Kristy Bradshaw and I decided to read 2 books, Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut and Dark Life (Book 1) by Kat Falls. Can we say opposite?! These books were so different, but I have to say that something unexpected happened. I thought I would like my book more, but I fell in love with Kristy's. I chose Slaughterhouse 5. This was a very different book that put a spotlight on what happens to our troops. While we don't want to consider that people may deal with this type of trauma by completely losing in, that is what Billy Pilgrim, the main character in the book, actually did. This book can also be taken in other ways. While I saw it as a story of a man ravaged by the effects of war, Kristy saw it as a science-fiction story. It's amazing all of the different perspectives you can come up with when reading a book. This book is definitely one that is most suitable for 11th and 12th grade students. It is actually on the 12th grade core reading list. That is one of the reasons I chose to read the book. I have not been quick to dive into the required reading list, but found quickly as I got into this book that there was no reason to be apprehensive. These are great books! While I may not be a fan of all of them, I can for sure see why they are required reading.
Dark Life, on the other hand, is not just a science-fiction/fantasy book, and Kat Fall's first! It is hard to believe that this is her first novel. The lady really knows how to appeal to middle and high school students. Not only that, but I loved the book as well. I have always thought that I am not a sci-fi and fantasy girl. I love John Grisham, plain and simple, and tend to venture out of that realm only when a book is recommended, relates to the mystery/law type platform, or is required reading. That doesn't mean that all I read is John Grisham, but sic-fi is the one area that I have actively avoided. That being said, there are a lot of sic-fi movies that I love! The funny thing is that I have read a few sic-fi/fantasy books lately and have thoroughly enjoyed them all!
Back to our "book club." We did something a little different. Because I am in Holden and Kristy is in Beaver, we held our discussion on a google doc. While I am hoping Kristy doesn't kill me, I feel like the best way to share our discussion is to actually share the doc. I will provide a link at the end of my post.
Before I wrap this up I would like to discuss what I felt was the biggest thing I gained from this project. I will hold book clubs in my classroom! This is something we talk about in the google doc, and here is what I came up with:
I think I might look into having some small reading groups where 3-5 kids form a reading group (maybe according to reading ability levels- I’ll have to work that out later), and they pick a book that they will all read during the first 8 weeks of each term. Every 2 weeks we could hold a group discussing in class where the group gets to discuss the ¼ of the book that should be read by that point. Then in the last 2 weeks of the term I could give them a day to make an ad poster about their book that would make the rest of the class want to read that book. Depending on school policy I think it would be awesome to hang these posters in the hall by the library. I have never been in a book club or reading group, but I think it would be a good way to help some students enjoy reading more.
This is the read only link to our google doc. If you want to take the time to actually read through our discussion, you will find that we are a lot like our students. We comment on how crazy the author must be, mostly in relation to Kurt Vonnegut, and express what we really did and didn't like about the books. While you may not want to read through the doc, I think it was a really handy and interesting way to hold a "distance book group."
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