There are few things more fundamental than reading. This is particularly true if you're an educator of any stripe. One of the most gratifying things I've done, as an ESL teacher, was to get kids to read books in English. To many of my students, this seems an insurmountable task. Getting them to face up to it is an act of seduction as much as anything else.

First, you have to select a book to which they can relate on some level. I'm particularly fond of The Joy Luck Club. It contains stories that cross cultures, like my students, stories of overcoming enormous obstacles to find your place in society. It contains not only stories reflecting victory of the human spirit, but also stories so sad that even a teenager's life can appear brilliant in comparison. We all think our problems are the worst in the world, but this book can sometimes persuade even sulky teenagers otherwise.

Now I haven't run this book through the Common Core inspection system, so I can't say whether or not it would be placed on a 4th grade level, likeTo Kill a Mockingbird. Of course, as an English teacher, I don't select literary works because of how many difficult words they may or may not contain. In fact, I see simplicity as a virtue. A writer who can express a depth of ideas or emotion using simple language is all the more impressive