I love joining Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers each week to share my reading life.
I haven't posted my weekly reading for three weeks. You'd think that would mean I would have a ton of books to share. Not really.
I mean, twelve books is fine, but if you look closely, you'll see only picture books from 7/9-7/16. That's because I began Scorpio Races on 7/4. It took me from 7/4-7/17 to read the first 100 pages. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't connect to the characters. Looking back, I think that was for a variety of reasons. I only had moments here and there to read - 10 or 15 minutes at a time. I couldn't dive in. I was preoccupied, my mind was focused on my finals, projects I needed to complete. But I persisted. Yesterday I came home and decided to read for an extended period. A close friend had purchased this book for me. She loved it and said she was certain I'd love it too. I knew I hadn't given it a fair shot.
I lay down to read around 3pm, emerging from my reading zone around 6:30pm. While it had taken 13 days to read the first 100 pages, I'd read the last 300 in a bit over three hours. I was in love with the book, the characters, the setting. For the last fifty pages I had found myself slowing down. I didn't want to be done. I wanted to stay in the world of Sean and Puck. I wished, desperately, for a sequel with the two of them so I'd have something to look forward to, but I knew there wasn't one.
I'm left thinking of what this means for my students. I strongly believe in devoting part of my class period to independent reading. I cannot be at their homes to ensure they read, but I can make sure they do in school. However, if their only experience reading is in 10-15 minute bursts, like mine was for the start of the book, will they fall in love with a book? Will they be immersed in a world? This is a conversation I will have with my students in the fall. Something to think about for certain.
