Reading Aloud

Yesterday was National Read Aloud Day and I had the pleasure of reading to the seventh grade Research and Reading class.  I introduced them to the first few chapters of Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  Alexie's humor and good storytelling drew them in.  As soon as I was done reading Larenzo said, "Can I have that?"  Sweet words to a librarian!

How does one become well-read?

Today a tenth grade student asked me this very question.  My response was to read widely, in different genres, and to read good writers.  I showed her the ALA (American Librarian Association) list of Outstanding Books for the College Bound and she and a friend spent about 15 minutes happily browsing and talking about the titles.   One of them checked out Les Miserables and the other left with Waiting for Godot.  This particular list includes contemporary literature as well as classics--the students pointed out The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime as well as The Book Thief.  It was a pleasure for me to share the Outstanding Books bibliography with them!