English Leadership Quarterly - Volume 34, Issue 3, 2012

We know adolescents struggle with canonical works because of esoteric language, complex text structures, and seeming irrelevance—all things that can work against development of the self-confidence, motivation, and fluency young people need to become capable, skilled readers. If we are serious about developing a nation of people who want to read, we need to broaden our curricular offerings to include topics and genres of interest to students. This issue of ELQ addresses how to make this curricular shift and how to teach canonical works more critically when we must teach them. Also included is Edie Weinthal’s description of an innovative summer reading program built on student choice. Join us as we work to grow a nation of willing readers.