, and you can be successful. I particularly appreciate that Kittle advocates balance. Unlike some folks I have heard, she doesn't reject the notion of the class literature study entirely. She realizes that the healthy English classroom will include both.
March 15, 2014
Why: My own professional development!
When: Start 1/20/13 End 1/27/13
Thoughts: This teacher shows me the path toward achieving with my students what I hope and envision for their reading.
How: I'm reading the hard copy of this one, loaned to me by a colleague. I'm taking notes on my ipad as I read so I don't forget all the things I hope to do in my classroom that I'm learning about in this book!
review hiaku:
books books books books books
read read read read read read read
teach to craft readers
When: Start 1/20/13 End 1/27/13
Thoughts: This teacher shows me the path toward achieving with my students what I hope and envision for their reading.
How: I'm reading the hard copy of this one, loaned to me by a colleague. I'm taking notes on my ipad as I read so I don't forget all the things I hope to do in my classroom that I'm learning about in this book!
review hiaku:
books books books books books
read read read read read read read
teach to craft readers
April 26, 2013
Passionate, completely sensible, and full of good advice and examples. I'll give Kittle credit for at least acknowledging the existence of school libraries and librarians, which are often completely ignored (e.g., Kelly Gallagher's Readicide)in books like these, but she could have spent a chapter or at least a few pages discussing how librarians and teachers can collaborate.
August 7, 2016
My 5-star rating hasn't budged one bit. If any other PD book comes even close to comparing to my love for this one, I'll be utterly shocked. I'm so excited to begin this second year of celebrating independent reading with a second reading of Book Love under my belt... or should I say in my tool belt? :) I think I'll just go ahead and make a habit of reading this every single summer of my career.
April 2, 2024
Re-read
This book was a great read about establishing and maintaining a community of readers in your classroom. I plan on sharing information from it with my students and colleagues.
This book was a great read about establishing and maintaining a community of readers in your classroom. I plan on sharing information from it with my students and colleagues.
May 13, 2024
I've spent the semester reading and discussing this book with my PLC, and I've even implemented a few of Kittle's strategies. I had the pleasure of attending a virtual PD with Kittle during covid, so I was already familiar with her philosophy, but it was nice to spend a semester really digging into it.
In this text, Kittle outlines a teaching philosophy on the importance of reading. Not reading in the way it was traditionally taught, where students are forced to read the classics despite a lack of engagement, real reading, or understanding, but reading in the style of good readers in the real world, independently selecting texts that genuinely interest us and centering classroom activities . I would say that for my five years of teaching, I have been solidly in the middle of these philosophies around reading. I have valued independent reading a student-choice, but I have also occasionally taught whole class texts, and I don't think I've centered reading for pleasure or conferring as much as I should've. Kittle's arguments are certainly idealistic (read: impossible,) but they give me hope and something to work toward. I think, to put these ideas into practice, I would have to decenter writing workshop, at least some of the time.
Here are some ideas/thoughts that I want to record for future Kate:
- BOOK TALKS. Taking a couple of minutes to share a book's title, what it is about and why I think some students might like it helps students find books that they want to read in the future. An essential component of a reader is a plan on what to read next.
-In order to give book talks, I have to increase the variety of what I read. I'm actually proud of the variety of books that I have read in 2024 so far. However, to meet Kittle's annual reading goal (140), my main focus would have to be upping my YA.
- The assignments that students get related to their independent reading should be related to reading for pleasure, reflecting further on the ideas of the text, or goal-setting / analyzing reading volume. (I really liked the idea of asking students to identify the questions that the book is asking.) So far, I have been having students read their choice book, then do some type of test prep CER response. This is BORING! Kittle recommends having students do these analytical tasks with short excerpts from books. Reading and analyzing these excerpts also functions as a book talk, because students are encountering texts they may want to fully enjoy in the future. I tried doing one of these with an excerpt from Mean by Myriam Gurba and a Gary Soto poem, and it worked SO WELL. If I picked one excerpt from everything I read during the school year, I would easily be able to build a library of these texts.
