We talked about the kinds of books he checks out at the library, and I knew I needed to adjust my reading groups and make an interest group instead of my regular leveled groups for a particular group of boys. Not every boy in this group is disinterested in reading, but I thought they would all enjoy the type of book that just happened to come for free in my Scholastic book order. It's called Black Lagoon Adventures: The Book Report from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler. It's about a boy named Hubie who has to do his first book report. Hubie has a lot of trouble with reading and does not enjoy it.
I tried to look up its exact reading level unsuccessfully, but I decided to try the book anyways. I have to admit that the pages drive me a little nuts with all the comic-type illustrations and speech bubbles surrounding the entire text, but those are the parts that keep the boys' attention and engages their thinking and sense of humor. We discussed the best way to read the book because it has different text features than a typical book. Some boys decided they preferred reading the text of the story before the illustrations and speech bubbles, while others decided to read it the opposite way. Some of the words are harder for them, but they seem to tackle them more willingly. We'll see how our book discussions continue!
*Update AFTER finishing the book!
I asked the boys to rank the book on a scale from 1-10 with 10 meaning they loved it and 1 meaning they did not like it at all. Two boys gave it a 10, one boy gave it an 8, and the boy who was the least motivated gave it "ten thousand 10s." I've ordered more from Scholastic!
