March 6: Ode to an author, to reading, to just right books

Put the just right books

In the hands of our readers;

Watch what happens next.
Their eyes widen. Their hearts beat.

Faster. And faster. They’re in.

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/tanka-poetic-form

I'm not much of a poet, but I wrote the poem above after hearing Kwame Alexander at a literacy conference here in Ohio weekend before last. He was inspiring. He told stories and recited poems... no powerpoint, just his voice, his stack of books, and a guitar (played by his friend Randy Preston) setting the mood (some blues here, some surf music there). My big message from hearing him (three times -- in a breakout; in his keynote; and the next day, at a library up in Cleveland - #fangirl) was simple: if you want kids to read and care about reading, get just right books in their hands.

DUH!

So simple, and yet, so daunting.

How do we get books? (Especially if our schools are poor, without libraries)
What if our leaders require a basal? (One anthology story/week does not equal "books in hands")
Do we need to read everything ourselves, first?
Can we trust there is a "just right" book for every reader?
And once they are reading, how does our teaching fit in?

I am a HUGE believer in creating real readers (workshop, independent reading blocks, book clubs -- I care less about the model and more that it's happening!), and now that I'm a coach/consultant, I travel with dozens of books every time I visit a school, squeezing in 30 seconds here or a minute there to give a book talk, often beginning by holding up a book and saying "This book will change a student's life, I promise you."

In order of intensity, these books have been my go-to, provocative just right books. They are all novels except for Just Mercy and Ugly; both are narrative nonfiction; and Brown Girl Dreaming -- autobiography in verse.

These are texts that made me close the book for a moment. Take a breathe. Wipe a tear. Feel. Deeply. And these are the books I keep buying and handing out, as often as I can afford. To the kids I tutor, the principals I know, the giveaways in workshops, to teacher friends (and even teacher strangers!), to readers I see need a book that is going to hook them, allow them to see themselves and the world in a different way. I give warnings: it may be uncomfortable, it may be comforting. Be brave and persist.

Raymie Nightingale. Save Me a Seat. The Crossover. Wonder. Pax.
Gracefully Grayson. Flying Lessons & Other Stories. Brown Girl Dreaming.
Towers Falling. Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story.

Ugly.
All American Boys. The Hate U Give.

Challenger Deep.

Just Mercy.

Let's join together and read hard, read to challenge our assumptions, read to ensure we always know a book that is just right, even for our hardest kids. And please share YOUR ideas -- what are your just right books?

A heads-up that the books listed above include sex, violence, foul language, drugs, death and real life situations around identity, mental illness and heartache. Read with your eyes and heart open. Be ready to share and process.