I’ve just finished taking attendance and am closing my computer so that I can read along with my class when I hear a muffled gasp from the middle of the room.
“Oh!”
My eyes snap up. Is something wrong? A student has her hand over her mouth, eyes wide as she stares at her book. Her friend shoves her own book – newly started – to one side and leans in to see what’s on the page. The reader’s eyes are wide. She starts to dog-ear the corner but then, just before she creases the fold, she flips the page. Both girls’ eyes dart back and forth as they read quickly down the page. Another intake of breath then, heads together, they hold a whispered conference.
One of them looks up and catches my eye. I nod. I know this book. I know where they are. It is, in fact, gasp-worthy. The student takes a deep breath, then dives back into the story. Just last week she told me that she usually abandons books long before she gets this far, but not this one.
Page finished, her friend reluctantly returns to her own novel. If I had to bet, I’d say that Dear Martin will soon be flying off my shelves. For now, though, there’s at least one reader in the classroom who needs to finish this book.
Persistence and Pedagogy 
Yes!
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Amanda,
My heart! I love this so much. I miss moments like this. These are the absolute best experiences and why I sub. Sometimes I get to experience a little bit of that magic. Bravo! I too love that book. I met Nic Stone at the ALAN workshop at the start of her writing career, about the time DM came out. Now she’s a superstate among authors.
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It’s magic when a reader finds the just right book and shares it with a partner. I’m pushing my 5th graders harder this year to make them love reading. I have an autistic student who abandoned Wonder even though she couldn’t stop laughing about the farting nurse, but because she told the class about it, another student has picked it up. These are the moments we teach for.
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