Second, I read American detective fiction. Now, that summer is here, I will soon make a pilgrimage to the public library to catch up one the most recent books by Robert Crais, Walter Mosely, Lee Child, James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly, Linda Barnes, Bill Pronzini, Marcia Mueller, Janet Evanovich, and yes, even though Sue Grafton has passed on, I still have to read Y is for Yesterday. I will lament with many others that her alphabet will end with Y.
Third, I still read the classics and the books of Nobel and Pulitzer prize winning authors. I don't see an end to my "to be read" list. In fact, as I finish this introduction, I am listening to the PBS show, The Great American Read. I am thrilled with all of the children's and young adult books on the list. I love that I have read so many. Yet, there are some that I need to to my list. The list is exciting, but, in my opinion, it has gaps. It doesn't have a book by William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, or Cormac McCarthy.
Well, enough about my reading habits. Martha Guarisco, a teacher from Baton Rouge, introduces us to a reading activity that might be implemented in your classroom or school.
ProjectLIT: A Book Club That’s FIRE by Martha Guarisco
It’s still dark outside, 5:15 in the morning on the last Monday of the school year. To-do tasks, loose and prepped by their warm-up laps during my fitful sleep, line up at the day’s starting line, side-eyeing each other, checking out the competition. In the first heat: books to organize, grades to record, essay feedback to share, parents to email, checklists to complete. They’ll have to bounce on their toes a while longer, though, because first, I need to print out a copy of the cover of the latest ProjectLIT book selection for the upcoming school year, Like Vanessa by Tami Charles. I promised Ella, one of my reluctant readers, she could hang it up this time. Besides, the sprinting will come soon enough. |
And we’re hoping to grow next year. We’ve ordered book trucks so we can share books with other grade levels. Students are eager to read the 2018-19 book selections over the summer so we can make good choices about which ones to tackle in our book club. We’d like to invite other community members to participate, too.