Other Lemonade and Lit posts: Introduction, Week One: Booked, Week Two: Booked Discussion, Week Three: Beauty, Week Four: Sexuality in Booked, Week Five: Beauty Discussion, Week Six: The Last Thing I Remember, Week Seven: Klavan Discussion.
Adult-Teen Read Along
This month has been a whirl-wind as we’ve begun our family Summer Reading Challenge. But by no means have we forgotten our teens and adults who’ve outgrown Mr. Popper’s Penguins and The Lightning Thief.
In fact, Gina Dalfonzo of Breakpoint Youth Reads will join us next week to launch what we hope will be a really fun adult-teen read along. I don’t want to spoil the surprises, but I will tell you a few things to whet your interest. First of all, we’re planning to read these three books over the course of June and July.
The Book Schedule!
The books below will be covered in Saturday posts from June 15th-July 27th. Each book will get two Saturdays, though you need not keep up exactly with us to participate.
1. Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me by Karen Swallow Prior. We’ll read it the weeks of June 15-22. (CAUTION: This book may not be suitable for some teens. Contains sexual content.)
2. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley. We’ll read it the weeks of June 29-July 13, taking off the weekend of the 4th.
3. The Last Thing I Remember (The Homelanders) by Andrew Klavan. We’ll read it July 22-27th.
Your Intrepid Guides
I’m a regular contributor here, and you can find out more about me (Emily Whitten) in the Redeemedreader About page. But in short, I’m a former kids’ book editor and a writer for World Magazine.
In case you’re wondering about Gina’s background, here’s a little more about her and Breakpoint:
Join The Conversation: Send a Question!
One of the biggest aims of this project is to try to foster discussion between the generations. Too often, adults and teens live in separate worlds. We’re hoping to bring teens and adults together around these books for an honest, robust round table discussion about each book. We’d love for you to participate and send us your questions. You can email them to emily@redeemedreader.com or just leave them in the comments below.
WIN 15 BOOKS!
Our first roundtable will post on June 22nd regarding Karen Swallow Prior’s memoir of her life in books. How have books impacted you? Do you have any questions for Karen? Do you think teens today are interacting with books the same way she did–or if you’re an adult, the same way you did?
Leave us your question or comment about how books have shaped you below, and you’re entered to win our giveaway of 15 teen and adult fiction books! More on the contents of the giveaway soon!
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Books are inextricably entwined in my life. I cannot remember when I was not a committed, voracious reader. Now my four oldest children are turning into committed, voracious readers, and that delights me (my two younger children are per-literate). Our is filled with books; you can’t see the walls for the walls of books in our house.
Love reading. Always have. Hopefully always will. Love having the opportunity to be a librarian and love encouraging my students to read many of the same books I love and books my children love.
I have been a book lover as long as I remember. My oldest, 7, is a skilled reader already- he’s read Swiss Family Robinson alone. I am loving sharing my world of books with my kids.
I’m curious about how the world of books will change in the upcoming years as the digital world takes over. I’m reluctant to give my kids digital books as I want them to hold and feel them. Do you think books (real ones) will die out?
[…] Adult/Teen Summer Reading at Redeemed Reader. This read-along looks like fun! […]
Great comments and questions so far, Jessica, Joanna, and Marijo! Can’t wait to include some of them in our discussion.
I look forward to joining the read-along of Booked!
My book life:
1. Read-Aloud Listener… I loved the sound of my mother reading and begged to be the page turner.
2. Early Reader… I followed my mother with pencil and paper demanding that words be written for me until I cracked the code.
3. Lazy but Avid Reader… I carried books everywhere, but chose fluffy series books over the recommendations of my librarian.
4. Serious Effort Reader… High school teachers introduced me to challenging and fascinating texts. Favorites were Beowulf, Frankenstein, and Heart of Darkness. I’m not sure what that says about my high school self 😉
5. Eclectic Reader… I have gathered appreciation for picture books, juvenile fiction, biographies, classics, spiritual literature, the Bible, and more.
