What Does A Fantasy-Addicted Teacher Do With Students Who Don't Read Fantasy?

[dr_pretentious]

I didn't see that problem coming. It's the perfect converse of what most English teachers wrestle with in classrooms. So naturally I blogged about it over at Black Gate.

Looks like I need to find whatever kernel of goodness might be hiding in sports biographies. Any suggestions?

Comments

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

For sports-bios-only kid? Yes. Books about horses/horse racing. Horse racing is a sport, so there's the easy narrative of money/winners/athletes, but the social stuff around it gives it added depth and diversity. There's books on the racehorses Seabiscuit, Secretariat, Ruffian, Dan Patch. Then you can ease into some fiction: John Steinbeck's "The Red Pony", Dick Francis.

[spiffnolee.livejournal.com]

Some of the classic sports movies started as sports books. Moneyball, Field of Dreams (from Shoeless Joe), The Paper Lion, oh look WIkipedia has a list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_sports_books
I'll bet there are a few there you could stomach, even if running with the bulls in Pamplona isn't much of a sport.

[spindlewand.livejournal.com]

I cannot say that I have any sports biographies for you.

I wish I did. It's wonderful when people read just about anything.

(Except the particularly awful Romance novel picked up the other day. It sort of set a new low...)

[amushink.livejournal.com]

I tried, really tried with Eragon. It was given to me with joy by a fellow fantasy lover. English is his second (third?) language, though, and I think the cringeworthy prose doesn't affect him as it does me.

Love the suggestions above. If I were in your shoes, I might cross reference the Newbury award winners with sports and see what popped up.

Had a similar situation with my youngest offspring who got terribly hooked on the Disney movie The Little Mermaid. (dad was going through a bad bout of depression and let toddler child watch it daily for a period of months while I was at work). I slowly weaned her, starting with alternate versions of the story with non-disney illustrations, sprinkling in trips to the aquarium, books about fish and octopi and witches of other sorts. She now loves to read and doesn't remember the movie much. Her big sister (who participated in the intervention) and I can still mostly recite it.