Carry On Mr. Bowditch----please tell me, ladies, why 6th graders detest this book?

[Janie]

In our little school-within-the-home years ago, we read this and we all absolutely loved it.

Could it be that these 6th grade boys don't like it because they are not mature enough to understand it? Or is it because I assigned it as a read-ALONE, not aloud?

I am sorely tempted to use this as a read-aloud next year because I think it is a wonderful book.

Any words of wisdom?

[periwinkle]

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch was my oldest ds's FAVORITE book in 6th grade:D

[cajun.classical]

In our little school-within-the-home years ago, we read this and we all absolutely loved it.

Could it be that these 6th grade boys don't like it because they are not mature enough to understand it? Or is it because I assigned it as a read-ALONE, not aloud?

I am sorely tempted to use this as a read-aloud next year because I think it is a wonderful book.

Any words of wisdom?


This was a favorite of ours as well. My experience as a classroom literature teacher is that these kids are likely not coming from a background of reading older books with sometimes archaic vocabulary and complex sentence constructions. You will probably have much better success using it as a read-aloud.

And I wouldn't hesitate to read lots of things out loud. I've taught high school lit classes where we read most of the books out loud. With kids who don't have the appropriate background, it was the only way I could get them to understand and enjoy the books. And they did really enjoy them when we read them out loud together. I could stop and check for comprehension or quickly summarize sections we had just read so that they could follow the story of more difficult works. Otherwise, my attempts to get them to read on their own resulted in lots of frustration for teacher and students.

[Michelle in MO]

this book, and so did I, but it could be some of the archaic vocabulary that's making the reading difficult for them.

It's helped us tremendously, while doing the Omnibus readings, to read aloud for understanding and clarity. We don't read everything together aloud, but we read some of the passages together and their comprehension increases tremendously that way. Right now we're reading Dante's Inferno, and the poetic schematic of terza rima is so much more understandable for them when we're reading aloud.

Blessings to you in your class!

[FloridaLisa]

Well, *I* loved this book so much that we've read it aloud twice now. But, perhaps 6th grade boys don't find that it moves too slowly or that the 18th century romance is a bit dull. I think it's a great read-aloud because of the life lessons it teaches -- perservance, being teachable, blooming where you are planted, God is sovereign over all life events, etc.


Lisa

[Lori D.]

When I read aloud "Carry On Mr Bowditch" to the boys back in 3rd/4th grade it was a FAVORITE! The boys *still* mention "ash breeze" when we need to buckle down and work hard to make something happen here. : ) And when we watched the "Horatio Hornblower" mini series and the movie "Master and Commander," the sailing and navigation parts of "Carry On Mr Bowditch" really came alive! (Maybe consider watching some of those while reading??)

And now that they are 8th/9th grades, we *still* read a lot of books aloud. I think the boys find the books are more interesting when we can experience them/discuss them all together. Of course, they do have solo reading, too -- but any book I want us to get a lot out of, we still do aloud together.

Just our experience! Warmly, Lori D.

[cajun.classical]

And when we watched the "Horatio Hornblower" mini series the sailing and navigation parts of "Carry On Mr Bowditch" really came alive! (Maybe consider watching some of those while reading??)



Great minds, Lori. We watched this over the weekend and my kids said, "This is like Carry On, Mr. Bowditch."

[Tokyomarie]

I would go with the idea that they are not mature enough to enjoy it as a read alone. I did this book as a read-aloud with my son when he was 5th grade, I think, and it was most definitely a favorite. But we stopped and discussed when we came to unfamiliar words and ideas.

[Valerie(TX)]

nt

[April in WA]

Thanks for the recommendation of "Horatio Hornblower." We will be reading Carry On, Mr. Bowditch in a couple of months. My library has several versions of the movie. Can anyone of you recommend a specific version?

Thanks,
April in WA

[Stacy in NJ]

My 5th grader is currently reading it alone, and enjoying it. It does have some nautical and old fashioned vocab, but he's still fine with it. We're using the Progeny Press guide.

[cajun.classical]

Thanks for the recommendation of "Horatio Hornblower." We will be reading Carry On, Mr. Bowditch in a couple of months. My library has several versions of the movie. Can anyone of you recommend a specific version?

Thanks,
April in WA

There are 8 Horatio Hornblower movies from A&E made from 1998-2003. They follow Horatio Hornblower from his career as a midshipman to Captain. They are all very well done. We are working our way through the series now. Enjoy.

[elegantlion]

We did it as read-aloud this year, 4th grade. My son and I both absolutely loved it. It really helped him take more intiative with his studies.

[HollyinNNV]

In our little school-within-the-home years ago, we read this and we all absolutely loved it.

Could it be that these 6th grade boys don't like it because they are not mature enough to understand it? Or is it because I assigned it as a read-ALONE, not aloud?

I am sorely tempted to use this as a read-aloud next year because I think it is a wonderful book.

Any words of wisdom?


I really enjoy lots of different books but I HATED CoMB. (with a passion I might add) I have enjoyed reading Self-Reliance by Emerson this past week, so I doubt my problem is maturity. I just hated CoMB and found it impossibly dull. I quit reading it mid-read and I my dd never noticed.

Sorry-not a fan of that book-at-all!
Holly

[Karin]

My now 12 yo said it was too old fashioned. She liked a couple of parts, hated a couple of parts, but mostly it was just not her kind of book.

[Kareni]

There are 8 Horatio Hornblower movies from A&E made from 1998-2003. They follow Horatio Hornblower from his career as a midshipman to Captain. They are all very well done. We are working our way through the series now. Enjoy.
My husband and daughter loved this version too.

Regards,
Kareni

[Lori D.]

That's the one we enjoyed, too -- the A&E mini-series. (nt)

[NancyL]

This reminds me of what the teachers told me about the "Little House Books"--No one reads them, and they are too dull! (I felt very sad to hear that) On the nautical theme, I found a great book from the school library sale that is similar, but Very readable. "Adam Gray:Stowaway" A Story of the China Trade. by Herbert Arntson, 1961. It was written from the material from the peabody Museum "The Voyage of the New Hazard", 1938 Well worth the read, we all enjoyed it, and a little more interesting than Mr. Bowditch.

[Laura Corin]

And when we watched the "Horatio Hornblower" mini series and the movie "Master and Commander," the sailing and navigation parts of "Carry On Mr Bowditch" really came alive! (Maybe consider watching some of those while reading??)

Calvin is enjoying them at the moment.

Best wishes

Laura

[Riverfront Headmistress]

My dd enjoyed the book in 3rd grade. Her dad is a sailor so he read it aloud to her and made the book come alive. Dh also grabbed his own copy of the sailors bible to help line up the historical fiction of the book.

[Jodi-FL]

and loved it. He read it in 4 days. My dh even commented to me when he saw ds reading it while watching a basketball game on tv. He usually doesn't do *anything* (include talk) while watching an NCAA game.