March 30, 2005

No nunga-nungas left behind . . .

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At the Big Sky High School in Missoula, Montana, school officials have embraced Reading Counts, an “independent reading management program” devised by children’s publisher Scholastic that is, according to the company’s website, “aligned with” George Bush‘s No Child Left Behind initiative. As Rob Chaney explains in a story for The Missoulian, “Students pick one book a quarter to read on their own and take a 10-question quiz to confirm their effort.” Students pick what they want to read from a list provided by the program, or they can add their own titles to the list. So far, Chaney reports, “the Harry Potter books still rule the reading list at Big Sky High School. But aside from J.K. Rowling‘s teen wizard epic, Missoula students are showing a wide range of literary interests.” Among other books that have made the list: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas, On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God, and Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.

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