Mr. Pinkwater,
I am a Science teacher. Every year each teacher has a class called “Silent Reading”. Since I think that students should be read to, regardless of grade, I make it a point to read at least three novels to my 8th-graders over the course of the school year. At least one of them will be a bok you wrote. “Alan Mendelson, the Boy From Mars” and “The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death” are perennial favorites.
Right now I’m reading them “The Neddiad”. They are really getting into it. One funny thing has happened during the course of the story. I was lucky enough to grow up near a theater that still did the kid’s Saturday Matinee, complete with a Republic Serial. I was able to relate my experiences to my students, to help them better understand what Neddie experienced.
About the fifth day of reading the story, the bell rang ending the class as usual and a student called out from the back of the room “Come back next week, for the next exciting chapter of… THE NEDDIAD!”
Thanks for making my days, and the days of my students, a little bit brighter.
Bravo! Yes! Read to the students! (Also if you check the Audio Archives in the Podcast section of this website, you can find downloadable readings of some of my stuff, should you wish to be read to along with them). It only takes one encounter with one good teacher (better if there are more, of course) to make a major difference.
