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. :)