Well, let's be real. I didn't read a ton this week. I did read a lot of poetry - online, in books, poems my students had written, etc., but not a lot of books.
We're deep into a poetry unit and I spent a lot of time reading with them. Read The Highwayman poem for the first time. Whoa. That one is a bit deep. (Side note, I wanted to play this song for them and tell them it was the same thing, but I restrained myself. Do love the song though...)
At any rate, my reading life was saved on Friday. I came home to this box:
I was not at all cool. I might have screamed a bit. Then I curled up with the book and didn't move for two hours. Quite simply, Wishtree by Applegate is a book we all need right now. There is a tree in a neighborhood and it can talk. Well, all trees can, we just don't know it. This tree has been around for over 200 years and has seen generations come and go. At one point an Irish immigrant made him a wish tree. And now, years later, a young Muslim girl has a wish. She wants a friend. And so, it begins.
As I read, and wept, this book found a way into my heart. I dearly wish it was out already. I want to buy it for all of my students. I want to buy copies to give away this summer when I am presenting. I want everyone to read this.
Now.
And yet, we have to wait until the fall. Until then, trust me, put this on your preorder list. We need to talk about this book. We need to share this book. We need to simply breathe in the goodness of this book and be reminded of the kindness that lies in all of us.
And then, we need to actually do something about it.
Wishtree comes out September 26, 2017.
I love joining Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers each week to share my reading life.
