The 6th Grade Book Group met on Tuesday, and we had such a good meeting (eight attended\u00a0the meeting\u00a0– only one member abstained from attending, and\u00a0that was\u00a0because he hated the book).\u00a0 This group of kids is smart, funny, well-read, and increasingly more mature and sophisticated.\u00a0 It’s a joy to see them growing up and to see them developing and voicing their thoughts and opinions.<\/p>\n
We discussed Michelle Harrison’s 13 Treasures<\/em>, a book that I’ll cover in more detail in a separate post.\u00a0 Though our discussion did mostly focus on this particular book, my favorite part of the group meeting was when we each answered a question from the book club edition of Table Topics cards<\/a>:\u00a0 “Why do you like to read?”\u00a0 This question really sparked everyone’s interest, and there were some great responses.\u00a0 As always, it’s hard to completely replicate this kind of intense, rapid-fire conversation, but here’s my best attempt to remember everyone’s comments:<\/p>\n There were many other great comments, which my aging brain cannot, unfortunately, remember.\u00a0 And then there was a lull in the discussion, and I said, “It’s interesting to me that you all had great responses to this question, but no one had the response that I have – that I love to read because I love to see how authors use language, especially in really well-written books.”\u00a0 And the kids agreed that yes, they mostly read for plot, not language.\u00a0 So I mentioned that one of my favorite children’s books has an incredibly lovely first paragraph that makes me misty eyed every time I read it.\u00a0 Surprisingly, most of the kids had never read Tuck Everlasting <\/em>by Natalie Babbitt, though one or two had seen the movie (and I told them there is absolutely NO comparison between the book and the movie).\u00a0 I could see some of the group was intrigued by the idea of this lovely first paragraph, so I asked Suzy to go out into the children’s room and see if the book was on the shelf, which it was.\u00a0 And I asked the kids to really listen to the words – to even close their eyes if they were going to be distracted by their neighbors, and I read this wonderful paragraph out loud:<\/p>\n The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.\u00a0 The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot.\u00a0 It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too\u00a0much color.\u00a0 Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone.\u00a0 There is no thunder, no relieving rain.\u00a0 These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after.\u00a0 (Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting.<\/em>\u00a0New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975.)<\/p>\n There was a moment of silence when I\u00a0finished\u00a0reading this paragraph, then one\u00a0bright-eyed boy\u00a0quietly said, “Could you read that again?”\u00a0 Which I did.\u00a0 And then there was more silence, and not much discussion of what I had just read, but I could tell that the kids were moved by Babbitt’s language.\u00a0 Some things don’t need to be talked\u00a0about – some things can just be understood by\u00a0everyone in a room.<\/p>\n And then our time was up, and we had to clean up and distribute the books for our January meeting.\u00a0 As the kids were leaving the room, I thanked them several times for a great meeting – and for being such a great group.\u00a0\u00a0Thanks, guys, again, for your thoughts\u00a0on books and reading.\u00a0 It was inspiring!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 6th Grade Book Group met on Tuesday, and we had such a good meeting (eight attended\u00a0the meeting\u00a0– only one member abstained from attending, and\u00a0that was\u00a0because he hated the book).\u00a0 This group of kids is smart, funny, well-read, and increasingly more mature and sophisticated.\u00a0 It’s a joy to see them growing up and to see … Continue reading Reading<\/span> \n