e:\doc\web\99\09\readgrad.txt From: rdyarrow@elnet.com Date sent: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 22:28:46 -0500 To: rdyarrow@elnet.com Subject: More about reading lists and a bit of a shock When Karen asked for a reading list, I wrote to her and let her know that I had several, but that they were all written between 1880 and 1930.  I continue to be interested seeing how reading levels have been"dumbed down"  over the years.......seems to have been a gradual decline until the past few years when the drop in is more precipitous.   Routinely, I observe what used to be 3rd and 4th grade books used in today's middle school classrooms and book fairs.  Permabound revised all of the reading levels downward a year or two ago.  AARGH.  I have pasted an interesting note that Karen observed in response to my list along with a few other pieces:  1.  From: "Karen L. Byars" Reply-To: klbyars@earthlink.net Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mary! I noticed that they listed Huck Finn for grades 6 and 7. It is on the summer reading list for my son's 11th grade Honors English class in the school ranked in the top 3 in MA. Can you believe it?  Karen I have also included Elaine McEwan's reply to Karen (#2), Pat Royer's reply to Karen (#3), a list of poems and portions of books read by eighth grade students in 1920 which I found included many prose items that I remember reading in that grade-although we never touched upon the poetry. I just found this book in an old used book store in Michigan when we took my daughter to Interlochen two weeks ago. The rigorous vocabulary that eighth graders were exposed to in 1920 is more advanced than that for most college students today. (#4), and my original list of old book lists that I sent to Karen and which I posted on the loop about two years ago (#5).  Mary 2.  Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 08:48:17 -0700 Subject: Re: Can anyone help??Summer reading lists From: "Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins" To: rdyarrow@elnet.com Mime-version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit X-UIDL: 9a31fd007814ea77f278d6f5f194e5fa I have a new book coming out in just a month that would be perfect for this parent. Titled How to Raise a Reader (Baker Book House Company, 1999, ISBN 0-8010-1184-1), it contains age-graded recommendations for the finest in children's literature Birth-Age 12 plus lots of good stuff about how kids learn to read and what early reading programs should look like. BUT....it won't be available until August. You can check out the cover and read the introduction on my web site (elainemcewan.com) under the Hot Off the Press section. The next best thing would be to locate one of the following. The resource from the Family Research Council was especially good and very inexpensive. I'd highly recommend it to any family. Elaine Resources to Help You Choose the Best in Books for Your Children Allison, Christine. Teach Your Children Well: A Parent's Guide to the Stories, Poems, Fables and Tales that Instill Traditional Values. New York: Delacorte Press, 1993. Association of Christian Schools International. Survey of Recommended Reading Lists: Preschool Through Grade Twelve. Colorado Springs, CO: Association of Christian Schools International, 1998. PO Box 35097, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3509. Cascardi, Andrea E. Good Books to Grow On: Guide to Building Your Child's Library from Birth to Age 5. New York: Warner Books, 1985. Family Research Council. Home Remedies: Reading Lists and Curriculum Aids to Promote Your Child's Educational Well-Being. Washington, DC: Family Research Council. Contains helpful references, readings lists, and curriculum aids. (800) 225-4008. Gallagher, Susan V. and Roger Lundin. Literature Through the Eyes of Faith. New York: Harper and Row, Inc, 1989. Gillespie, John and Lembo, Diana. Introducing Books: A Guide for the Middle Grades. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1970. Gross, Jacquelyn with Leonard Gross. Make Your Child a Lifelong Reader: A Parent-Guided Program for Children of All Ages Who Can't, Won't, or Haven't Yet Started to Read. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1986. Hunt, Gladys. Honey for a Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. Hunt, Gladys I. Reading for Your Life: Turning Teens into Readers. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992. Kilpatrick, William, Gregory and Suzanne M. Wolfe. Books that Build Character New York: Simon & Schuster/Touchstone, 1994. Kimmel, Margaret Mary and Elizabeth Segel. For Reading Out Loud: A Guide to Sharing Books with Children. New York: Delacorte Press, 1983. Lamme, Linda with Vivian Cox, Jane Matanzo and Miken Olson. Raising Readers: A Guide to Sharing Literature with Young Children. New York: Walker & Co., 1980. McMullan, Kate Hall. How to Choose Good Books for Kids. