When faced with teachers who want students to read "certain books", I get around it by saying "You may check out (insert grade level allocated amount) books, and your teacher would like you to check out a chapter book....so you get a bonus book!" Students still get their choice, and our chapter books tend to move more and actually get read.

The Song of The Lioness Quartet (feminism, girl power, the value and difficulty of paving one's own path), The Saddle Club (confidence, middle school popularity issues, etc…), Borgel (absurdist humor), Polgara the Sorceress (seeing the world beyond a normal lifespan, the necessity of human connection for meaning and sustenance), My Side of the Mountain (connection to nature)

We should all read to be shocked and read to understand others and read to find our place in the universe. Reading to understand ourselves, others, and the world isn't necessarily something we always need to do, but isn't it something that's good to strive for as a citizen? For a lot of us, this is work. (I loved reading, but hated ELA books.) And if we don't read for these reasons in high school, I feel like we won't ever read for some of these reasons. It seems to me that this is a lot of what makes ELA difficult and not fun for kids in secondary school. But does anyone also think that it is necessary?

Reading a series = binge-watching a show: YES! That is how I feel about it. I have just finished reading 3 very long series of books (Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coban, Detective D.D. Warren series by Lisa Gardiner, and Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny). I feel like I binge-watched a show, and now want to go back and start them all over again since I enjoyed them all SO MUCH!

I also liked how she said students like to re read books and find comfort reading over a favorite book. I usually don't re read books because there is sooooo much I want to read but I have years later re read a book and I love the familiarity yet a new perceptive. My son loves re reading the Eragon series whenever life gets stressful and he needs a break, he discovered it in 7th grade and although he reads many other books, I often hear him telling me he read it again. (Now age 25) So re-reading resonated with me.

This book is specifically tied to a memory of a tough time, and when I was back in my room after the event-- I reached for Silver. While this is not exactly the joy of reading, it certainly is the comfort of reading.

I think there needs to be more of a building-wide push throughout the year. DEARs scheduled once or twice a month, everyone is taking books home, and incorporating more independent reading during library, etc.

I have connected with some new freshmen readers this year and hope that the last book club book of the year will help to bring more readers together.

I'm thinking about offering an anonymous book review of the week so that readers can get their voices out but don't have to be put on the spot to read it out loud on our morning announcements. Now I just need to round up those first few reviewers to put themselves out there enough to write up a script for me and hopefully help others see that they are not the only readers and that a community DOES exist here for them!

My morning announcement idea that I put in the other column is definitely one way I can reach out. Maybe making more videos (or finding book trailers) for teachers to include each Friday. Just finding ways to make it easier for them to remind students that it is possible to read for pleasure!

Big takeaway: Keep working at getting more students to read as it is such a great need and that reading communities are very important to this process!