Great Advice

I travel throughout the hallways between classrooms, to work with my

 customers.  Coming into a room quietly

 is important.  Nine times out of ten the professional is in the midst of his or her lesson.  

Interrupting a flow of that give-and-take

 is distracting; I attempt to be as

 inconspicuous as possible. 

Forgive me for "outing" a third grader, really.

In his lap was that book.  

It was a math lesson and

 he was attending to the discussion.    

He truly was listening and following along

that first day.  The problem had something

to do with reading a chart and recording

the appropriate information.

His eyes would stray away from the board, down to the book, and then up again.

 A tussle to respond to the questions

 being posed by an adult and continue

 reading  was quite real!

I loved witnessing this.

The next day it happened again.

The math lesson was in full swing and while

the group worked through a different set of

questions; the boy had the same book

resting out of sight, in his lap.

Oh, he didn't skip a beat. 

He participated fully in the conversation

swirling around the room, answering 

correctly when called upon by the teacher.

Trust me, he wasn't being disrespectful.

The book just seemed to have 

taken his his fancy and

his concentration.

After the third day of witnessing such

infatuation with a tale during a math
lesson, I wanted to discover what

  title he was unable to put down.

It does the heart good to see

youngsters so involved with

reading, at least it does so

with my heart.

It turns out that getting the idea

for your "next great read" can

come from a nine year old.

Our conversation was brief; he shyly

pulled the copy from his desk and

explained that he's just finished it.

I eyed the paperback, one from the

collection his teacher had in her classroom

and wondered why it was so hard to put down.

So he went onto to explain, 

to actually recommend to me that is

 was a book worth my while to check out

 from the library.  What a smart kid!

He sold me:  http://parksideinlawrencevilleillinois.blogspot.com/2017/04/i-couldnt-stop-reading-where-red-fern.html

Later in the evening, I was recounting

this conversation with my husband.  He

smiled and quietly ordered a copy of

it for me to read.  What a smart man!

Somehow, I missed this wonderful story

while growing up.  What a beautiful tale it

 is and yes, I wept like a baby at the end. 

The boy told me I'd probably cry over

  the book. I did but it was worth every tear.

The moral of this story?

Get book recommendations from anyone

willing to give you one.  Then, freely 

offer your own suggestions to others.  

Influencing children to read, think,

and dream is so important.  

I can't wait to tell him about

finishing the book, when we see

one another after spring break is over.