Teachers and scholars at the Vassal Lane Upper School celebrated summer reading as a community on Friday, September 7th.
Last spring, every faculty member at Vassal Lane selected one book to read during the summer, and the staff created a Faculty Book List to share with incoming scholars. Each scholar was required to read one book from the Vassal Lane Faculty Book List and to return back to school in September ready to discuss the book in a small book group.
On the first Friday of the school year, teachers and scholars met and discussed their books in more than forty small book groups. Book groups met outside on the field behind the school on a beautiful, sunny afternoon.
One Vassal Lane scholar noted that students made their book selections both based on interest in the book and on their connections with particular teachers. Book groups had a mix of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade scholars, giving everyone a chance to get to know each other a little better outside of their regular classroom schedules and groupings.
The most popular books on the Faculty Book List were The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Every Day by David Leviathan, and Wonder by R.J. Palatio. In addition, a large number of scholars enjoyed two of the nonfiction titles on the Faculty Book List: A Black Hole is NOT a Hole by Carolyn DeCristofano and Race: A History Beyond Black and White by Marc Aronson.
Faculty members and scholars are looking forward to the next opportunity to share books together as Vassal Lane continues to strengthen and celebrate its growing community of readers.