Alas, only two books were read this month. September has been an incredibly busy month for me with my job. And one of the books I read was related to my job. Go figure.
I read The Power of Play by David Elkind, not because I had to, but because I wanted some affirmation for my feelings about the inappropriate place we are in in education today. Well, this did the trick. So it didn't really tell me anything I didn't already believe, but it feels good to be validated in one's beliefs some days. We really need to let these kids be. There needs to be an uprising against all the testing and (almost worse) test prep that has taken over our school day. It made me think about my own culpability in participating in this type of arrangement. If we could all (teachers, parents, school boards, administration, tax payers) stand up and say no, this wouldn't be the case.
<Head shake>
Okay, let's just leave that topic for now and get back to books. The other book I read this month was All The Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood. I could have selected this from Book of the Month last month, but I opted for The Couple Next Door instead, which I have not read yet. This seems to keep happening to me with BOTM Club. I waver between a couple of choices, pick one, then order the other from the library and end up liking that one best. I saw our local library post they had Ugly and Wonderful on their Facebook page and when I logged onto my library account, I saw it was just sitting there on the shelf. I requested it and had it in my hands two days later. And even though I have not read Couple yet, I am betting I should have gone with Ugly to begin with. It was such a compelling story that I had a hard time putting it down when I picked it up each night. Some people may find this story very controversial or even sick, but that's where it finds its brilliance in my opinion. I thought the way it switched narratives was interesting. I don't always enjoy multiple narratives, but this was done so well.
That's all for this month. Here's to a more productive October! Right after I finish inputting every answer to these test scores in the computer...
Kim
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