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1984. Oppenheim Joanne, Barbara Brenner, and Betty D. Boegehold. Choosing Books for Kids: Choosing the Right Book for the Right Child at the Right Time. New York: Ballantine Books, 1986. Rudman, Masah Kabakow, Anna Markus Pearce and the Editors of Consumer Reports Books. For Love of Reading: A Parent's Guide to Encouraging Young Readers from Infancy Through Age 5. Mount Vernon, NY: Consumers Union, 1988. Sabine, Gordon and Patricia. Books that Made a Difference. Hamden, Connecticut: Shoe String Press, 1983. Trelease, Jim. The Read-Aloud Handbook. New York: Penguin Books, 1995. Wilson, Elizabeth. Books Children Love: A Guide to the Best in Children's Literature. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1987. Wilson, George and Joyce Moss. Books for Children to Read Alone: A Guide for Parents and Librarians. New York: Bowker, 1988. Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins The McEwan-Adkins Group (520) 544-4088 (office) (520) 544-8764 (fax) http://www.elainemcewan.com #3. To: rdyarrow@elnet.com Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 07:15:30 -0500 Subject: Re: Can anyone help??Summer reading lists Hi Mary. Post this to the loop if you please. Gene Royer writes: In the message below, Karen Byars points out a glaring error in the eductional system: Schools are not set up for kids to learn; they are set up for teachers to teach. The latter, teachers teaching, is a MEANS. The former, Kids learning, is an ENDS. One is *what we stay busy at*, the other is *what kids obtain*. Which is more important to you as a parent? In today's schools, what kids obtain takes a back seat to what schools stay busy doing. It should be the other way around, eh? --Gene Gene Royer Consultant to the governing boards of nonprofit and public organizations. Author: SCHOOL BOARD LEADERSHIP 2000, (Brockton 1996) Now in its Second Printing. Ph 281-495-7009; FAX 281-495-1323 #4.  Junior High School Literature: Book Two (for eighth grade)      1920 by Scott, Foresman and Company by William Elson and Christine Keck Part 1: Stories and Poems of Nature (I left off the author's middle names) To A Skylark...........................William Wordworth To A Skylark...........................Percy Bysshe Shelley Hark!Hark!Hark!The Lark...........William Shakespeare The Mocking Bird.....................John James Audubon Morning-Glories........................Madison Cawein Coaly-Bay, the Outlaw Horse..Ernest Seton Satan, The War Dog...............Ernest Baynes The Thundering Herd...............Clarence Hawkes To a Waterfowl.......................William Bryant Tampa Robins........................Sidney Lanier The Skylark............................James Hogg Pine-Trees and the Sky:Evening..Rupert Brooke Flower in the Crannied Wall........Alfred Tennyson The Rhodora.............................Ralph Waldo Emerson The Coming of Sprin..................Hamlin Garland Home-throughts, from Abroad....Robert Browning A Vagabond Song....................Bliss Carman Frost Tonight............................Edith Thomas Song of the Chattahoochee.......Sidney Lanier The Bugle Song........................Alfred Tennyson The Bells..................................Edgar Allan Poe The Chambered Nautilus............Oliver Holmes Part II: Adventures Old and New The Sire De Maletroit's Door......Robert L. Stevenson The Highwayman......................Alfred Noyes Lochinvar..................................Sir Walter Scott The Masque of the Red Death.....Edgar Allan Poe The Raven................................Edgar Allan Poe Robin Hood's Death..................Folk Ballad John Gilpin..............................William Cowper The LEap of Roushan Beg........Henry W. Longfellow How They Brought The Good New...Robert Browning Incident of the French Camp......Robert Browning The Night Before Waterloo.........Lord Byron The Assault Heroic..................Robert Graves A Ballad of John Silver...............John Masefield Fleurette....................................Robert W.Service A Christmas Carol.......................Charles Dickens A Midsummer Night's Dream......William Shakespeare Part III: Liberty and Service The Isles of Greece..................Lord Byron The Italian In England...............Robert Browning Paul Rever's Ride.....................Henry W. Longfellow Concord Hymn...........................Ralph Waldo Emerson I Have a Rendezvous with Death...Alan Seeger Rouge Bouquet............................Joyce Kilmer England and her Colonies..............Edmund Burke Speech Against War with The Colonies..William Pitt For A'That and A' That...................Robert Burns Liberty and Union..........................George Washington\ The American Experiment.............Daniel Webster The Poor Voter on Election Day.....John Whittier Geyysburg Address......................Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln...........................Woodrow WIlson You Are the Hope of the World....Herman Hagedorn The Heritage of Noble Lives.........Theodore Roosevelt The Man Without A Coutnry........Edward Everett Hale Letter To Mrs. Bixby...................Abraham Lincoln Yussouf.....................................James Russell Lowell If................................................Rudyard Kipling A Definition of a Gentleman.........Cardinal Newman Absolution..................................Siegfried Sassoon Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight...Vachel Lindsay Close Up the Ranks.....................Edward S.Van Zile Part IV: Literature and Life in the Homeland Columbus......................................Joaquin Miller The Last of the Mohicans................James Fenimore Cooper Snow-Bound..................................John Whittier Rip Van Winkle...............................Washington Irving Evangeline.......................................Henry W. Longfellow The Great Carbuncle........................Nathaniel Hawthorne New England Weather......................Mark Twain The Ballad of the Oysterman..............Oliver Homes The Ransom of Red Chief.................O.Henry The WOnderful "One-Hoss Shay" .....Oliver W.Holmes Work:  A Song of Triumph.................Angela Morgan Pete of the Steel Mills........................Herschel Hall Caliban in the Coal Mines.....................Louis Untermeyer The Riverman...................................Steward White The Thinker....................................Berton Braley The Way to Wealth......................Benjamin Franklin A Message to Garcia...................Elbert Hubbard The Building of the Ship..................Henry W. Longfellow. 5.  A.  Illinois Curriculum: 1898 4th grade:  Robinson Crusoe 5th grade:  Supplementary Reading.-The. following books are recommended for this grade: Longfellow's Hiawatha, I and II, (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.)~; Ruskin's King of the Golden River, (Ginn & Co.); Days of Ancient Rome, (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.); Montgomery's Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, (Ginn & Co.); The Voyage to Lilliput and Brobdingnag, (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.); Morley's Song of Life, (Ginn & Co.); Black Beauty, (PUBLlic School Publishing Co.); Stories of Our Country, (American Book Co.); Heart of Oak Books No.111, (D. C. Heath & Co.) B.  (I scanned this info into a loop postiing two years ago.)  Ever since a Loop member reported that a publishing company was changing the reading levels assigned to books and “dumbing down” expectations, I have been curious about  how much of this has occurred over the past century.  When   changes like this have occured and for example, a 4th grade book was suddenly regarded as age appropriate  for 6th grader,  who was ever to know about these diminished expectations except for teachers on the front line who witnessed this dumbing down.  Since our university has a small historical collection of old education books, I have spent several Friday afternoons amidst the dust and mildew looking for reading levels of yore which I will share with LOOP members as I get them typed. The first book I came across was entitled Stepping Stones to Literature: A Reader for Sixth Grades by Sarah Arnold and Charles Gilbers, Silvert, Burdett and Co., 1897 This reading book book for sixth graders included selections from the following books: 1.  Rip Van Winkle        Washington Irving 2.  Lady Claire Alfred Tennyson 3.  Lochinvar   Sir Walter Sxott 4.  Slave Making Instinct in Ants    Charles Robert Darwin 5.  The Battle of the Ants Henry David Thoreau 6.  How They Brought the Good News from Ghant to Aix Robert Browning 7.  A Voyage to Lilliput Jonathon Swift 8.  The Story of Ruth The Bible 9.  Ruth Thomas Hood 10. The Prisoner of Chillon Lord Byron 11. The Death of Moses The Bible 12.  The Islet Robert Louis Stevenson 13.  Object Lessons Henry Ward Beecher 14.  Moses on the Nile Victor Hugo 15. William Tell Peter Parley 16. To Autumn John Keats The second book I came across was entitled: Silent and Oral Reading: A Practical Handbook of Methods Based on the Most Recent Scientific Investigations written by Clarence R. Stone and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1922. On page 140 , he lists books suitable for class use by grade introducing this section by writing, “ An abundance of material for extensive reading experience that partakes of the spirit of travel, of contest, of exciting experience, of spirited conversation, of rapid action, of heroic endeavor, of courageous battle, in short, that carries the pupil through the whole round of world situations and experiences in the way in which the child and youth desire to be carried, should be furnished for classroom purposes........ The following is a brief list of books suitable for classroom use for extensive silent-reading purposes arranged by grades.” Grades 3 and 4 Defoe Robinson Crusoe Baldwin Old Greek Stories Baldwin Old Stories of the East Stickney Andersen’s Fairy Tales Wiltse Grimm’s Fairy Tales Barrie-Perkins Peter Pan Shaw Big People and Little People of Other Lands Andrews Seven Little Sisters Cowels Going to School in Animal Land Chance Little Folks of Many Lands Grades 4 and 5 Cellodi-Cramp-Lochwood Pinocchio Lane Arabian Nights Entertainments Washburne Indian Legends Pyle Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Sewell Black Beauty Schultz Sinopah the Indian Boy Moran Kwahu the Hopi Indian Boy Hawthorne The Wonder-Book Carroll Alice in Wonderland Perkins The Japanese Twins Otis Benjamin of Ohio McDonald and Dalrymple Betty in Canada Grades 5 and 6 Warren King Arthur and His Knights Swift Gulliver’s Travels Leblanc The Blue Bird for Children Mabie Norse Stories Kipling The Jungle Book Sharp Beyond the Pasture Bars Schwartz Wilderness Babies Ouida The Nurnberg Stove Seton Lobo, Ragb, and Vixen Seton Krag and Johnny Bear Harris Uncle Remus Hawthorne Tanglewood Tales Ruskin King of the Golden River Wyss Swiss Family Robinson Grades 6 and 7 Mark Twain Adventures of Huckelberry Finn Hasbrouck The Boys’ Parkman Spyri Heidi Aldrich Story of a Bad Boy Eggleston Hoosier School Boy Dodge Hans Brinker Mabie Heroes Every Child Should Know Coe Heroes of Every Day Life Greenfell Adrift on an Ice Pan Sharp Roof and Meadow Grades 7 and 8 Curtis In the Land of the Head Hunters Curtis Indian Days of Long Ago Wells How the Present Came Out of the Past Mark Twain Travels in History Mark Twain Travels at Home Stevenson Treasure Island Rutland Old Testament Stories Helen Keller The Story of My Life Hawthorne The Great Stone Face Irving The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Kipling Captain Courageous Mark Twain The Prince and the Pauper Dana Two Years Before the Mast Hale The Man Without a Country Hughes Tom Brown’s School Days Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin 3.  3. A LIBRARY FOR THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES PUBLICATIONS OF THE LABORATORY SCHOOLS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO NUMBER 1   NOVEMBER 1930 CHAPTER III   EXAMPLES OF INDIVIDUAL READING RECORDS: Three individual reading lists are here presented for the purpose of showing achievenient, variety of interests, sustained interest, etc., and the range of reading material available in the Elementary School Library for the satisfaction of children's interests. Oliver Twist by Dickens is listed as Grades V and VI. Heidi by Spyri is listed as Grades IV and V Treasure Island is listed as Grades IV, V, and VI Kidnapped is listed as Grades IV,V, and VI Mysterious Island is listed as Grades V and VI                                etc. etc. etc. i. Reading List of A. S., a fourth-grade boy, showing maturity in reading, sequence;of interests, etc. The titles appear in the order in which they were read during the school year. Altogether, 70 books were read, a majority of which are listed for grades above the fifth (N.E.A. and other graded lists). The chief subjects of interest are: activities of children, pirates and sea rovers, adventure, life in the navy, French history, pioneer life in tile United States, and biography. Wells          With Caesar's Legions Pyle            Men of Iron Otto of the Silver Hand Smith More Mystery Tales Stein Little Count of Normandy Wheeler Wonder of War at Sea Burgess Adventures of Jerry Muskrat Perkins "'Twin Series" (10 vols.) Saunders Beautiful Joe Cody Advetures of Buffalo Bill Johnston Famous Scouts Paine Blackbeard Buccaneer Gilbers Book of Pirates Verrill Real Story of the Pirate Sabin Opening the Iron Trail Buffalo Bill and the Overland Trail Porter Scottish Chiefs Stevenson Treasure Island Seawell Little Jarvis Midshipman Paulding Drake, the Sea King Aldrich Story of a Bad Boy Swiss Family Robinson Munroe Flamingo Feather Wakulla Collins           Naval Heroes of Today Tooker           John Paul Jones Seawell          Twelve Naval Captains Barnes            Commodore Bainbridge Stevenson       The Black Arrow Alarshall          History of France Seaman           When a Cobbler Ruled a King Cooper           The Last of the Mohicans Baum               7 Wizard of Oz books (read at home) White               Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout Mace               