At Tweetspeak, books matter. We host a book club, we review books, and we publish them at TS Poetry Press. We’re dedicated to literacy — for life. And we want to learn from each other about reading in the wild. Do you want to be a wild reader? Are you reading wildly already? We’re using Donalyn Miller’s Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer’s Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits to explore what it means to be a wild reader — someone most likely to embrace literacy for life. Read through these 5 characteristics and see which ones fit your reading style and which you might incorporate this month.
5 Main Characteristics of Wild Readers
1. They dedicate time to read.
Last month in this section we talked about rereading, and over the break I reread all my Christmas books for children, including one that is probably number 11 on my Top 10 list, Barbara Robinson’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Originally published in 1972 in McCall’s magazine, it still grabs readers from the first sentence: “The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.” When the Herdman kids take over the main roles in the church Christmas pageant, “Everybody came … to see what the Herdmans would do.” What happens? “Something absolutely unexpected,” because in the end, “It was the best Christmas pageant we ever had.”
2. They self-select reading material.
Someone we all know and love named L.L. Barkat wrote a piece at The Huffington Post titled “More Poetry, Less Stress—5 Helpful Tips.” I combined her no. 2 and no. 3 one December Sunday, brewing a pot of tea and reading a collection by a single poet. In this case, it was Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken and Other Poems. Some of them I knew, and some I didn’t. Since ’twas the season, I enjoyed this line from Christmas Trees: “A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had.” And I really got into The Exposed Nest.
3. They share books and reading with other readers.
I love it when a friend hands me a book, saying, “I just finished this — you should read it.” In this case, when a friend and I discussed our love of Flannery O’Connor, she gifted me with The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage by Paul Elie. It’s a literary biography of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Walker Percy, and Flannery O’Connor. This is not a book I would have chosen, which is another reason to share your faves with friends — they might end up liking something unexpected.
4. They have reading plans.
This summer, when I read the first of Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, based on Norse mythology, I planned to read book 3 when it came out in October. Well, I didn’t actually read The Ship of the Dead until December. The good news? I can tell there will be a sequel. The bad news? No idea how long I have to wait for it.
Riordan’s books based on myths have a lot of jokes in them, and my favorite in this volume is a dialogue with a murder of crows (three, in this case). I have a thing for crows and have written far too many poems about them. I always have them speak in a high falutin’ voice, and Riordan’s crows adopt a similar tone: “’Bill, just stop,’ said Godfrey. ‘No one cares about your doctoral thesis on the Norman invasion.’”
5. They show preferences.
Sharon Gibbs sent me a YouTube video by children’s author Mac Barnett, whom I didn’t know. I checked out Extra Yarn from my library. This tale is so in my wheelhouse that I added it to the reading list for Through the Looking Glass, a creative writing workshop that starts February 5. Read it now and be ready!
December’s Pages
Finished
Adult
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens 
The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage, Paul Elie
Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken and Other Poems, Robert Frost
Reflections: On the Magic of Writing, Diana Wynne Jones (I will use many, many quotes from this book in the workshop)
Memories & Rhymes, Diane M. Mayer (self-published by a poet and friend)
Artemis, Andy Weir
Bunk, Kevin Young
Early Readers and Picture Books
Extra Yarn, Mac Barnett, illus. Jon Klassen
10 Little Rubber Ducks, Eric Carle
The Legend of the Poinsettia, Tomie dePaola
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Dr. Seuss
Yertle the Turtle, Dr. Seuss (don’t miss Shmoop’s poem about the collection)
Crow Call, Lois Lowry, illus. Bagram Ibatoulline
The Night Before Christmas, Clement Moore, illus. Jan Brett
Silent Night, Will Moses
If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, Laura Numeroff
Babies Can’t Eat Kimchee!, Nancy Patz and Susan L. Roth
Auntie Claus, Elise Primavera
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, retold by Michael Rosen, ills. Helen Oxenbury (this suggestion came from Glynn Young in the comment section for November’s Pages)
The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg
Owl Moon, Jane Yolen, illus. John Schoenherr (heads up! February’s Children’s Book Club selection!)
Middle Grade and YA
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead, Rick Riordan
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson
Sliced (1/4 to 1/2 Only: Got What I Needed and Moved On or Plan to Finish Someday)
Abandoned (Not My Cup of Tea, It Bogged Down Quickly, or Others Beckoned)
Started (The Jury is Still Out. Will I Finish?)
