A sneeze.
A cough.
Giggles.
A metal water bottle knocked over on the table.
These are the sounds that sometimes interrupt our choice reading time. Usually, it’s the students. This week it was me.
No, I am fine. Thanks for asking. I have managed to mostly avoid the cough/cold/flu that’s been going around.
I laughed and I gasped as I read To Night Owl From Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer.
Early in the week, I was laughing. The book is told in the voices of two girls whose dads have fallen in love. They live on opposite sides of the country and are sent to camp together to get to know each other. Hijinks ensue as relationships are formed and fall apart. My LOLing got me some looks that I usually through at students. Touché, young friends!
With yesterday’s sudden turn of events, the audible gasp I uttered resulted in most heads turning my way. I think I might actually have put my hand to my mouth in a gesture of worry.
I was loath to stop choice reading because I was only 20 pages from the end. As the students worked silently on an in class essay reflecting on the Ray Bradbury’s short stories, I returned to the world of Night Owl and Dog Fish. I’d peeked ahead and thought I knew how the book would end. I was wrong – but this ending was so much better than the one I’d thought was coming.
booksandbassets 
What I really love about this is that you allow yourself the surprise of a good story with your students as opposed to being the one who knows everything beforehand so you can “teach” it. You have made me want to read the book, too. THANKS!
It is so important that students see us immersed in and surprised by what we are reading. I think you gave them a book review better than anything they could have read.
I love how both your joy in reading as well as your awareness of being the cause of distraction- I have a student teacher right now and find that I am too often throwing the students off when she is working.
Oh how I want to teach older students so I can do some reading in class. 🙂 Sounds like a great book. I kept thinking of “Parent Trap” but it sounds like these two were put together on purpose. Did the dads meet online?
It reminded me a lot of “The Parent Trap” . I think they met at a conference, but honesty, I don’t remember. It starts after they decided to get married.
I love being so engrossed in my reading too. And it is great for the students to see that too.
Recently added this book to classroom library and now sounds like I should add it to my to-read list. Thanks for providing indirect review.
I laugh at things no one else does daily.
I’m glad I’m not alone.
Modeling the enjoyment of reading should never warrant worry. 😉