Due to graduation, and grad parties, and snow days, I won't be able to give this my full participation but I'm hoping to eek out 12 hours of reading! I'll post about the books I have on hand next week. So now you gotta come back! ;)
What I Bought
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
What I Read
More Baths Less Talking by Nick Hornby
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (audio)
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Super Human by Michael Carroll
The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling (audio and print) 49%
Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst 45%
We are reading furiously to find our next One Book, One School selection. I'm lucky in that our Language Arts teachers choose great books to read and discuss with class and give students some choice also. Students still look on this as "school reading" and, as such, our goal is to encourage students to read for fun. We have trivia contests, game shows, a book battle, art/writing/music contests, and this past year, a scavenger hunt. The contests are based on the reading, which we divide over a month, and they can win prizes. We use the power of everyone talking about the same book as a way to encourage students to read. In addition, everyone who works in the building gets the book. We have a "formula" that we believe works, but we are also looking to branch out a bit. Hence, Super Human and Steelheart. I love superhero books. These also have great supervillians and focus on what is good and what is evil. We are also looking at Harry Potter because we think this group of students we have may have missed out on the books.
I was lucky enough to meet Gae Polisner! Check out her Gae's facebook page for some great photos of the events she did for Reading For Life! I also got to meet Kelly Vorhis (@kelvorhis) and had a visit with the great, Sherry Gick (@libraryfanatic)! We had a great time at our own impromptu After Party!
Maria and I are doing something different for Batty About Books and so far, I don't like it! I miss her forcing me to check in partways through the book instead of waiting until the end! Though, I think it's the type of book we are reading too. We read scifi or fantasy each time and mostly feel as if our arbitrary divisions hinder our enjoyment because we remove ourselves from the reading to make our posts. I'm finding that the weekly breakdowns actually served to keep me vested when other chores were calling to me! Also, I miss the feeling of reading with Maria. Things might change this week when we write about the book. Can't wait.
Hmmm. Steelheart seemed to have too much human-on-human violence for me to stomach. I suppose you've already done Wonder for One Book One School? How about Discovering Wes Moore? It's the younger version of the adult book, which my daughter had to read for a similar program at college. So much of Wes Moore is about making choices, and it's NONFICTION, too. We had discussed it as a nonfiction companion to The Outsiders, since it deals with gangs. I'm really looking forward to #48HBC!
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