Summer Reading List (Part 4)
In our final installment of Summer Reading Recommendations, we hear from more literacy experts with their suggestions for summer reading.
Aimee Buckner, author of Notebook Know-How and Notebook Connections :
I recommend Hidden Gems by Katherine Bomer. In this book, she explores ways of assessing student writing by looking at what the writer is doing well. From there she explores how to lift the level of writing by considering what kids are trying to do, and then what they need to know. It's an inspiring book, taking our focus off the correctness of writing that is 'testable' and looking at the whole piece for what's really there.
My personal reading will include Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi. This is the story of Andre's life - the ups and downs of playing tennis from the age of seven. I've started reading it, and the book is surprisingly well-written and engaging. It turns out Andre fought a demon throughout his career - he doesn't like playing tennis, yet he's great at it. The book starts at his last tournament and then takes the reader back through his life - his rebellions, as well as the ups and downs of being a professional tennis player. Within the first few pages I was hooked by his honest and sincere writing style.
Andie Cunningham coauthor of Starting with Comprehension :
Defy Gravity: Healing Beyond the Bounds of Reason by Caroline Myss. I have long been a staunch believer in community within classrooms and schools. Finding ways to invite all participants into community with trust and kindness at the center of the work occasionally challenges me. I loved this book because it helped me return to what I believe is necessary for communities to work. Myss offers her wisdom on fear, forgiveness and personal truth, and she explains beautifully the divisions in workplace caused by egos unchecked. As I read this text, I felt both confirmed in trusting my intuition in my workplace interactions, as well as nudged to slow down further and find ways to listen to my colleagues without judgment.
Tony Keefer, Choice Literacy contributor, sent in these recommendations:
The Digital Writing Workshop by Troy Hicks is a great book to get you thinking about how we as teachers need to respect our students' desire to work in more online spaces. I devoured it and reread many parts. I continue to have my thinking about digital composing pushed in positive directions by this book.
Any book you read in high school for a literature class would be an interesting one to revisit. Last summer I reread (for about the 10th time) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Besides being reminded of what a great piece of writing it is, I had memories of falling asleep in class, some old friends I hadn't thought about in a while, and beating the book to a pulp with endless questions about irrelevant things. This summer I plan to reread The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I am already hearing the voice of my junior year English teacher in the back of my brain.
Ruth Shaughory, author of Raising Writers , recommends:
I love reading book series; when one story ends I know I have the next to look forward to. This summer, I'll be continuing with my latest guilty pleasure, a detective/mystery series titled The Dresden Files Series by Jim Butcher. It combines so many of my secret reading delights: a whodunit-mystery novel genre with a hard-boiled gun-toting detective (under that veneer, a heart of gold, of course) who is always drawn into complex crimes with lots of adventure and attention to his ongoing relationships. Here's the difference: Harry Dresden is a wizard who uses his spells and magic as part of his detective toolbox. Along the way, he makes enemies with other supernatural forces, like the faerie world, vampires, werewolves. . .you get the picture. This action-packed series is very well-written, with lots of humor, intriguing characters, and a couple of competing love interests. Best of all, there are 12 books in the series (so far!) so I have lots to look forward to.
From the ridiculous to the sublime: for poetry lovers, I also recommend The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker. In this novel, poetry anthologist Paul Chowder is struggling with writer's block . . . he simply can't write the foreword to the poetry anthology that is ready to go to press. He loses his girlfriend, his teaching position . . . just about everything that matters in his life. The novel takes the shape of a very funny - and informative! - stream-of-consciousness rambling of his woes, his process, and his amazing knowledge of the history and creation of poetry. We also get glimpses into the lives of famous poets, whom he imagines meeting as he avoids writing by desperately cleaning his office, doing laundry, and sitting in the middle of his driveway. Definitely a weird book, but I loved it and have given it to friends and colleagues.
Bill Bass suggests Presentation Zen , by Garr Reynolds, "This is a great book for those who want to display information in a better way. By paying attention to the design of slides, the content comes alive for your audience. It made me rethink my talks to teachers and students alike."
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Jennifer Allen