None of the above. 🙂
Your turn
1. Share anything about you and the 5 main wild reader characteristics. How do you display them, or wish you did, or plan to in the future?
2. Share your December pages. Finished, sliced, started, and abandoned are all fair game.
Photo by Broo_am (Andy B), Creative Commons via Flickr. Post by Megan Willome, author of The Joy of Poetry.
Browse more Reading in the Wild
__________
“Megan Willome’s The Joy of Poetry is not a long book, but it took me longer to read than I expected, because I kept stopping to savor poems and passages, to make note of books mentioned, and to compare Willome’s journey into poetry to my own. The book is many things. An unpretentious, funny, and poignant memoir. A defense of poetry, a response to literature that has touched her life, and a manual on how to write poetry. It’s also the story of a daughter who loses her mother to cancer. The author links these things into a narrative much like that of a novel. I loved this book. As soon as I finished, I began reading it again.”
—David Lee Garrison, author of Playing Bach in the D. C. Metro
- Perspective: The Two, The Only: Calvin and Hobbes - December 16, 2022
- Children’s Book Club: A Very Haunted Christmas - December 9, 2022
- By Heart: ‘The night is darkening round me’ by Emily Brontë - December 2, 2022
Glynn says
I think I hit all five characteristics.
December reading:
My Life with George by Judith Summers
Between Heaven and Earth: Poems by Kelly Chripczuk
A Matter of Loyalty by Elizabeth Edmondson (mystery)
I’m Speechless – one-act play on Zachariah by Brian Schulenberg
Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship by Colin Duriez
Oyster: Poems by Michael Pederson
Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith (mystery)
What Will Soon Take Place: Poems by Tania Runyan
Almost Entirely: Poems by Jennifer Wallace
Beast by Paul Kingsnorth (novel)
Sacred Dying Journal by Memory Anderson
The Devil and Her Son by Maxwell March (mystery)
Coroner’s Pidgin by Margery Allingham (mystery)
What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean? by R.C. Sproul
Murder from the Newsdesk by Peter Bartram (mystery)
Murder in Capital Letters by Peter Bartram (mystery)
Autumn by Ali Smith (novel)
The Life and Prayers of St. Michael by Wyatt North
A Modern Psalm by Jeff Todd
White Nights by Ann Cleeves (mystery)
Don’t Forget Dexter by Lindsey Ward (early readers)
The Pentateuch – ESV Reader’s Bible
Five on the Bushwhackers:
Three Years with Quantrell by John McCorkle
Quantrell’s Raid on Lawrence by J.D. Butler
The Autobiography of Sam Hildebrand
Account of Anderson’s Attack on Centralia by Thomas Goodman
The Personal Memoirs of Colonel John Mosby
I also babysat the grandsons a couple of times, which meant (mostly) repetitions of books we’ve read before, like Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (he of Make Way for Ducklings fame) and (for Christmas) The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. And I must not forget We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, which becomes more of a dramatic reading with the five-year-old and the seven-year-old — we’re all shouting what amounts to the chorus of each scene:
“We’re going on a bear hunt!
We’re going to catch a big one!
It’s a beautiful day!
We’re not scared!”
(To which the five-year-old always says, “Well, I’M scared.”)
Megan Willome says
I love the breadth of your reads, Glynn. And you always remind me of the value of mysteries.
One of the things I liked about We’re Going on a Bear Hunt was the illustrations of the bear. They tone down the scary factor, like when the bear looks disappointed and walks away.
Sandra Heska King says
The problem with these posts is that I keep adding to my ever-growing “read me” list.
This month I all I read was Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg and Beggar in the Everglades (several times)–a little poetry book by Diana Woodcock.
I do a lot of “read what I need and move on,” but then I come back to the same books over and over. I’m making a better plan for this year. First up is Dancing King (I can’t remember the author off the top of my head, but he is legendary) right after I refresh myself on the first two of the series. Also I got Code Girls by Liza Mundy for Christmas. Billy Coffey’s new book, Steal Away Home, should arrive today. We’re talking baseball!
I love The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!
Megan Willome says
Yeah, who is that legendary Dancing King guy? (For anyone reading this who doesn’t know, it’s Glynn Young! Also author of Dancing Priest and A Light Shining. This is book 3 in the series.)