- Tracking, goal setting, etc. I really tried y'all. By really tried, I mean I had students set a reading goal, made page-tracker bookmarks, put up a fancy bulletin board, told them they were expected to read outside of class, and then promptly got overwhelmed trying to keep up with my own reading tracker, let alone all of theirs. This is an area of the book I really would've liked more instruction, with pictures of handouts or teacher trackers or whatever. The logistical piece is what makes all of this possible, and without it, I will continue to just live this philosophy halfway. I need to figure this out! The only idea I've had is that if I ever teach a non-tested subject and move towards grading soft skills (like my icons Patrica, Alexis, and Sheri,) I may have the mental space to do this kind of tracking for every student.
- Books should be organized by topic, not genre. This would be really easy for me to do, and it sounds like this makes it a lot easier to help students find books. Related to this, she also shared that she keeps notebooks that span multiple years where students can write book reviews/reflections by topic. I loved this idea, and I know from experience that students are highly motivated to read/write towards classes past/future.
That's all for now.
In this text, Kittle outlines a teaching philosophy on the importance of reading. Not reading in the way it was traditionally taught, where students are forced to read the classics despite a lack of engagement, real reading, or understanding, but reading in the style of good readers in the real world, independently selecting texts that genuinely interest us and centering classroom activities . I would say that for my five years of teaching, I have been solidly in the middle of these philosophies around reading. I have valued independent reading a student-choice, but I have also occasionally taught whole class texts, and I don't think I've centered reading for pleasure or conferring as much as I should've. Kittle's arguments are certainly idealistic (read: impossible,) but they give me hope and something to work toward. I think, to put these ideas into practice, I would have to decenter writing workshop, at least some of the time.
Here are some ideas/thoughts that I want to record for future Kate:
- BOOK TALKS. Taking a couple of minutes to share a book's title, what it is about and why I think some students might like it helps students find books that they want to read in the future. An essential component of a reader is a plan on what to read next.
-In order to give book talks, I have to increase the variety of what I read. I'm actually proud of the variety of books that I have read in 2024 so far. However, to meet Kittle's annual reading goal (140), my main focus would have to be upping my YA.
- The assignments that students get related to their independent reading should be related to reading for pleasure, reflecting further on the ideas of the text, or goal-setting / analyzing reading volume. (I really liked the idea of asking students to identify the questions that the book is asking.) So far, I have been having students read their choice book, then do some type of test prep CER response. This is BORING! Kittle recommends having students do these analytical tasks with short excerpts from books. Reading and analyzing these excerpts also functions as a book talk, because students are encountering texts they may want to fully enjoy in the future. I tried doing one of these with an excerpt from Mean by Myriam Gurba and a Gary Soto poem, and it worked SO WELL. If I picked one excerpt from everything I read during the school year, I would easily be able to build a library of these texts.
- Tracking, goal setting, etc. I really tried y'all. By really tried, I mean I had students set a reading goal, made page-tracker bookmarks, put up a fancy bulletin board, told them they were expected to read outside of class, and then promptly got overwhelmed trying to keep up with my own reading tracker, let alone all of theirs. This is an area of the book I really would've liked more instruction, with pictures of handouts or teacher trackers or whatever. The logistical piece is what makes all of this possible, and without it, I will continue to just live this philosophy halfway. I need to figure this out! The only idea I've had is that if I ever teach a non-tested subject and move towards grading soft skills (like my icons Patrica, Alexis, and Sheri,) I may have the mental space to do this kind of tracking for every student.
- Books should be organized by topic, not genre. This would be really easy for me to do, and it sounds like this makes it a lot easier to help students find books. Related to this, she also shared that she keeps notebooks that span multiple years where students can write book reviews/reflections by topic. I loved this idea, and I know from experience that students are highly motivated to read/write towards classes past/future.
That's all for now.
March 20, 2018
“Book Love,” by Penny Kittle, was an incredibly insightful text set that included teaching practices and words of inspiration for future and present English teachers. This book is intended to be used in older classrooms and geared towards practices used with teenagers. However, many of her ideas and lessons can be slightly changed to better suite younger students, if you do want to use this book in a younger setting. I like Kittle’s ideas of getting students in her class to read by finding out books that they loved and by pushing them to choose more books like these. I think that Kittle’s idea of remaining flexible with text sets and allowing her students to stop reading books and chose another is a great idea for keeping students passionate and engaged in the books they read along with being engaged in the class. I also like how honest Kittle is with her classroom. When she talks about how she explains writing to them by showing that she struggles too, makes her very human and makes her relatable to the students in her class. She also has filled the book full of different lesson plans and templates to use with her class and with other classes. In her book she also talks about ways to successfully do book talks so that you can keep your students engaged and eager to pick up their next book. Kittle also discussed ways to inspire students to write in her classroom, by allowing them to write about what they are passionate about. Overall this was a great book to read and I thought that she had a ton of great ideas and lesson plans. This book really inspired me to go out and bring the best into my classrooms, for the students in my classroom. As a future teacher I will use this book to help with planning my reading lessons as well as writing lessons.