Washington                          Lincoln Lange Story of Captain Cook Hooker The Bullwhacker Adams Redcaps and Lilies Marshall Through Europe and Egypt with Napolean Dumas Three Musketeers Paine Privateers of '76 The Black Buccaneer Pyle                  Jack Balister's Fortunes Wells               With Caesar's Legions (reread) Terhune            Lochinvar Luck Melville            Typee Kelman            Stories from the Crusades Drummond       The Monkey that WOuld NOt Kill Sabin                On the Plains with Custer                          With Carson and Fremont Lynn   A Hero Of Indian Mutin Hawes Mutineers Holland Neptune's Son 2. Reading list of C. M., a boy  from October, 1923, to Detember 5, 1925. His chief interest was American history, and he chose his books from the non-fiction shelves until he had exhausted the supply. When he turned to the historical narrative, he was possessed with a fine background of well-organized knowledge, and so was equipped to judge the books read. (1923~24 FOURTh GRADE) Walker George Washington Stevenson Treasure Island Mace Washington Hill On the Trail of Grant and Lee Hasbrouck Israel Putnam Roosevelt Hero Tales of American history Perry and Price American History, Book 1 Hopkins From Bull Run to Appomattox Story of the 13 Colonies Holland Historic Adventures Dyer                          Sons of Liberty Mace                         Lincoln Knox                         General Grant    London                      The Call of the Wild Seton                             The Biography of a Grizzly Warren                           Being a Boy HolIand                           Lafayette for Young Americans Wade                           Real Americans Gulliver                            Daniel Boone Bryan                                Sam Houston Sprague                            Davy Crockett Tomlinson                        General Pershing Braithwaite                       Story of the Great War Lefferts                            American Leaders, Vol. I Johnston                       Famous Scouts Fitzhugh                        Boy's book of Famous Scouts Barnes Boy's Yankee Ships a,~td Yankee Sailors Root Nathan Hale Duncan Brave Deeds of Revolutionary Soldiers Tomlinson A Short History of the Revolution Abbott Kit Carson Micolay The Best of American Wars Cody Adventures of Buffalo Bill Sabin With Carson and Fremont Coffin The Boys of '76 Hill On the Trail of Washington YEAR 1924-25 (fifth grade) Goss Boys' Life of General Sheridan Seawell Twelve Naval Captains Seton Wild Animals I Have Known Wheeler The Wonder of War in the Air Rice The Boys' Book of Sports Tomlinson Prisoners of War Stockbridge Yankee Ingenuity in the War Sabin Boys' Book of Frontier Fighters On the Plains with Custer Tomlinson The Mystery of Ramapo Pass The Young Minute Man of 1812 The Mysterious Rifleman The Campfire of Mad Anthony Under Colonial Colors The Strange Gray Canoe Three Colonial Boys Boys of Old Monmouth A Lieutenant under Washington A Princeton Boy in the Revoinflon Altsheler The Sword of Antietam Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin Tomlinson Scouting with Kit Carson Munroe With Crockett and Bowie Sabin Boy's Book of Border Battles Pyle Stolen Treasure Verne Mysterious Island Stevenson Kidnapped Sabin With Sam Houston in Texas Wright The Dramatic Life of A be Lincoln Clemens Adventures of Tom Sawyer Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Blaisdell Heroic Deeds of American Sailors Dana Two Years before the Mast Altsheler The Texan Star Lange Silver Island of the Chippewa Lost in the Fur Country L.G.T. Three Years behind the Guns Booth Wonderful Escapes by A m6icans Barbour Under the Yankee Ensign Sabin Buffalo Bill and the Overland Trail Tomlinson Stories of the American Revolution Drysdale The Beach Patrot Eggleston Long Knives Barton The World's Greatest Military Service Agents Eggleston The Bale Marked Circle x Altsheler Scouts of Stonewall. Lange On the Trail of the Sioux Sabin General Crook and the Fighting Apaches Snell The Crimson Flash Altsheler Shades~of the Wilderness Horsemen of the Plains Scott Ivanhoe Snell The Hidden Trail Collins Naval Heroes of Today Goss Jack Gregory Latham Jimmy Quigg, Office Boy Gregor Jim Mason, Backwoodsman     White Otter Barbour The Last Dirigible               Year 1925-26 (Sixth Grade) - To December  4 Barbour Winning His "Y" Left Tackle Thayer Left Guard Gilbert Rivals for the Team Captain "Chub" The Secret Play Left End Edwards Verrill The Boys' Book of Buccaneers Coffin The Boys of '76 Paine Privateers of '76 College Years Sabin Opening the Iron Trail Stevenson Treasure Island Burtis Russ Farrell, Airman Morgan Our Presidents Gilbert The Boy's Book of Pirates Singmaster A Boy at Gettysburg Wallace Grit A -Plentyl