THIS! YES! Why doesn't every school, every teacher, every principal encourage something like this? Maybe they are afraid of what it would reveal? Thanks so much, Jenna. (I also think you'll truly appreciate Karen Russell's latest, The Antidote, and the historical perspective.)
I suspect many teachers aren't as big of readers as we might hope. To be fair, in my early years, I felt like I was "cramming" and only read full books in the summers. So in my first few years of teaching, I can imagine I wouldn't have a book to post (only chapters and pages of dozens). Thanks for mentioning the book, The Antidote, which I never heard of--adding it to my list!
As soon as I started the "East of Eden" excerpt, my mind went immediately to "James!" That's really interesting. Everett definitely had to be inspired by Steinbeck, even subconsciously. :)
I love the caption about Sarah Winchester...definitely gonna go down a rabbit hole about her shortly. :)
I LOVE that you have all your current and finished reads on your classroom door!! That's such a neat way to connect with students and to show them that reading is something they can carry with them all their lives!!!
Highly agree, The Grapes of Wrath is overrated. Steinbeck is still a good writer, but man did I think that book was one big gimmick in high school. Maybe I'd feel differently now, but I don't really care to find out.
On the other hand, Say a Little Prayer sounds awesome and I'm now adding it immediately to my TBR please and thank you.
I loved Grapes of Wrath. Maybe because I never read it for school. Even though I liked English classes in high school, there were books I read on my own first because I feared that class would ruin the book for me and I wanted to enjoy it first. #GreatGatsby
I am so glad someone liked it because that book is definitely not for me. I wonder if I'd like other Steinbeck. I also wonder if I'd have liked it more if I wasn't being taught a specific way of academic writing while reading the book. The world will never know!
Jenna, I love this post on the importance of teachers being readers themselves (and thanks for the shout out/restack). One to share with school administrators, coaches and school librarians.
I LOVED East of Eden--read it on my own late in high school. Later, I read Grapes of Wrath, and I loved it almost as much. It was part of the inspiration for a road trip my now-husband I took in our 20s down Route 66, all the way from Chicago to LA (in 2 separate trips, 2 weeks each). The stretch through the California desert brought that book alive. Unlike the Joads, we were in an air-conditioned car. But even in the 1990s, it was a desolate stretch, and I remember being glad we had a big jug of water with us.
The excerpt you quote from East of Eden would be great in a lesson about Chinese immigration, note to self! And it makes me want to reread East of Eden, but I haven't read Percival Everett's book yet, and that's high on my list of books that is way too long. Looks like I should be adding Karen Russell's book, The Antidote, noted in the comment below. (And why can't we use italics or underlining for book titles in Substack notes?!)
A few teachers in our dept tried posting book covers of "what I'm reading now" on their doors, but I never got into it because I couldn't be bothered print out a new cover ever few days. Sticky notes are much more manageable!
THIS! YES! Why doesn't every school, every teacher, every principal encourage something like this? Maybe they are afraid of what it would reveal? Thanks so much, Jenna. (I also think you'll truly appreciate Karen Russell's latest, The Antidote, and the historical perspective.)
So many teachers are not readers 😱😢😱😢 maybe we don’t want to reveal that. I’ll check out The Antidote!
I suspect many teachers aren't as big of readers as we might hope. To be fair, in my early years, I felt like I was "cramming" and only read full books in the summers. So in my first few years of teaching, I can imagine I wouldn't have a book to post (only chapters and pages of dozens). Thanks for mentioning the book, The Antidote, which I never heard of--adding it to my list!
As soon as I started the "East of Eden" excerpt, my mind went immediately to "James!" That's really interesting. Everett definitely had to be inspired by Steinbeck, even subconsciously. :)
I love the caption about Sarah Winchester...definitely gonna go down a rabbit hole about her shortly. :)
I LOVE that you have all your current and finished reads on your classroom door!! That's such a neat way to connect with students and to show them that reading is something they can carry with them all their lives!!!
I think I shouted “JAMES” When I read it! I tried to search for book reviews on JAMES about the connection, but couldn’t find anything
I love the reading board idea! I may just have to try that myself.
It’s fun to watch those sticky notes of books stack up :)
I LOVE East of Eden! And reading 3 (or 4 or 5) books at once!
I loved it too! So glad my friend recommended it :)
Highly agree, The Grapes of Wrath is overrated. Steinbeck is still a good writer, but man did I think that book was one big gimmick in high school. Maybe I'd feel differently now, but I don't really care to find out.
On the other hand, Say a Little Prayer sounds awesome and I'm now adding it immediately to my TBR please and thank you.
I’m about halfway through Say A Little Prayer and it’s…meh. I think the idea is better than the execution. Hopefully it’ll get better 🤞
I loved Grapes of Wrath. Maybe because I never read it for school. Even though I liked English classes in high school, there were books I read on my own first because I feared that class would ruin the book for me and I wanted to enjoy it first. #GreatGatsby
I am so glad someone liked it because that book is definitely not for me. I wonder if I'd like other Steinbeck. I also wonder if I'd have liked it more if I wasn't being taught a specific way of academic writing while reading the book. The world will never know!
Jenna, I love this post on the importance of teachers being readers themselves (and thanks for the shout out/restack). One to share with school administrators, coaches and school librarians.
I LOVED East of Eden--read it on my own late in high school. Later, I read Grapes of Wrath, and I loved it almost as much. It was part of the inspiration for a road trip my now-husband I took in our 20s down Route 66, all the way from Chicago to LA (in 2 separate trips, 2 weeks each). The stretch through the California desert brought that book alive. Unlike the Joads, we were in an air-conditioned car. But even in the 1990s, it was a desolate stretch, and I remember being glad we had a big jug of water with us.
The excerpt you quote from East of Eden would be great in a lesson about Chinese immigration, note to self! And it makes me want to reread East of Eden, but I haven't read Percival Everett's book yet, and that's high on my list of books that is way too long. Looks like I should be adding Karen Russell's book, The Antidote, noted in the comment below. (And why can't we use italics or underlining for book titles in Substack notes?!)
East of Eden makes me want to go back to California too :) Also, I really need to read Grapes of Wrath now
A few teachers in our dept tried posting book covers of "what I'm reading now" on their doors, but I never got into it because I couldn't be bothered print out a new cover ever few days. Sticky notes are much more manageable!
Yeah, I don’t think I’d keep up with it. I’ll try it next year and probably resort back to stickies by October.
That sums up my whole teaching philosophy. Start with BIG IDEAS and end with sticky notes. 😂