Over on the RFF list we've been talking about the ACCELERATED READER program, which is sweeping the country and becoming, de facto, THE main way that kids get reading lists through their schools, in effect controlling their reading habits for year after year. I have complained that the California version of AR seems sexist, bigoted and profoundly anti-SF.
Having finally found the master list at http://www.renlearn.com/ar/ I can say that there are a FEW more SF titles there than on the pathetically anti-SF California list... but not many. I'll post below the deficits that I found on just a cursory examination.
I suspect that the weirdly lumpy nature of the list reflects a chaotic choosing process in which authors and publishers write their OWN quizes for AR and submit them. Thus, a savvy unknown-writer may have dozens of obscure books on the list, while Jules Verne has just 2 titles and "Flowers For Algernon" is tested only in Spanish!
In case people want to independently suggest books for Accelerated Reader, I found the suggestions page at http://www.renlearn.com/ar/titlesuggestions.asp We should consider asking the whole membership of SFWA - and friendly fan groups - to use this suggestion box.
I do not expect this will be as effective as a well-coordinated campaign to actually write and submit quizes. Over at RFF we are discussing the outlines of such a coordinated effort. But sending in suggestions is a lot easier for all of us to do on a quick and adhoc basis.
Would any of you be interested in participating in a project linking volunteers to help authors create quizes for their own books, plus a few dozen from a 'must' canon? The nice thing is that even if you help ONE author get ONE SF book included, that is a solid increment of progress.
Maria Bellamy of the RFF list has the procedure for creating quizes, which is quite easy. The next step, getting school boards to include a nice selection of these quizes for SF titles, won't be quite as easy. Renaissance Learning CHARGES for the quizes, (though SFWA might find itself in a position to offer some for free.)
Here are just some of the authors (not including yours truly) who are absent from the AR master list.
Poul Anderson, Catherine Asaro, Benford, Brunner, Burroughs, Hal Clement(!!!), DelRey, deCamp, Robert Forward (!!), Esther Freisner (!!) Harry Harrison (!!), Daniel Keyes(!Flowers for Algernon only available in SPANISH?), Laumer, Niven (only in a silly recent minor novel) Piper, Robinson, Sawyer Sheckley Stephenson
The excalmation points indicate those who anybody in their right minds would have done FIRST.
Now let's mention a few who are ridiculously UNDERrepresented.
Gerrold (1) Silverberg (1) Nancy Kress (1 - a sequel!) Heinlein (3 - any less than 12 is a travesty) Mel Gilden (1) Leiber (1) CS Lewis (1 - not a single Narnia! Here I suspect a sorting error. This simply cannot be right.) Jules Verne (2!!!) HG Wells (2)
It's not a matter of adult themes. Dune is there, along with plenty of Stephen Kings.
Signing off for now.
With cordial regards,
David Brin www.davidbrin.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
