Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:16 PM CST
MMS students introduce Ready to Read Across Mattoon book 'Rules'
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
MATTOON — Middle school students hope the community will join them in following a different set of “Rules.”
Members of the Mattoon Middle School Student Reading Committee officially introduced this year’s Ready to Read Across Mattoon novel at the school board meeting Tuesday, and they invited adults to read the book “Rules,” by Cynthia Lord, copies of which will be available throughout the city.
“Once you are done with the book, please pass it on, and don’t forget to tell us what you think,” said MMS sixth-grade student Lexi Kremer at the meeting.
The novel chronicles the experiences of 12-year-old Catherine and her autistic younger brother, David.
“Having a brother with autism makes it hard enough for Catherine to fit in, and then she meets a new friend, Jason, who has a disability of his own,” said sixth-grader Sammie Thompson. “She doesn’t think her friends will accept her if they see her with Jason, but she’ll have to decide where her loyalties lie.
“Will Catherine hurt the people she loves most just to fit in?”
The title of the book refers to a list of regulations Catherine has for her brother, such as “It’s fine to hug mom, but not the clerk in the video store,” said Thompson.
Copies of the book will be displayed at: A.G. Edwards & Sons; Brookstone Estates; Common Grounds; Consolidated Communications; Curves; D to Z Sports; Freesmeier Chiropractic; First Federal Savings and Loan; First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust; General Electric; K.C. Summers; Dr. Ken Myracle; Lake Land College; Mars Petcare; Mattoon Public Library; Pagliacci’s Restaurant; Riddle Elementary School; Dr. Roger L. Tomlin; Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center; United Graphics; Walden Books; Williams Elementary School; and Mattoon Area Family YMCA.
Readers can offer feedback on the novel by filling out and returning postcards included with each copy of the novel.
The Ready to Read Across Mattoon program is now in its seventh year.
MMS Principal Jeremie Smith told the board Tuesday that the program has brought about “active engagement from family and the community,” which is one of the school district’s goals.
Ready to Read Across Mattoon has grown extensively since it was launched seven years ago, MMS librarian Anieta Trame said, noting that 1,000 copies of last year’s book were distributed throughout the community.
At the middle school last week, students stood in line to check out one of 100 newly arrived copies of “Rules,” and there is a waiting list of about 150 students, Trame said.
The book is chosen by sixth- , seventh- and eighth-grade members of the Student Reading Committee. “Every year I get these great kids (who) say wonderful things and plan wonderful things,” Trame also said.
Seventh-grade student Brock Taylor explained to the board that each member of the reading committee must apply for the position and have the signatures of two teachers as well as his or her parents.
The committee typically sifts through the 20 books nominated each year for the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award, an Illinois honor given to an outstanding work of children’s fiction.
Taylor said the committee looks at each book’s title, length, cover, appeal to both genders and other factors.
This year, according to Trame, students also devised a marketing plan in which readers of the book are invited to sign one of several rubber ducks, similar to the one on the cover of the book, located at participating businesses and organizations.
Trame said students hope to show these to the author if she is able to visit the middle school next fall, to “show her what we’ve done in this community.”
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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