I HATE THIS

Chatterbox: Blab About Books

Anyone heard of Accelerated Reader???
I HATE THIS...

I HATE THIS SYSTEM!!! 

The way it basically works is you  read a book, then take a quiz on it. It's, I suppose, proof for your lit teacher that you read. Or something. 

It would be okay if that was all. But there are certain books meant for certain grades, and the person who did it really had something wrong with him.

Most Discworld books are for fifth or even FOURTH grade. Honestly, some WARRIORS books are higher than that!

So that's why I'm reading The Ranger's Apprentice at the moment. It's actually pretty funny and I like the idea, but the writing sucks.

And it's meant for sixth, and sometimes seventh grade.

-sigh- 

submitted by Tiffany W., age 11, being a Calcifer fan
(February 12, 2012 - 12:17 pm)

back to the Blab about Books

I had to do AR from grade 4-6 but then I moved schools. 

submitted by Olive
(February 12, 2012 - 3:14 pm)

Lucky. 

submitted by Tiffany W.
(February 17, 2012 - 3:48 pm)

I had to do AR in 6th grade, but that was before I discovered Discworld, so I didn't encounter that problem. I liked the system because it gave me a really easy but not boring grade. But... Discworld books were really recommended for fourth graders? I can think of maybe 2 or 3 that would have been  approriate for me then.

submitted by Ima
(February 18, 2012 - 1:15 pm)

I started them when I was... twelvish, though I was younger than that when I read Wee Free Men, though I didn't realise at that point that it was Discworld, or even any kind of a series, or that Terry Pratchett was a man (it can be a woman's name, in my defence, and I typically assume that people are the same gender as their MC if there's no evidence to the contrary). I wouldn't give most of them to a fourth grader, though. (the most inappropriate scene is probably in Men at Arms; I don't know if you've read that so I won't spoil; it fades very tastefully to black, but still...!) It's entirely possible (indeed, probable) that OP meant the YA novels, though. When I was in a school that used AR, I couldn't find any Discworld on the list, and I really can't imagine that they would have the adult novels, even if they do have the YA. And I would definitely give the YAs to a fourth/fifth grader (except perhaps ISWM, which was a great deal darker than any of the other Tiffany books). 

submitted by ZNZ
(February 19, 2012 - 9:48 am)

Ahem.

"Let's see, now... in Hogfather there are a number of stabbings, someone's killed by a man made of knives, someone's killed by the dark, and someone's just been killed by a wardrobe. It's a book about the magic of childhood. You can tell." 

See? The're totally YA books. Terry Pratchett says so! :P

Frankly, even some of the YA novels have pretty horrifying imagery. Amazing Maurice alone, for example, has Spider the Rat King, who can see whatever its victims sees, mind-control non-sentient rats, take control of parts of Maurice's brain ("The cat will not move. Be still, CAT. Or I shall command your lungs to stop."), etc. Then there's the graphic descriptions of poison and the rats losing sentience... The Tiffany Aching books have the elves, of all things, and the Hiver and the Cunning Man...

Yeah, the YA books aren't any better, Nightmare-Fuel-wise, than the adult series. (Actually I think, of all the Discworld books, The Amazing Maurice... is the most horrifying. It is, to this day, the only one that has given me nightmares.)

As far as AR goes, about have of the Discworld series proper is on there, but only for like 13-14 points, which is dumb. AR age-ratings seem to be mostly about length rather than content, because, as I recall, books like Animal Farm were worth the same number of points as those substanceless little elementary-school chapter books just because they weren't very long. Twas most aggravating. (On the other hand, Les Miserables was about 170 points, so...) 

submitted by TNÖ, age 18, Deep Space
(February 19, 2012 - 2:36 pm)

Oh, my gosh.

I have read Animal Farm. I Like Animal Farm. But I will not take some STUPID, BRAIN-MELTING, [insert insult/cuss/thing of choice here] JUST TO SHOW MY TEACHER I READ THE THING.

Heh... AR. The very first year I did it, I got over a thousand points, got a cool trophy, and then moved to Michigan. I think I was in third grade.

I also lurf the Discworld series, and cannot see how ...most... of them are rated for 4th/5th graders.

 

I commend you, Tiffany W, for making a thread bemoaning this obnoxious system.

submitted by L
(February 20, 2012 - 8:21 am)

I read Animal Farm when I was nine. I found it weird, but it wasn't like... beyond my comprehension. I read it again recently for school, and I really didn't feel like I had missed that much the first time. Obviously a nine-year-old isn't going to understand the political background, but I totally got the whole "corruption" thing, and the main idea of it. It really isn't that advanced.

submitted by Emily L., age 16
(February 21, 2012 - 8:15 pm)

My sister had to do that in fourth grade, I think.

But what I found funny

"Anyone heard of Accelerated Reader?

I HATE THIS...?

submitted by SC, age gone
(February 18, 2012 - 5:13 pm)

Yeah we have that at our school. Whoever gets 100 points by the end of the year gets a prize... it is a competition. I dislike it too. I don't think it needs to be a competition.

submitted by Choco, age 13, here
(February 20, 2012 - 10:05 am)

I think that not only are some Pratchett ideas a little... scary... but they'd also be just plain boring for fourth graders. Of course, I read the first three T.A. books in fourth grade, but that's three. I think the only ones meant for sixth grade in my system are The Colour of Magic, Equal Rites, and I Shall Wear Midnight. There are also about two or three more but I can't remember them. I mean, honestly?

Also, I couldn't find The Colour of Magic for about four days until I realised they were spelling it color not colour. 

submitted by Tiffany W.
(February 21, 2012 - 7:52 pm)

I'm in 8th grade and they still make us do AR!!!!! Grr...

submitted by kaukatkay
(February 23, 2012 - 11:03 pm)

They DO??!!! Oh no...

submitted by Alex L., age 10, California
(January 14, 2015 - 12:41 am)

You must be a 6th grader i hated AR tests but don't worry. It will all be over after this year.

submitted by Kaster W., age 12, I Aint tellin u that
(March 8, 2012 - 9:21 pm)

I started AR in kindergarten. I found it OK until third or fourth grade, when the didn't have any books in my reading level.

submitted by Teresa, age 13, Michigan
(January 8, 2013 - 5:15 pm)

When I was in first grade, I read the entire Pippi Longstocking series. It was easy and funny.

(For those not in the know, the Pippi books are about an eccentric girl with insanely red hair who lives by herself, tells lies often, and has a pirate for a father. The "I don't have any parents to boss me around so I make cookies all the time" aspect was very appealing to first grade me. They're pretty good for younger kids.)

Anyways, what did AR rate this book? 5th/6th grade level. Yep. Uh-huh.

One of my first facepalms.

submitted by WritingWarrior
(July 20, 2013 - 7:28 pm)
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