The Pact. We Were Liars. The Face on the Milk Carton. Looking for Alaska. What do all of these titles have in common?

Each of these are favorite books of ninth grade students who are participating in Book Whisperers, a program that not only gives students time to read in class, but allows them to select their own novel from a variety of genres.

Over the summer, Dare County teachers took part in a two-day technology conference in which a majority of the FFHS English teachers attended the Book Whisperers session. The session was presented by two teachers from Pasquotank County who started the program there last year.

“The teachers at the seminar told us it’s scary; they said it takes a certain teacher to implement this and say I’m going to change the whole way I teach,” English teacher Lauren Deal said. “It’s really different from the way I’ve taught in the past and so I understand why some teachers might not want to do it, but I hope I can do this for the rest of my english career.”

All freshman English classes are participating in the program, while English teachers Sharon Crane and Lauren Deal are implementing it in their sophomore, junior and senior classes as well. Since starting the program, Crane has seen a notable change in her students’ desires to read and understand literature.

“The change is incredible. My students, many of whom have not read a complete book in their high school career, are on their ninth, 10th and even 16th book and it is only November. It just makes more sense to teach literature and literary elements that apply to the books they are reading,” Crane said.

All teachers give their students the same general assignments, but each teacher tweaks it to work for their individual teaching methods. Crane instructs mini-lessons on literary terms and her students focus on finding and comprehending the terms that are prevalent in their own books. The classes also focus on learning other literary devices, such as making inferences and predictions, while taking time to write reader response letters to Crane.

“The students like doing them when they refer to the novels they are reading because they know their characters more intimately than if we were reading a class novel,” Crane said.

Many students have loved the change because they can read what they choose and understand the lessons better when they can relate to their characters, according to Crane. Freshman John Smith’s view of reading has been altered since taking part in Book Whisperers.

“The Book Whisperer program has changed my view of reading,” Smith said. “Before (the program) I used to never read, but now I’m flying through books and I’m actually paying attention and comprehending what I’m reading.”

In Deal’s class, students are given an allotted amount of time to read each day and write responses in their journals. When they finish a book, students must write a letter to Deal in which they explain what they liked or didn’t like about the book. They must also write a review of the book to show their understanding of the ideas and concepts.

“If they are reading something and they don’t like it, I tell them your life is too short to read a bad book; put it down and go pick out something else,” Deal said.

Although students have the freedom to select their own books, they must follow certain guidelines. Students can not stick to only one genre, such as fantasy or fiction; they must read a variety. In their journals, students must keep a list of books they want to read and at the end of each week Deal produces a book commercial, highlighting books they may not know about.

“I had kids the first day of school that said, ‘I don’t care what you recommend; I don’t read,’” Deal said. “One of them just finished their first book and asked me if they could have another to start reading that night and I thought, this is pretty awesome, you are actually choosing to read now.”

With about 200 students in the freshman class, there are limited resources and a high demand for books. Deal created a project on donorschoose.org and shortly after five people donated nearly $500 toward the funding of 50 books for the program. Some of these donors don’t know anyone from this school, yet they were willing to help fund the program because of their passion for reading or in memory of a loved one, according to the donor page.

“Some of the donors were Facebook friends of mine, but several of my Facebook friends shared it on their own page and people I didn’t even know gave money to it. So it’s exciting to know that people outside of our community care about this,” Deal said.

The media center has also contributed by getting books that students are interested in and having a book suggestion box located at their front desk. Although the grant helped, it has not stopped Deal from purchasing more books.

“I have a problem, I need for Amazon to tell me you’ve placed too many orders this week you need to stop,” Deal said. “I have ordered probably 20 or 30 (books) out of pocket since school has started. I hear that my students want to read something so I feel the need to get my hands on it as soon as possible.”

Freshman Isabell Eckard believes the Book Whisperers program has brought a refreshing and positive change to the ninth grade reading curriculum.

“The Book Whisperers program has changed my view of reading in the classroom because reading is not seen as a nuisance with this program,” Eckard said. “At home and out of school my reading time has gone up due to my teacher’s encouragement and engagement with reading. I think that Book Whisperers is having a positive effect on the ninth grade classes and is a good opportunity to get students reading.”

Deal has high hopes for Book Whisperers and believes that giving students options is key in encouraging them to understand and enjoy reading.

“When you assign a whole class to read a book, maybe two people actually want to read it and for everyone else it’s just a chore the teacher puts in front of you,” Deal said. “I love to read and in six years of college and four years of high school I can only name two books that I wanted to read, the rest were just books the teacher wanted me to read. I love giving (my students) options.”

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