Hot Springs, N.C., a beautiful little town on the French Broad River, deep in the heart of Appalachia, may not appear to be much of a multicultural environment at first glance, but check out what my nephew and his wife, who live there, have been reading to their boys, aged 7 and 5. Quoting from a recent email:

“A copy of Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto and Ed Martinez came home for good the other day when the librarian decided the cover was too damaged for further circulation. Our house rabbit had reduced its size by about 20% – apparently those tamales looked pretty good to him too.

“Recently we’ve been reading the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. Quite compelling, full of historical facts and adventurous enough to enthrall a second grader. Day of the Dragon King concerns the rescue of a legend written on bamboo before it is to be burned. So far we’ve been to Pompeii, a medieval Irish monastery and a Civil War field hospital; later books deal with even more magical and fantastical themes.

“Last week the boys had me read Rikki-Tikki-Tavi for several nights in a row (yes, I do the voices – can’t help it). I had picked up [Caldecott Award winner] Jerry Pinkney‘s adaptation of this classic Rudyard Kipling story from the library because the illustrations caught my eye. The artwork is beautiful.”

Thanks for the field report, Melody! Keep ‘em coming…

The new school year has kicked in now so I was glad to spot A Year of Reading’s recommendation of Monday with a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osborne as a good read-aloud to bring some excitement and magic to those first few days back at school. I was interested, too, to read Mary Lee’s method for getting her class back into reading after the long summer vacation:

Lots of my students haven’t read all summer long, and I am modeling what they need to do to rebuild their fluency and stamina: start with lots of quick, easy reads to build confidence and refresh skills.

My younger son can’t keep his nose out of a book (sometimes I even get exasperated): but my older boy, who is about to turn 9, is starting to need some chivvying and he hasn’t read as much this summer as I would have hoped. One way I’ve found to encourage him is to sit down and read the first chapter to him… except then we all get into it and it turns into a bedtime book!

I’m about to try out the technique with Susanne Gervay’s superb book I Am Jack. You can read the first chapter on Susanne’s website. She has also provided some good ideas and materials to download. Reading the book together at home and discussing it provide a valuable springboard for bringing up the subject of bullying. By writing the story, Susanne has put into practice one of the messages that underpins the book: the pen is mightier than the sword. It presents a well-rounded perspective from all angles, whether that of the victim, the bully, friends, onlookers, teachers, schools or parents… And it’s also a cracking good story that I think he’ll enjoy. Maybe we’ll read it together all the way through then he’ll feel inspired to pick up the sequel, SuperJack…