Comments on: Reading Levels http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2008/06/08/reading-levels/ A School Library Journal Blog Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:26:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Amy http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2008/06/08/reading-levels/comment-page-1/#comment-765 Amy Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:05:41 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2008/06/08/reading-levels/#comment-765 Marc: As a teacher and librarian, I would agree with the idea that nonfiction is very different reading and thus does not hold to the traditional standards of reading levels of fiction books. I think most educators would agree with you. I know that one thing I have to be careful about is selecting books, nonfiction, that does not visually offend the reader. By that I mean choosing a really neat nonfiction picture book,for example The Wall, that a high school would not be willing to read on their own because...well, it is too babyish, at least in appearance. See the cover. That fact that nonfiction is attractive to various levels of readers due to interest and discovery is what makes it different and appeals to readers of the subject not the reading lexile. I still think we need some kind of generic reading level recommendation...but not to its exclusivity in evaluation. Marc:
As a teacher and librarian, I would agree with the idea that nonfiction is very different reading and thus does not hold to the traditional standards of reading levels of fiction books. I think most educators would agree with you. I know that one thing I have to be careful about is selecting books, nonfiction, that does not visually offend the reader. By that I mean choosing a really neat nonfiction picture book,for example The Wall, that a high school would not be willing to read on their own because…well, it is too babyish, at least in appearance. See the cover.

That fact that nonfiction is attractive to various levels of readers due to interest and discovery is what makes it different and appeals to readers of the subject not the reading lexile. I still think we need some kind of generic reading level recommendation…but not to its exclusivity in evaluation.

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