May 21, 2025
It's true- I struggle to motivate my students to read. I teach on-level 10th grade English. Even in a school with amazing state test scores, I see the glazed over eyes of my students day in and day out. They struggle with intrinsic motivation in their day-to-day and do the bare minimum just to get by. I didn't expect this level of apathy when I got into teaching. Some even brag about how they haven't read an actual book since second grade.
I turned to this book out of desperation as a third year teacher. This is a great resource for English teachers- I found plenty of ideas that I plan to implement in my classroom. I really enjoy Kittle's style of writing. Instead of dry and boring professional development, I was taken on a journey.
All of the working pieces confused me a little bit- I struggled to see the bigger picture. I would love to shadow Penny Kittle in her classroom for a week to see how she ties everything together.
I turned to this book out of desperation as a third year teacher. This is a great resource for English teachers- I found plenty of ideas that I plan to implement in my classroom. I really enjoy Kittle's style of writing. Instead of dry and boring professional development, I was taken on a journey.
All of the working pieces confused me a little bit- I struggled to see the bigger picture. I would love to shadow Penny Kittle in her classroom for a week to see how she ties everything together.
March 10, 2020
"It's all well and good to transform our classrooms. It's very good, in fact; it might just keep us there for many more years...But one classroom of readers in a school is not enough. It may be where we need to start, but when we're ready, we have to talk to our colleagues" (153).
Book love is starting to happen at my school now. But just like this quote from Kittle states, one classroom is not enough. I want to combine the ideas and passion and structures I got from this with Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point to create a culture of readers at my school. We will become a school that reads. HIS Reads will be more than words or an annual program but a message to the world the reading DOES matter. A lot!
Book love is starting to happen at my school now. But just like this quote from Kittle states, one classroom is not enough. I want to combine the ideas and passion and structures I got from this with Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point to create a culture of readers at my school. We will become a school that reads. HIS Reads will be more than words or an annual program but a message to the world the reading DOES matter. A lot!
December 17, 2025
Started reading this 2.5 years ago…YOIKES. But, now I’ve finished & I need to immediately go back and reread or at least pour over all my !!! & underlines & notes in the margins. I absolutely loved Penny Kittle’s theories on developing readers, especially through choice. Come get on my reading soapbox because it’s so so important, or as my dad preaches “reading is fundamental” (what a guy!).
She closed the book by saying “dreams lurk in books. We must never forget that.”
SO TRUE PENNY 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻!!!
Side note for my own remembrance: I do wish to sit down with her and ask how she structures her classes to do this and still get through all the curriculum.
She closed the book by saying “dreams lurk in books. We must never forget that.”
SO TRUE PENNY 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻!!!
Side note for my own remembrance: I do wish to sit down with her and ask how she structures her classes to do this and still get through all the curriculum.
May 27, 2018
This is the book I wish every middle and high school English teacher could read. There was a YES!!! or an Ah-ha! on every page. Kittle has gotten to the heart of what we need from our English teachers and librarians, that we do our students a disservice when we don’t meet them where they are! Choice matters! Choice is a motivator! I’m grateful that this book came from one of the English teachers in my school who is making change happen in her classroom. Our students need more from us; we need to help them build their literacy skills, which will happen only when we help them enjoy reading. Thank you for writing this book!!!!
November 20, 2017
This book changed how I view my students and how I view myself as a teacher and a reader. If you are looking for a way to challenge and inspire yourself, looking for a way to move past the excuses we make in education for not reaching every student, the excuses for why so many of our students are not reading, this is your clarion call!
Penny Kittle is vulnerable and understanding about the challenges of teaching, yet firm in her conviction that WE must be the teachers who inspire our students to love reading.
Penny Kittle is vulnerable and understanding about the challenges of teaching, yet firm in her conviction that WE must be the teachers who inspire our students to love reading.
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