Books have given me windows to where I’m not (whether for escape or adventure) and bridges to others who shared my path (when I struggled to find peers to whom I could relate). Books have introduced me to ideas that no one around me would have communicated to me. Books have brought into focus areas of my life I desired to change, and allowed me to contemplate what is important (and what is not). Books have soothed me in turmoil, stirred my soul, solidified my faith, and stunned me into action. I am grateful for the thousands of pages that have passed through my fingers.
I have loved reading since I could read. As a child I read everything I could get my hands on. Reading for knowledge took over during the college years. When I had children, I got to rediscover children’s literature and found a bunch of new favorites. These days, reading is a fun escape from a myrad of resposibilities. As a homeschooling family, books are collected, read and adored.
I’ve loved reading ever since I learned to read, and even before, listening to my mother read books aloud. I’m a voracious reader, and read just about anything. However, I’ve learned to be more discerning about books in my last few years of high school and tell the difference between good and bad books, and discern the messages of the books. Also, because of all my reading, I have a large vocabulary and have been exposed to a larger world.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Book are backbone of my life. They helped me want to do more and more writing for more and more cool new books that I would love to do but I am too young and don’t have the right equipment.
In the third grade my teacher had a huge influence on me and she really encouraged me to read as well as read out loud to our class every day. Ever since then I have spent a lot of my free time reading. I enjoy books of almost every genre and now I am getting to pass on that love to my children. It is such a joy to me to see them with their nose stuck in a book.
I’ve always enjoyed reading books and reading has always occupied my free time. I’ve heard it said that it is smart to learn from your mistakes, but wise to learn from others’. Character development is my favorite part of literature, and by studying characters, I am allowed the oppurtunity to gain wisdom from the characters actions and emulate their good qualities.
Throughout my life, I’ve continually been an ardent reader. Books have impacted me by expanding my knowledge and my vocabulary. In addition, reading has given me the opportunity to actively exercise my imagination. Finally, books have helped improve my own writing skills by providing me with examples of different writing styles, dynamic characters, and captivating storylines and settings.
I am a young teen and LOVE to read! I always have and learned to read at a very young age. My Mom taught me to read and I was so eager to read I did some on my own. I have trouble finding good books for me to read because most books have stuff in them I don’t need to be reading about. I have learned a lot by reading books. I would love the chance to win these books!!!
Thank you all for your wonderful comments! We are putting together our discussion this week, and we can’t wait to address some of your points. Thanks again!
My mother taught me to read when I was four, and I’ve been reading ever since. I have always loved to read for pleasure, to experience things I couldn’t do and places I couldn’t go. By the end of high school, though, dry and boring textbooks had suppressed any interest in reading nonfiction. It wasn’t until I started homeschooling my son that I realized how much I enjoy history and reading stories of true things. Now, in addition to reading to my children (now 10 and 6), I love reading “young-adult” fiction; I’m drawn to stories where characters are trying to figure out who they are and what they believe about life and how to live it.
I am looking for books for my middle-school and high school age children to take to camp. Since they will be gone before the comments/questions post for all three adult-teen reads post, (and long before I have a chance to read the books) can you tell me if the content would be appropriate to digest without my guidance?
Great question, Eliz. I’ll need to think about it just a bit, though, if you don’t mind. Will try to get back to you later tonight.
Eliz–After talking with Gina Dalfonzo, we think your middle grader and high schooler would be ok to read Beauty and the Klavan book without a problem. Booked has some more mature things, though, you should probably save that read with them when they come back. I imagine the middle grader might want to wait a few years before he reads it, too. It has some mature themes.
I would like to echo many of the comments already posted. Teachers reading aloud at school, reading required books for school, and now homeschooling my own children have all supported my love of reading. Looking forward to joining you in reading some great books this summer.