My class is almost finished with the novel we are reading, Fever, 1793. If you are teaching American History and/or Language Arts, I hgihly recommend this book. Out of 70 students only 3 or 4 really aren't into the book, and those are the ones that aren't into anything and brag about how soon they can drop out. I love this book. Though it has 250 pages, it reads fast. We will be done reading the entire novel in 9 days. The book has death, sickness, disease, and even a little swordplay for the boys, and a love story for the girls. All the students get into the major theme of survival.
I only stop at chapter breaks when we read. I used to hate when teachers stopped at every paragraph. They get more meaning out of the text as a whole if they read it as a whole. I will go back and analyze if I need to.
I talk a lot about character development, and I had them make a timeline as they read. I am wondering what other teachers do when they teach novels...