partner reading

For our last quarter together, I've asked kids to find partners or groups willing to read the same book. The librarians have offered to search our system to get multiples in, but a lot of the kids say they'll go to the bookstore or the Greene Co. Library. I've noticed that a lot of the titles are dark - Obsessed, Th3ree, Crank, Million Tiny Pieces, etc. We still have a few romantics , but not too many girly books. I wish I had money to buy copies of books like Kiterunner where we could talk about friendships, loyalty, stereotypes. I am hoping the groups can discuss, but it will be a challenge for them to come up with issues and questions to ponder. Also, there is the issue of pacing the group, and by that I mean that kids will have to discipline themselves to read each week so that they can discuss with partner or group. Lastly, outside of simply enjoying a good read with a friend, I'm hoping that they might notice the author's style. We'll see how it goes. I'd like to move it from a "labor" to an intellectual but enjoyable learning experience. It is surely hard to tell the attitude of cool (I'm doing this because I have to. Please don't think I'm a nerd who actually likes school.) from a genuine displeasure of a "task." This whole idea of sharing a work was actually one of the reasons students told me that they didn't so much enjoy blogging about their independent reading: sharing alone seemed silly. We'll see. Right now the third block class is blogging away and it is absolutely silent in the room. Stay tuned.