Engaging reluctant readers with a multi-media reading experience

Reviewers have called it gimmicky, but we’re confident that even your most reluctant readers will stand by Patrick Carman’s multi-media Skeleton Creek series.  

Engaging reluctant readers with a multi-media reading experience

Strange things have happened on an old dredge in the woods and best friends Ryan and Sarah are determined to unearth what people in town are hiding. Forbidden to see one another after Ryan is injured during an earlier misadventure, the duo continues to communicate through email.

The “book” portion of Skeleton Creek, a Mead-style, handwritten journal, is Ryan’s contribution to the story. Here we find his musings along with a series of links and passwords taking us to Sarah’s field videos. Following in the footsteps of films like the Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, readers accompany Sarah as she’s forced to confront several unsettling truths: That those closest to her may be linked to murder; that Ryan’s “accident” might not have been an accident; and that there’s a specter of a ghost haunting a wreck in the woods.

Do the prose and filmmaking merit high accolades? They’re certainly not Joycean or Langean, but to your reluctant readers—they just might be.

If you’re looking for a few more tips for engaging your reluctant readers, check out one of our recent blogs, Teaching Reading Means Teaching Students to LOVE Reading or download our free Reading Comprehension Best Practices guide.