joys of reading

Four years ago, I read a book that forever changed my views on reading in school. Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer for many of us is still considered the Bible on all things literary.  There are many others as well: Pernille Ripp, Nancy Atwell, Katherine Sokolowski,...

They and others have impressed on me that what we want is for our children to be lifelong readers, to know what it feels like to love a book, a character, an author.  To reach their reading "zone".  That is why my students choose books from our classroom library.  

I take pride in knowing that I can almost always select a book for even the most reluctant reader that they will love, and that nearly all my students become readers for life, even if they didn't enter that way.  Yep, no reading logs or daily assigned reading, but rather ​reading in class that seeps into reading after class.  

So, I am busy reading all those books on my list this summer before my Montessori training begins.  Here are some more finds.

Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci is a wonderful account and explains the heart of a mathematician.

The Scar had me in tears from the first line!  I have already decided to read it aloud in September.

The Friar Who Grew Peas is the story of Mendel as the father of heredity.
​
I also read Freedom River, which is definitely a keeper because of its historical importance.  I think we all deserve to know more names than Harriet Tubman.

Currently, I am reading Roots (I can't believe I never read it in all these years) and Absolutely Almost, which I have been trying to read for years.

What are you reading?