Ask me what I remember from elementary school and a flood of great novels come to mind. Then, as a teacher, I tried to get as many class sets of novels as I could. When I asked other teachers if we could trade class sets, it blew my mind how few teachers actually read books with their students!
So, here’s how I would recommend running a novel study with your class.
The Purpose of a Novel Study
First, the reason for a novel study is simple: get kids to love reading.
Once you hone in on that purpose, it’s obvious what we’re not going to do. A novel study isn’t about testing. It’s not about memorizing vocabulary. It’s not about writing summaries for every chapter. I mean, when you’re reading a great book, do you do any of those things? No way! If anything, these tasks make reading a chore.
Pick A Big Idea
When we want to go deep, we have to do fewer things. For a novel study, I’m going to pick just one, big idea for students to think about while we read. This abstract idea gives us an easy anchor point to come back to for discussions. I don’t have to come up with a dozen different things to study as we read.
For example, I might use the generalization, “Power can be seen and unseen” as our big idea when reading Matilda. It fits perfectly! But that same statement also works with The Westing Game and A Wrinkle In Time.
Some very brief connections:
- Matilda – The headmistress has enormous physical power, but Matilda is sneaky and tricky. Then, she uses her unseen magical power to combat Mrs. Trunchbull’s visible power.
- The Westing Game – Grace Windsor Wexler is obsessed with visible power. She wants everyone to recognize her wealth and station. Her daughter, Turtle, is a master of secrets, using unseen power to manipulate events behind the scenes.
- A Wrinkle In Time – Lots of chances to discuss the unseen power of relationships and family. Meg probably focuses too much on visible power in the beginning.
Then, this same statement plugs right into tectonic plates and weather. We could study the American Revolution or the life of Julius Caesar using “Power can be seen or unseen.”
When reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, I could use a (slightly simplified) quote from the author herself:
The kids I write about want two contradictory things: to be the same as everyone else and to be different from everyone else.
As we read, this quote is our anchor. We’d look for how Claudia Kincaid wants to both fit in and be recognized for as a unique person. Then, since this is an abstract statement, we could also use that quote with Matilda, The Westing Game, and A Wrinkle In Time too!
The implementation is simple: at the end of each chapter, students note evidence that backs up the statement or refutes the statement. At the very end, kids might write a piece arguing whether or not the statement applied to this novel. Does Matilda really show that “Power can be seen or unseen”?
Writing Analysis
If a book has a particularly strong literary technique, I might also introduce that in the beginning and ask students to look for evidence. When we read, The Westing Game, students kept track of examples of cliffhangers and foreshadowing.
Extensions
To me, novel studies are all about the extension possibilities. Any great book is going to touch up against half a dozen fun topics that kids might get into.
- With The Westing Game, it’s perfectly natural to bring in chess or Shakespeare quotes, or follow the stock market, or learn all of the verses to America the Beautiful.
- When you read Matilda, how could you not give kids a summary about Charles Dickens’ most famous works? How could you avoid getting into the differences in American vs British versions of English.
- Anyone who reads From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and doesn’t explore The Met’s webpage with students is, like, missing the whole point!
These avenues of study don’t need quizzes or objectives. They don’t need to connect to a standard. This is authentic learning that just flows naturally out of reading a great book!