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.
With the publication of our own Glynn Young’s third book in his Dancing Priest series, I set aside time in February to reread the first two and the new one, Dancing King. The books are so real that at times I catch myself thinking that such-and-such a plot point actually happened in real life. I’m so into these characters that while buying a Valentine’s card for my husband, I set one aside thinking, “Sarah should give this one to Michael.” But the main reason to read the series is that no one can write a crowd scene like Glynn.
2. They self-select reading material.
I want to go back to a book I didn’t get a chance to talk about from last month, Neil Gaiman’s short story collection Trigger Warning. I often self-select Gaiman. I’ve read his adult fiction, his children’s fiction, even some of his Sandman comic books. In this book, I expected the creepy stories (“Click-Clack the Rattlebag,” “The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains”), but I didn’t expect the sweet ones, particularly, from within “A Calendar of Tales,” the July one, the October one, and the December one.
3. They share books and reading with other readers.
In case you missed it, TS Poetry Press just released a new book by Callie Feyen, The Teacher Diaries: Romeo & Juliet. Callie draws from her memories of being a teen to connect with the teens she teaches as they read a timeless story about teens. It’s also a memoir about being a mother to two young girls. I’ve already read it twice. As Callie begins to look toward the teen years of her own children, she says this about Romeo & Juliet: “Nothing in this story is easy. Everyone is right. Everyone is wrong. We learn to walk through the story holding onto both of these truths.”
4. They have reading plans.
I have a new reading plan. Along with Callie’s book, TS Poetry also released Romeo & Juliet, by the Bard himself, edited by Sara Barkat, with essays by Sara, Callie, Hannah Haney, and Karen Swallow Prior, along with annotations by Callie. I have not looked at this tale of Shakespeare’s since ninth grade. Honestly, I know more about it from the movie Shakespeare in Love than I know from actually reading it. That’s because I didn’t have a teacher like Callie. In the Acknowledgements, Callie thanks her students for working with her through “this awkward, mysterious, horrifying, wonderful play.” Before reading The Teacher Diaries, that description of Romeo & Juliet would have intimidated me. Now it entices me.
5. They show preferences.
Unless it’s historical in nature, I prefer my nonfiction not in a book but in a well-written, deep-diving article. Like this one, Promethea Unbound by Mike Mariani. It tells the story of Promethea and her mother, Georgia, and it examines what it’s like to be a child prodigy: “[Author Andrew] Solomon posits that ‘being gifted and being disabled are surprisingly similar: isolating, mystifying, petrifying.’” The story is also about poverty in America. It starts at Stanford’s Linear Accelerator Center and ends with a nod to the archeological site at Delphi in Greece.
February’s Pages
Finished
Adult
The Aeneid, Virgil, trans. David Ferry
The Teacher Diaries: Romeo & Juliet, Callie Feyen
Dancing Priest, Glynn Young
A Light Shining, Glynn Young
Dancing King, Glynn Young
Early Readers and Picture Books
A Picture Book of Eleanor Roosevelt, by David A. Adler
Christina Katerina and the Time She Quit the Family, Patricia Lee Gauch
Fancy Nancy, Jane O’Connor, illus. Robin Preiss Glasser
Degas and the Dance, Susan Goldman Rubin
Alamo Across Texas, Jill Stover
Has Winter Come?, Wendy Watson
Middle Grade and YA
(sadly, no, but in the Through the Looking Glass workshop we covered chapters from these classics)
Ramona the Pest, Beverly Cleary
The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsberg
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
Sliced (Got what I needed and moved on or plan to finish someday.)
Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, Dr. Stuart Brown
Abandoned (Not my cup of tea, it bogged down quickly, or others beckoned.)
None.
Started (Will I finish? Of course!)
Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare, edited by Sara Barkat
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 February pages. Finished, sliced, started, and abandoned are all fair game.
Photo by Naomi Chung’s Daydream…, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Megan Willome, author of The Joy of Poetry.
__________
“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
Sandra Heska King says
This has been a much better reading month, thanks a lot to you, Megan.