Sandy, I think it’s okay to savor a book over month. That one doesn’t sound like one you can just breeze through, anyway. And I have not read as much poetry over the last two months as I’d liked–just one at a time–so I have two new collections underway.
Glynn says
I hear that the author of Dancing King is also luminous and occasionally oracular!
Sandra Heska King says
Yep! All of the above. And more.
Sharon A Gibbs says
Sandy, my “read me” list is on steroids. 🙂
L.L. Barkat says
I should keep a list. (Though it would be a short one! 🙂 )
Now, hmmm. What did I read?
By listening CD, Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. Reading that made me feel like I could write a fairy tale. It’s not so hard, because it’s all been done before. But, of course, that also makes it hard. 🙂
I got to see children reading A Is for Azure, and that made me happy. How quickly even the 3-y-o began to say what she saw. (On the “midnight” page, before anyone read it to her: “And this is darkness.”) And one boy made me laugh with “And T is for Tazmanian devil!”
I don’t seem to remember reading anything else. Does lots of scholarship applications count? 😉
Megan Willome says
Sure–make your own category. It makes me think about all the other things we read—articles, reviews, newspapers (mine comes weekly), letters.
I think you’ve hit on the mystery of fairy tales.
Happy to hear A is for Azure is out in the wild, working its magic.
Sharon A Gibbs says
Megan, I am so excited that you shared Mac Barnett’s TED talk! It is such a joy to watch!
Reading in the Wild has revived my fiction reading life and encouraged me to venture outside my usual genres. Thank you.
I dove into fantasy and mystery in December, both of which are new to me. I’ve come to like the mystery genre quite a lot. I know Glynn enjoys Louise Penny; I downloaded a sample to read.
Historical Fiction
The House Girl by Tara Conklin
In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Fantasy Children’s Literature
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by Rowling
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Children’s Lit
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Coming-of-Age
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Mystery (Children’s Lit)
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Middle Grade Literary Fiction
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (2017 Newbery Honor Book)
Working on: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress
Currently listening to: Neil Gaiman’s M is for Magic
Sliced
Stuart Little by E.B. White
In the process of reading:
Reflections on the Magic of Writing by Diana Wynne Jones
Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
As I review my list, I see no poetry books. Does it count that I read a poem a day? 😉
L.L. Barkat says
I loved that talk, btw. Finally listened to it. The idea of bringing fiction into life was such fun. Maybe Tweetspeak needs a whale. Or, um, something like that. 😉
Sharon A Gibbs says
Haha! Can you imagine the fun?
Megan Willome says
Sharon, it counts in my book.
P.S. I love how you classify your reads!
L.L. Barkat says
And I’m tickled that you are reading Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint! 🙂
Debbie says
I had to put away “Wise Blood” by Flannery O’Connor. I just couldn’t get into it. Still reading “Holiness” by J.C. Ryle. Finished “Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg and just last night “This New Day” by Wendell Berry.
L.L. Barkat says
Debbie, I do believe Flannery O’Connor is a bit of an acquired taste. Reading her feels to me almost like viewing Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”—bizarre, haunting, and very oddly witty in its way. Have you tried any of her short stories? The first one that made me feel I could read more of her was “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”
Love Wendell Berry. What’s the genre on that one?
Megan Willome says
I agree with the above comment. I like O’Connor more as I grow older and find life itself bizarre, haunting and witty.
It looks like the Wendell Berry is his sabbath poems. I’ve read some individually, but not the whole collection. How did you like it, Debbie?
Laura Brown says
As I recall, not counting things I started in November and finished in December …
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Babar and His Children by Jan de Brunhoff
Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey by Mini Grey
Batman versus Man-Bat by J.E. Bright (didn’t finish)
Cross-Country Cat by Mary Calhoun
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Staying Put by Scott Russell Sanders
A wee bit of Time and the Art of Living by Robert Grudin
And a bunch of essays. And final portfolios from 21 students.
Megan Willome says
Those 21 portfolios definitely count.
I still prefer The Hobbit to the LOTR trilogy.
Kortney Garrison says
I’m reading a poem every day for 7 days, and have coupled Frost’s Road Not Taken with Kenyon’s Otherwise.
Megan Willome says
Kortney, I’m always a fan of reading a poem a day! It’s been a habit of mine for 17 years.
I never would have thought of pairing those two poems, though. Great insight! I love Jane Kenyon more and more.