At some point I mentioned that both my kids are in middle school with me this year and that my son is in my class. I don’t teach my daughter, but I do see her quite often throughout the days. Mostly at lunch or at some point when she realizes she left something in my classroom that morning.
Over the past week, we’ve been doing a little mini book club together. We most finished our own books at the same time (I was reading The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, it was good) and she needed a new book. I had just gotten a notification that a hold from the digital library was ready so I asked if she wanted to read a book with me.
Quite honestly, I had forgotten why I had put the book on hold, but I knew it was a YA novel and that it was somehow about Justice and I figured she would dig it. Oh, by the way, the book was Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh. It turned out to be a fantastic book and she told me about half way through that she loved it. It was right up her alley, a story of an underdog, middle school, girl fighting racism, bullies and depression. At times it was difficult as there were some scenes of gruesome deaths during war, thoughts of self harm and loss of loved ones. My girl shed some tears, but she kept on reading.
Now the book club part might just be a few check-ins about where we are in the book and me making sure she doesn’t have questions about the difficult scenes more than deep analysis of themes or author’s purpose, but I love that we are having a shared experience and I know that there will be more conversations when she is ready. I also love that we can just share the love of a good book
She’s still got a few chapters to go, but I got pretty into it and finished the book today, so now I guess I have to find something new. What are you reading now?
Ryan Harwood 