The other day Z went to a friend’s house. When I arrived to pick him up, I joined Z at the table with *Bill and his family. It wasn’t long before the conversation turned to books. It went something like this:
Bill’s mom: Bill hated Lord of the Flies.
Z: It was good in the beginning; then it got boring.
Bill: Yeah.
K: I liked it.
Z: It was repetitive.
Bill: Yeah.
Bill’s mom: If you give Bill the Guinness World Records, he’s happy. He doesn’t like fiction.
Bill: Yeah, just give me the facts. Tell me what I need to know and let me go.
Bill’s mom: Z, do you like fiction? Do you read?
Z: Yes, I like fiction.
Bill’s mom: Bill almost died during Where the Red Fern Grows.
Z: I liked the one we did with Atticus and Scout.
All: To Kill a Mockingbird.
Z: Yeah.
K: What about mythology?
Bill’s mom: Bill liked that.
Bill: Yeah, that was cool.
K: Z didn’t and I was shocked.
Bill’s little sister: I love mythology. I’m reading a series now and I’m learning about it.
K: Which series?
Little Sister: Percy Jackson.
I still don’t know about the Bills in the classroom. We continued throwing out titles studied in their seventh grade literature classroom, but Bill said he only got excited about one other title, Tangerine. Like a lot of literature classrooms, including my own, Bill’s did not include much nonfiction.
I’ve got to do better to reach the Bills.
*pseudonym
Bill’s mom: Bill hated Lord of the Flies.
Z: It was good in the beginning; then it got boring.
Bill: Yeah.
K: I liked it.
Z: It was repetitive.
Bill: Yeah.
Bill’s mom: If you give Bill the Guinness World Records, he’s happy. He doesn’t like fiction.
Bill: Yeah, just give me the facts. Tell me what I need to know and let me go.
Bill’s mom: Z, do you like fiction? Do you read?
Z: Yes, I like fiction.
Bill’s mom: Bill almost died during Where the Red Fern Grows.
Z: I liked the one we did with Atticus and Scout.
All: To Kill a Mockingbird.
Z: Yeah.
K: What about mythology?
Bill’s mom: Bill liked that.
Bill: Yeah, that was cool.
K: Z didn’t and I was shocked.
Bill’s little sister: I love mythology. I’m reading a series now and I’m learning about it.
K: Which series?
Little Sister: Percy Jackson.
I still don’t know about the Bills in the classroom. We continued throwing out titles studied in their seventh grade literature classroom, but Bill said he only got excited about one other title, Tangerine. Like a lot of literature classrooms, including my own, Bill’s did not include much nonfiction.
I’ve got to do better to reach the Bills.
*pseudonym
