Speed Date Results

Front covers of 6 books: Zlata's Diary; Mississippi Trial, 1955; Wolf Hollow; Ann Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl; Ella Minnow Pea; & The Outsiders.

 

We did it! We speed dated. With an internet setup, anyone who missed Monday’s class was able to add his or her input, too.

 

Criteria

What did a book have to do to get votes? Get the most votes on five questions. The responses to these questions had no gray areas this year. Respondents either said yes or no. Simple as that.

The five questions were quite simple, too. These questions, by the way, evolved from a group brainstorm about what learners cared about when picking a book. We fine-tuned the list to these elements: 

• Summary: Did the information in the summary grab my attention? 
• Hook: Did the words on the first page grab my attention or hook me into wanting to read more? 
• Vocabulary: Did the first page have less than five words that were hard for me to say or understand? 
• Imagery: Did the words on the first page create pictures in my mind? 
• Characters: Do I have something in common with the characters as they are presented on the first page and in the summary?

Results

You can see from the chart below that Mississippi Trial, 1955 and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl were in close competition. One percent is not a significant difference. Yet, were they? If you look at the percentages related to vocabulary and characters, Mississippi Trial, 1955 came out stronger.

 

Books                     Q1 Sum        Q2 Hook    Q3 Voc    Q4 Imagery    Q5 Char    Ave %

Mississippi Trial, 1995 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------             

                                71%              71%              71%         100%                43%            71%

Ella Minnow Pea -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                43%            29%              43%             43%                14%            34%

The Outsiders -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                57%            71%              71%             86%                43%            66%

Wolf Hollow ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                71%              71%              43%           71%                29%            57%

Zlata's Diary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                71%              86%              43%            71%                29%            57%

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                            100%           100%           43%          86%              29%          72%

Chart: Percentages reported for each of the five questions.

 

Winner

All in all, the group was happy that Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl had won. Several learners entered these dates declaring that they wanted Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl to win.

Based on their ratings, the vocabulary of most of these books would be challenging, with Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl being no exception.

The history around this story is rich and compelling. We look forward to building vocabulary and understanding about a period of history through a young girl’s eyes.

Have you read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl? 

If you have any resources that will help us read this book, please leave a comment below so we may follow up.