This is a book that makes sense in all its many pages, as to what teachers can and ought to do, WHEN KIDS CAN'T READ. I loved the idea that 'it's okay to reread a book!' duh. (Why didn't I think of that?) I loved 'think alouds'. I loved 'say something'. I loved all the methods given because I know they work--she presents the word for word classroom dialogue to show how they work.

Here is a book that reaches out and touches you, no, more, it reaches out and grabs you by the eyeballs to look, to look again; to read, and read again; to model the methods and model them again.

Am I being paid for this to say this? No! Do I even know Kylene Beers? no. Do I love this book and think it is a savior to poor adolescent readers everywhere? A resounding YES !!!


This is a book to drive a retired teacher back into teaching   December 18, 2002
 38 out of 38 found this review helpful

This isn't just revolutionary; it's revelationary. This is a book to make any teacher who has ever taught from 6 th grade on up have hope once more. It arms you with weapons of mass instruction, specific mass instruction. It brings a reader to the land of read and reread, much as the writing project brought the writer into the land of rewrite. So many techniques, so many strategies, so many ok methods that beguile the mind and break the heart of the retired teacher: 'where were you when I needed you'??????

One of the reasons I floated slowly downward in the grade levels the longer I taught was the diversity of reading levels. Had I known that it's okay to reread, to real aloud, to think aloud, to say something aloud about what you are reading, I might still be teaching.

Kylene's book is full of devotion and passion and subtle but strong excitement: there is hope for the adolescent reader, the dependent reader, the below grade level reader. There is hope.

Read Kylene's book and share the hope!


Excellent!   July 7, 2004
 16 out of 17 found this review helpful

I am a teacher of 5th - 8th grade students who are "dependant" readers. This book offers very well researched methods for instruction that allow teachers to reach and teach their own dependant readers. The writing is clear and respectful to both the reader and their students. The ideas are backed by theory but once read can be implemented the next day. I have seen some of the ideas in practice with the teachers I work with and the students are *really* starting to get meaning from the text.


When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do   June 26, 2004
 15 out of 15 found this review helpful

One day, while at a bookstore, I was looking for a resource book that could help me with our strugging sixth, seventh, and eighth grade readers. In my hands, I held two books and planned to buy one. One book was "When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do" written by Kylene Beers. I honestly don't remember the name of the other book for, I as looked through the two, it was clear which would be the more useful. I bought Kylene's book and have never looked back! Kylene explains a variety of reading strategies to help readers make meaning of text before they read, as they read, and after they read. Her ideas on vocabulary instruction are some of the most useful I have ever encountered. Kylene addresses how struggling readers also have difficulty with spelling and gives us concrete suggestions to help our readers improve their spelling skills. "Sound it out" does not often work for the struggling reader; a chapter on word recognition is very helpul. Most importantly, Kylene addresses the need for us to create confidence in our struggling readers and she offers suggestions as to how teachers can do this. When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do is one of the best resources I have found in my thirty years of teaching. I have used this book daily and our students are the beneficiaries. They are becoming life-long readers!


One Struggling Reader at a Time   June 16, 2004
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers has been inspirational and life-changing for teachers in our district. As Language Arts Instructional Specialist, working closely with the Middle Level Coordinator for a large school district, we are constantly seeking methods and materials that will enhance reading instruction and advance literacy. When Kids Can't Read provides hands-on strategies for improved reading instruction that our teachers embrace and implement immediately in their classrooms. Teachers in our district have used this book as the focus of professional literary circles, as a guide in reading classes for reluctant readers, and as the foundation to improved reading instruction across the curriculum. I have read this book cover to cover; it is an essential book for all educators striving to make a difference one struggling reader at a time.