Mrs. Bowman's Summer Reading

I finally did it. I told every student last year I never would, but I finally picked up and read The Fault in our Stars. Last year I remember you all telling me "It's soooo good, Mrs.Bowman!" but I would just argue that I couldn't take anymore teenage romance stories, but this is SOOO much more than that. I also neglected to realize that this was written by John Green-as in looking for Alaska John Green-which would have had me reading much sooner. Anyways...I finally picked up this amazing story thanks to a group of friends I have that decided they wanted to read something together and this is what they chose. They kept texting me "omgsh chapter four!" or "so many emotions!" so I was intrigued enough to finally read it. Friends who love to read are great like that. :)

So, for those of you who haven't read (or now seen) this story...here are the top three reasons I recommend it:

#3 Characters that love to read:

I love smart characters. Especially characters who love to read and share my passion for reading like Hazel and Gus. I can completely relate to Hazel when she says, “Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like betrayal." I have many stories (including The Fault in our Stars) that I would love to share, then some that I feel like are just for me (The Yellow Wallpaper).

#2 Clever Dialogue:

Example 1: “Gus: "It tastes like..." Me: "Food." Gus: "Yes, precisely. It tastes like food, excellently prepared. But it does not taste, how do I put this delicately...?" Me: "It does not taste like God Himself cooked heaven into a series of five dishes which were then served to you accompanied by several luminous balls of fermented, bubbly plasma while actual and literal flower petals floated down around your canal-side dinner table." Gus: "Nicely phrased." Gus's father: "Our children are weird." My dad: "Nicely phrased.”

Haha. I love the elevated diction from the children paired with the low diction from the parents. Made me laugh. It was nice to have many conversations that provided comic relief to contrast such a tough topic.

#1 The Message: The idea that made-up stories can matter. Anyone who reads this book will understand why this story matters, but it's also addressed by the characters in the book. John Green chooses to include this in the intro: “Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species.” I always try to explain this to my students who struggle reading fiction. It's also a timely reminder to me, as I've been reading non-fiction non-stop lately (see below)

This is probably the only thing I read this summer that I can recommend to you all. I also read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Steven R. Covey and Smart Money, Smart Kids By Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze. When you grow up and have families, pick these up then, or if your parents are looking for a good read, I recommend both of these titles as well. :)

The Happiness Project

After an unfortunate period of reading hibernation, I've finally picked up a book that I'm moving through quickly, called The Happiness Project.

I'm excited to blog about this book, as I've thoroughly enjoyed it, and it's easy to make personal connections. The book is written by an educated, affluent upper-east sider who decided to undertake a year long project where she would try to increase her happiness. She focuses on a new area of her life each month: Boost Energy (January), Marriage (Feb), Work (March), Parenthood (April), Leisure (May), Friendship (June), etc.

When I got to the work section, one of her suggestions was to make a BLOG (which made me so excited since I have two going right now and could totally relate)! Launching a blog, Rubin said, gave her "an enormous rush of triumph. I couldn't believe I managed to do it. The experts had been correct about the happiness effect of novelty, challenge, and an atmosphere of growth" (77). The thing about setting up the blog and getting used to it is that it's HARD and UNFAMILIAR and takes WORK especially at the beginning, and you have to do a little bit each day, but it's worth it because you have ACCOMPLISHED something and realize it's OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP. When I first started this blogging idea, I was doing hours of research on features of a blog and how to set up widgets. I was in constant contact with Randy, our district technology expert, to get help setting up the blog. When I introduced the blogging idea to the 9th grade team, I had to demonstrate features of the blog, help them get theirs set up and do some trouble shooting. When we started blogging with the 9th grade, it took some difficulty, tech errors, and time to get the blogs started, but it was all a learning experience. I could totally relate to Rubin when she said, "my blog remained an excellent source of happiness through challenge. The more I did, the more I wanted to do. I wanted to add images. I wanted to drop the world "typepad" out of my URL. I wanted to podcast. I wanted to add live links...I'd find myself overwhelmed with ignorance and helplessness...the images weren't loading...the images were too small..." (77). The she mentions, "As I struggled to master these tasks I would 'put myself in jail' and tell myself I had nowhere to go until I finished the task...It doesn't matter how long it takes, I have all the time I want...of course this wasn't true...but telling myself I had all the time I needed helped me focus" (77).

Despite her troubles, and despite my own struggles with starting up blogger, Rubin and I both came to the conclusion that blogging is gratifying and new challenges lead to happiness. Rubin states, "One reason that challenge brings happiness is that it allows you to expand your self-definition. You become larger. Also, a new identity brings you into contact with new people and new experiences, which are also a powerful source of happiness" (78). I have a new identify as a blogger and have overcome challenges of setting up the blog, learning blogger, and figuring out what to blog about, to help me increase the quality of my blogging. I hope to continue to grow with this experience. I'm hoping to look back to this blog post and think "how amateur!" as I grow in my understanding of writing and blogging.

Rubin said it best, "My blog gave me a new identity, new skills, a new set of colleagues, and a way to connect with people who share my interest. I'd expanded my vision of the kind of writer I could be. I had become a blogger" (78). :)

You can access her blog here: http://www.gretchenrubin.com/