Ghost Boys was an easy read about a complex social topic. Our readers weren't big fans because the style was so simple and we've read other books about racism and the shooting of a young black person that had more profound effects on us (for me, it's The Hate U Give). However, we all agreed that kids would want this book. In fact, we have kids in line asking for it. The topic is relevant and important for them, and some of them aren't ready either for the content or complexity of some of the other texts.
Dread Nation was an enjoyable read for many of us. Some of us actually liked it better than Ghost Boys. Zombies and the Civil War? A heroine who is smart and sassy; who kicks butt and chops off zombie heads? Yes, please! Is there a niche of readers who will devour this? Yes.
We will have both books in our library.
But we decided unanimously that we would vote through the book that we believed would have the bigger audience among our students: Ghost Boys.
We are curious now to see if the rest of our team at the other schools had similar feelings!
We wanted to create a way where we could read a few books, learn about many titles and have fun doing it! The tournament style reading of the Mighty Smackdown means that in the first round each participant reads two books, discusses both in a blog post, selecting one book to move on to the next round. Teachers are asked to commit to one round but most, if not all, continue on. We will read to the end when we will have only one book left standing!
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