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At back-to-school night last fall, I was prepared to ask my daughter's eighth-grade language arts teacher about something that had been bothering me immensely: the rise of Accelerated Reader, a ''reading management'' software system that helps teachers track student reading through computerized comprehension tests and awards students points for books they read based on length and difficulty, as measured by a scientifically researched readability rating. When the teacher announced during the class presentation that she refused to use the program, I almost ran up and hugged her. Accelerated Reader, introduced in 1986, is currently used in more than 75,000 schools, from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The Web site for Renaissance Learning, which owns the program, describes it as a way to build ''a lifelong love of reading and learning.'' As a novelist and mother of three passionate readers, I'm all for that. But when I looked closer at how the program helps ''guide students to the right books,'' as the Web site puts it, I was disheartened. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]