Finished (the first two were self-chosen)
Steal Away Home by Billy Coffey
I loved this book because baseball–and Billy. It’s about a minor league baseball player called up to a major game as a backup catcher. He uses the backdrop of a real game played in 2001 between the Orioles and the Yankees. The chapters are innings where he bounces back and forth between the past and the present. It’s got baseball and mystery and faith and family and love and change and a little taste of Romeo and Juliet.
The Teacher Diaries
Speaking of Romeo and Juliet – YAY CALLIE! And have started Sara’s companion volume. (I’ve also started to memorize portions of the play.) Yes, I will finish that one, so just count it finished.
There were the children’s books (is any children’s book just for children only?)
Owl Moon – Jane Yolen
Extra Yarn – Mac Barnett
How the Grinch Stole Christmas – Dr. Seuss
Then there were slices of these as assigned from Megan’s class–all of which I WILL finish.
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankeweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (I’ve NEVER read HP–None)
Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman
The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (Maybe it’s a reread, but I don’t remember) A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
Seriously–those who didn’t sign up for Megan’s class are missing out. If it’s repeated, it’s a MUST TAKE.
There were also a bunch of articles–some assigned, some chosen. Also three books for a church membership class.
I set aside MDE’s Circle of Quiet for the moment but am in the midst of re-reading A Wrinkle in Time. Both self-chosen.
It’s been a month of wild reading. I’ve been reminded again of how much reading is really my favorite thing.
Glynn says
I first read A River Runs Through It in the 1980s, and loved it. He wrote another, Young Men and Fire, an account of fire watchers in Montana getting caught in a grass burn. And I loved News of the World, which reminds me of Megan’s part of the country.
Megan Willome says
Sandy, I love having you reading wildly along with us! And I’m super impressed that you’ve found time to read anything else!
Glynn says
Megan – thanks so much for the kind words about Dancing King and the series! (I should note that Megan and I talked a few weeks ago about the books, writing, fiction, and crowd scenes — and I learned a few things about what I do that I didn’t know before. That’s what happens when you talk with Megan.)
We had another babysitting session with the grandsons, so that meant breaking out the favorites and finding a new one.
Reading with the Grandsons
Favorites:
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Paddington by Michael Bond
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
And a new one:
Don’t Forget Dexter by Lindsay Ward (This is about a stuffed toy named Dexter T. Rexter, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, left behind in the doctor’s office; even the 7-year-old paid close attention)
Poetry
Selected Poems by Francis Ledwidge (World War I poet)
Refining Heaven by Jack Gilbert
Two Towns Over by Darren Demaree
Water the Roots by Phillip Britts
Fiction
Havergey by John Burnside
The Pier Falls by Mark Haddon (author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)
The Cut by Anthony Cartwright
Dark Territory by Jerry Hunter
The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Non-fiction
The Day Christians Changed America by George Barna
Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller
Walking from East to West by Ravi Zacharias
God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson
Mystery
Red Bones by Ann Cleeves
Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham
The Bodleian Murders and Other Stories by the OxPen Writers
The Sussex Downs Murder by John Bude
Megan Willome says
Aw, thank you!
Love your variety this month. By the way, I’m reading the Tyndale book you mentioned in January–so good! I needed a break from fiction, and it’s so well-written.
L.L. Barkat says
I read that Promethea article yesterday, after coming here to edit your upcoming post. Ohhhhh. My. It haunted me all day, and I believe it traversed my dreams last night. That is some story and very well written.
I’m smiling to see Trigger Warning here, as I just started it by listening CD (in preparation to go hear Gaiman on Monday at my girls’ college… barring bad weather like today’s!). I just love to listen to him talk about his stories. It might be more interesting to me than the stories themselves. Also, his thoughts on writing and art and warnings and what we choose to censor for ourselves—all fascinating.
I finished listening to his Ocean at the End of the Lane, and then I listened to the last CD twice again, to really let the story and its sounds sink deep. It was such a creepy story, but in such a beautiful way, I had to wait a week before letting it go to start Trigger Warnings.
I started The Aeneid (beautiful!) but made the most progress only by completing the Introduction, which reminded me that my Sara writes like those kinds of writers (lots of commas, lots of embedded thoughts in sentences, lots of punctuation-rule-pushing-the-boundaries—sort of Victorian, perhaps). I liked that. It influenced my decision to let her punctuation of the opening of her Romeo & Juliet intro essay stay intact.
