Readathon 2016

I found out early yesterday morning that it was National Readathon Day, a day dedicated to the joy of reading and giving, when readers everywhere can join together in their local library, school, bookstore, and on social media (#Readathon2016) to read and raise funds in support of literacy. I was too late in the game to do anything other than read, but I am filing away the info for next year. But I can share some of the cool graphics I found

and tell you about the binge read I went on yesterday.

Because it is due back at the library soon, I started and finished Sarah Dooley’s Free Verse.

Publisher’s Summary:

When her brother dies in a fire, Sasha Harless has no one left, and nowhere to turn. After her father died in the mines and her mother ran off, he was her last caretaker. They’d always dreamed of leaving Caboose, West Virginia together someday, but instead she’s in foster care, feeling more stuck and broken than ever.But then Sasha discovers family she didn’t know she had, and she finally has something to hold onto, especially sweet little Mikey, who’s just as broken as she is. Sasha even makes her first friend at school, and is slowly learning to cope with her brother’s death through writing poetry, finding a new way to express herself when spoken words just won’t do. But when tragedy strikes the mine her cousin works in, Sasha fears the worst and takes Mikey and runs, with no plans to return. In this sensitive and poignant portrayal, Sarah Dooley shows us that life, like poetry, doesn’t always take the form you intend.

As I started reading, I thought, this is one of these depressing “kid in a poor town stories”. Set in a coal mining town, the film playing in my head, was all grey and overcast, sort of like District 13 in the Hunger Games movie. As I kept reading I realized that it is, but it is a lot more than that too. It is about how art saves lives, how people deal with grief, the nature of families and friendships. The poetry in the book isn’t great, but it is realistically what one might expect of an 8th grader who is just beginning to realize that writing can help her sort out her feelings.