424: Ready. Set. Engage with Dystopia!

Years ago, Teri Lesegne wrote a book called Reading Ladders, about meeting readers where they are and then guiding them to new heights. It's a lovely image. I've got my own twist on it; I like to think of helping kids get onto the reading escalator. They read the first book I hand them, or their best friend forks over after staying up til midnight to finish it, and boom, they're on that escalator cruising toward the next book without even realizing it. Sometimes it's a series that helps them on, or realizing that audiobooks count, or discovering Jason Reynolds for the first time. Sometimes it's a genre - they grab a Rick Riordan, then the next twelve, then realize that "fantasy" is a thing and cruise straight into Fablehaven, Skandar, and the Unicorn Thief, and Harry Potter. It's a genre I want to talk about today, one that has exploded in popularity over the last twenty years, and just keeps going. Sometimes I think Neal Schusterman is keeping it alive singlehandedly, but then I remember that Margaret Atwood, Adam Silvera, Megan Freeman, and Darcie Little Badger are part of the movement, along with so many others. Have you guessed? Yep, it's dystopia. Dystopia provides a fast-paced reading escalator, with many series integrated inside. Students might pick up The Hunger Games, move through the whole series, snag The Maze Runner, move through the whole series, snag The Uglies, move through the whole series, pick up Scythe, move through the whole series, pick up Divergent, move through the whole series. You get the idea! There are many series-based, fast-paced starting points where students can step onto this reading path and find themselves carried upwards with a whoosh. Then, as they start to understand the genre more and more, and become intrigued with it, there are new angles to explore. They might try Megan Freeman's novel-in-verse, Alone, and its new companion, Away. They might pick up the graphic novel version of The Giver. They might imagine their lives with their internet feed planted inside their head, by reading Feed. Eventually, deep in the genre, they might be ready for Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, or another book that will stretch them further. Or, they might be much better positioned to engage those books in your whole class curriculum. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Launch your choice reading program with all my favorite tools and recs, and grab the free toolkit. Join our community, Creative High School English, on Facebook. Come hang out on Instagram.  Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the 'gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!