The Book Whisperer

I heard a lot about Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child earlier this year when it was released. When I saw that there would be a discussion with Miller about the book on EC Ning, I went straight to Amazon to order it. Miller has been leading a great discussion, inspiring feedback from a large group of educators.

The whole book emphasizes the goal of reading programs as inspiring students to be life-long readers and her personal journey to reaching a set-up for "awakening" all of a passion for reading in all of her students. There were many comments that I underlined and starred for various reasons, such as they perfectly aligned with my philosophy or they shared a perspective that I would want to remember later to defend authentic reading programs.

One quote that resonated with me was, "Even with her extensive knowledge of reading and writing practices, Susie was always searching for methods to improve the literacy instruction in her classroom and still struggling to get it 'right'" (14). I extensively read about literacy. However, as soon as I start to feel like I am smoothly implementing one idea in a general sense, I start to investigate multiple questions that pop into mind about different components.

I enjoyed that the book gave me a lot to consider. In some areas it supported what I already do and in other areas such as reading logs, it caused me to revisit yet again whether or not I really want to continue that practice. (I even commented about this on the discussion, 4th comment down).

Above all, I appreciated this book in the same way that I appreciated Readicide. Miller has a well-developed rationale for best practices in literacy instruction. It inspires me to continue working through the bumps along the way as I am finding out what will work best for my students. It also reaffirms why I chose to teach in a school where I am able to have a workshop approach in my classroom, rather than being restricted to a canned program.