When I was setting up this blog, I came across the Global Read Aloud. I truly believe in the value of reading aloud to students of all ages. I’m always looking for suggestions of new read alouds. I think there’s an art to choosing a read aloud. I think it needs to be short; otherwise the read aloud drags along for months. Short chapters help to create natural breaks. Mini cliff hangers are a bonus. I think it needs a strong emotional appeal whether it’s humour or tragedy. The text can’t be too description heavy, lots of dialog and action. You can’t just flip back to check something in a read aloud, so it shouldn’t have too many characters to keep track of. I was excited to see what was selected for junior high audiences and to see how it fit my criteria.

Beyond just reading aloud, I liked the idea of having students converse about the book they’re listening to, not only with their classmates, but also with other students from around the world. I hope we’ll get some responses from students in other schools, provinces, countries! We’ve also had a few Twitter interactions. Check out @8geniuses.

I’m enjoying the book so far. I’m having a hard time not reading ahead!