Spread a love for reading

On April 23, 11 teachers from Colony High School will join people all over the world in giving away free books as part of the second annual celebration of World Book Night in the United States.

Begun in the United Kingdom in 2011, World Book Night is designed, as its motto says, “to spread the love of reading, person to person.” The event grew from a brainstorming session at a London book industry conference, where participants were asked to imagine ways to encourage reading among light or nonreaders. Authors agree to forgo royalties, and publishers absorb the cost of printing specially designed World Book Night editions of books selected by a group of librarians and booksellers. World Book Night spread from the UK and has been celebrated in the U.S. and Germany since 2012.

Alert readers will recognize that April 23 is widely recognized as the date of both Shakespeare’s birth and death. Additionally, Cervantes died on April 23, and April 23 is celebrated in England and other countries as St. George’s Day. In the Catalan region of Spain, it’s traditional for men to give women they admire flowers on St. George’s Day. Women acknowledge the important men in their lives with a book to mark the day. The rose portion of the tradition comes from the legend of St. George the dragon slayer. Once St. George had skewered the dragon in the scale-less part of its body, roses were said to have sprung from the dragon’s blood dripping on the ground. The book-giving tradition arose from a marketing ploy by a Spanish bookseller in the early 20th century. He thought he would capitalize on the deaths of Cervantes and Shakespeare and make April 23 a bookselling festival. Eventually, his idea grew into the UNESCO designation of April 23 as World Book and Copyright Day, and ultimately World Book Night.

Volunteers apply to the World Book Night organization to become givers. Each giver is asked to choose from among 39 titles that will be available for distribution at the event. Books are chosen for potential distribution based on criteria from the World Book Night board members. Books must be accessible and of high quality; a selection of recently published and established classics is chosen; the books must be available in paperback; books are chosen from a variety of genres — fiction, mystery, Science Fiction, fantasy, classics, poetry, humor, autobiography, and young adult; and the list overall is balanced for gender, ethnicity and geography.

Since the CHS teachers who volunteered cover a wide variety of subject areas and have diverse personal backgrounds, we all chose different titles: I went for John Flanagan’s “The Ruins of Gorlan,” the first book in the Ranger’s Apprentice series. I know the book to be popular with high school readers, particularly boys, and I’ve often heard students recommending it to each other as a book that’s good to read, especially for students who don’t typically like reading. Since the biggest goal of World Book Night is to get books into the hands of reluctant readers, it seemed like a good choice.

Business teacher and APEX coordinator Jane Bulovsky chose a collection of poetry. She remembers being a very reluctant reader in high school. In fact, she reports that she cannot recall ever reading a novel to completion during her time in high school. A self-professed “math kid,” Jane says she found it extremely difficult to sit down and read more than a few pages at a time. She felt that poems were a good way to entice reluctant readers, since they could read in short bursts.

Science teacher Christy Hronkin opted for Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures from the Culinary Underbelly.” She says that her husband, who doesn’t like to read fiction, will often get sucked into a book if it’s “real.”

English teacher Nancy Podgorski selected Tobias Wolff’s “This Boy’s Life,” believing that a memoir is often a good way to hook a reluctant reader.

Both Bob Williams and Chris Gooch requested Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point: How Little Things can Make a Big Difference.” Chris has read all of Gladwell’s books, including his current project, “David and Goliath.” Bob likes “The Tipping Point” because of his own experiences in education and in life. His teachers told him to go to college, which led him to a variety of experiences, including time in the Peace Corps, which then led to a fellowship to help him become a teacher.

“I want my students to realize that quality, effort and perseverance matter: what seems like a small thing today can actually make a huge difference in lives,” Bob says.

Research tells us that the most important thing for students as they make their way through school is the presence of caring, engaged adults in their lives. Knowing that so many CHS teachers, from so many different disciplines, are working with our students every day encourages and inspires me. I love that our students have so many role models whose lives and work they get to be a part of every day. I love that our staff members are readers, and I love that they want to share their passion for reading with their students, family and friends. I also know that we are not the only people in the Valley participating in World Book Night. I look forward to meeting other givers before our celebration. And remember, you don’t have to be a WBN giver to share your love of reading on April 23.

Prudence Plunkett has been reading and recommending books to Valley students for more than 20 years.