Reading Ladder

After reading Teri Lesesne's text about reading ladders, I had to think long and hard about what kind of reading ladder I would want to create. Honestly, it wasn't easy; I couldn't make up my mind. I knew that I wanted to cater this reading ladder towards the 7th graders I will be working with during the fall and spring semesters, but the problem is I haven't met the students yet so I don't know their preferences. If I could, I would give out a short survey like Lesesne recommends, but I can't. So, after much contemplation, I decided to create a reading ladder focusing on fantasy and sci-fi genres because I know that these genres are rather popular with middle grade students. 

The reason I chose to include these books on my reading ladder instead of any others is that I believe each novel is a good stepping stone to the next in terms of reading level. I did my best in keeping the interest level of the chosen books within the middle grades, but some of the books such as the Percy Jackson series and the Giver go below and higher (respectively) than middle grades while still encompassing the middle grades in the interest range. All of the books I have chosen are books that I would want my students to feel interested in, and The Giver (at the top) is one of my favorite books ever. I tried to segue from the Percy Jackson series into The Giver the best that I could - with the knowledge that I have about middle grade/YA books - while still focusing on upgrading the reading level as you go up the ladder.

The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan is the easiest to read out of all of the novels and allows the students to feel more comfortable with reading this genre. It also allows for horizontal reading since it is a series. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill is next on the list because it is right above the Percy Jackson series in reading level. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is about .3 points higher on the ATOS scale than The Girl Who Drank the Mood, which isn't too big of a jump in reading difficulty so I don't think it'll discourage readers by being too difficult. All of these novels are fantasy novels, but they all have their own worlds and aren't alike. The Giver is the most difficult reading level novel on the list and is the only sci-fi novel too, but I think that it belongs on this reading ladder because it deals with similar issues for the main character that the other novels do.