Young Adult Book Project - "An American Plague"

Young Adult Book Project

Student Interview

I interviewed K.G.*, a 9th grade student in Grand Prairie, Texas, regarding my ideas for using An American Plague in the classroom. K.G. told me that she isn't much "into" reading but has enjoyed certain books in the past. One she particularly liked was The Hidden Arrow of Maether. In telling me about this book, she was no longer ambivalent but was excited to share what she had liked about it. I think this helps illustrate the value of young adult literature in the high school classroom: it is more relevant to children today than the "classics" and is much easier for them to read and understand. Even reluctant readers can find something that piques their interest.

Emphasizing the features I thought would most interest her, I summarized An American Plague and told her what I liked about it. I then explained my ideas for activities and lesson plans and let her look over the materials. She was interested primarily in the editorial, CDC report, and character essay (activities 2, 4, and 5). The one that grabbed her enthusiasm the most was the CDC report, which surprised me. I had thought she would find the class activity more

interesting because of the group work and role-play. She really liked the idea of researching a modern-day disease and writing a report about it.

It took a little while to get her interested in this book, but I think the variety of activities provided her the opportunity to find something that would interest her, even if she wasn't immediately excited about the book itself. I think this is a good thing to keep in mind for the future since you can't please all the students all the time with your book choices.

* Initials are used to protect the identity of a minor.

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