How We Read

I was teaching fifth grade in New Orleans when the first Harry Potter book was published. 

There was a seismic shift in my classroom. Each child passing through the door had a book in hand, and they were stealing every free moment to read.

I wasn’t there when Johannes Guttenberg introduced movable type in the 15th century, but in the late 1990s I got a sense as to the transformative impact of a revolutionary event on the reading world.

As a teacher, and a reader, it was a unique and wonderful time. I owe JK Rowling a hug. Teaching is so much fun in a room full of readers. 

Every November the whole of our Old Church Road campus reminds me of the spirit of that classroom. Reading is ubiquitous, the literary fervor stoked by the annual traditions of the Book Fair and Bookapalooza. 

The Book Fair is a festival to the printed page. Readers of all ages sprint in with wide eyes and wander through a rainbow of options. A wish list is piled high as recommendations, flashy covers, and favorite authors pique the interest, and visitors often depart pleasantly distracted, nose buried deep in a new adventure.

Bookapalooza is as good as it sounds. For the week of Thanksgiving, homework in the middle school takes a break, and students and teachers have the time to read a book of their choice. For at least a week, the banter in the halls is as likely to be about plot twists as it is to be about Netflix watchlists. 

The enthusiasm lasts well into December, as books from both events are passed among friends with spirited recommendations, and the debates over unsolved mysteries carry on. 

I have enthusiastically spent much of my life reading. It is how I learn about things—familiar things, dangerous things, mysterious things, fantastic things, historical things, smelly things,  explosive things. Reading is my chance to try ideas on, to open my mind, and to gain understanding. 

I don’t read quickly, and I never have, but that is ok. I have always essentially read twice, once for the content and once for the poetry, turns of phrase, and fascinating words. I am looking for nuggets I can borrow. My reading is fuel for my writing. 

GCDS Middle School English teacher Lauren Rosenberg curated a document for our eighth graders based on an essay by Mike Bunn entitled, How to Read Like a Writer.  With it, every year about this time, our English department delivers what may seem like a counterintuitive message to busy students. 

Slow down. 

Take time to appreciate and examine the author’s choices. Ask yourself questions about the language and the evidence. Find a few things that might work for you in your writing.

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, this might be advice worth following for all of us. 

Find a good book and a comfortable spot. 

Read slowly.

Better yet, share the experience. 

Read the same book as your child and talk about your questions.

Ask your child about the characters they love… About the characters they despise.

Laugh out loud. 

Cry a little.

Smirk knowingly.  

Make your reading conspicuous… It might be contagious. 

And, when in doubt, keep this quote from Maurice Sendak in mind, 

“When you not only hear a treasured story, but are also pressed against the most important person in the world, a connection is made that cannot be severed.”