I, too, thanks to you, read Owl Moon. Lovely book.
Am halfway through Craeft, and I absolutely love it (and thought Laura Brown would probably adore it).
Thanks, yet again, for leading the way, Megan. 🙂
Megan Willome says
Oh, I wish I could be there at the college with all y’all!
It means a lot that you’ve considered so many of my wild reads. I like a lot of different things, with different styles. I’m fascinated with how punctuation can affect meaning.
Megan Willome says
Also, I understand about being haunted by Promethea’s story. (By the way, hat tip to NPR’s Planet Money, the “Our Valentines” episode.) For the last 15 years my husband has been in nonprofit work–a lot of Georgias–so I try to read stories in that vein. This one is special.
Maureen says
Glad you’ve become a Gaiman fan. My son, who loves his work, introduced his books to me. I’ll be eager to hear your report on his appearance.
Bethany says
Thanks for another wonderful post, Megan. I like your card suggestion for Glynn’s character. 😉
Interesting about the punctuation, Laura.
Megan Willome says
Thank you, Bethany!
Maureen says
A book that has meaning for any age of reader: ‘Love’ by Matt de la Pena, the Newberry award-winner, with marvelous illustrations by Loren Long. It’s a keeper. It’s everything its hype promises.
Will be reading soon Charlotte Salomon’s ‘Life? or Theatre?’ I have the Taschen edition with 450 gouaches and a personal narrative; a deluxe edition I dreamed about has all the artist’s work. I came across Salomon’s art some time ago and was waiting for this to be published. She died quite young in Auschwitz, at age 26. Her ‘Life? or Theatre?’ is a remarkable series for so many reasons.
I will be finishing soon Carolyne Wright’s ‘New & Selected Poems: This Dream the World’. I’ve been reading the poems slowly because they’re wonderful.
Also on my book stand: ‘Portraits: John Berger on Artists’. (It’s 500+ pp., the kind of book one can dip into and out regularly until getting to the end.)
I read ‘H is for Hawk’ when it first appeared. Initially I wasn’t sure I’d like it but once I got used to McDonald’s style I came to admire her use of the beautiful metaphor the book – and her story – represents.
Megan Willome says
Maureen, I’m putting “Love” on my list.
I warned my class about “H is for Hawk,” that it’s not sanitized (goshawks gonna goshawk), but that it does become the beautiful metaphor you describe. I know several people are interested to read more, after that first chapter. I also appreciated the whole thread about T.H. White–such an interesting way to come at his life and work. And I can’t believe that his papers are just down the road, at the University of Texas, rather than in England.
Callie Feyen says
Thank you for your kind words regarding the book and the fun project with Sara, Karen, and Hannah. Reading and writing about Shakespeare has felt quite wild. I’m happy for that.
Megan Willome says
We all need a little wildness in our reading lives, Callie. You already do that so well! Thanks for bringing us along on your journey.
Laura Brown says
That Promethea article is haunting.
One thing about my reading life that I’d like to change: to remember, retain, better. I know it’s partly that the older brain has less stickiness, like a Post-It note with some cat hair on it. I think also that years of copy editing — read, dump mental files, repeat — affected the my retention ability. Social media and smartphones also probably have an effect.
Finished or mostly finished, some in January, some in February:
Winter, Rick Bass
The Quotidian Mysteries, Kathleen Norris
The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis
The Teacher Diaries: Romeo & Juliet, Callie Feyen
For the Time Being, Annie Dillard
Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life, Nicole M. Roccas
Scape, Luci Shaw
I Am I Am I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death, Maggie O’Farrell
Reading bits or going slow:
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose, Flannery O’Connor
Every Moment Holy, Douglas McKelvey
Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset
Wanderlust, Rebecca Solnit
Syllabus, Lynda Barry
And a bunch of essays, chapters, other writings related to place.
Megan Willome says
“The Horse and His Boy” is my favorite of “The Chronicles of Narnia.” I like how it’s set apart, not sequential, and you get to go traveling in this strange land. Also, the four children are there, but off to the side.
And I like your category of “reading bits or going slow.”