I spent $61 this week on YA novels (which translates to six books). Not one of those books were for me. In fact, they were all books I’d read before. What am I doing spending $61 of my hard-earned part-time teacher’s salary on books for other people? I’m glad you asked.
This week was the 18th annual Writers Week at my school (see previous post), and we were fortunate enough to host two unbelievable YA authors: Veronica Roth (Divergent and on May 1st Insurgent) and Ellen Hopkins (Crank, Glass, Fallout, Burned, Impulse, Tricks, Perfect, Identical, Tilt and adult books Triangles and soon Collateral). I’m a huge fan of both, and both of these lovely women spent much extra time after their presentations signing books for students and staff.
You know I love to talk about books, but even more so I love to share them. I cannot keep my signed copies of Divergent and Crank in my possession because there’s a line of students and friends to borrow each. Am I afraid I’ll lose my autographed copies to a potentially irresponsible borrower? Of course. But the risk is worth the value of the connection this sharing brings to me and my students and me and my friends.
Back to that $61. I’m reading it forward. I bought signed copies of Crank and Divergent for various friends because when I get excited about books I want to 
share that excitement with others. How about if you read it forward 
this weekend? You don’t have to spend a dime. Just look at your bookshelf, and pull out the last book you read and loved. Lend it to someone who is important to you (or gift it…up to you). While you may be like me and love seeing your bookshelves filled with titles that are special to you, the worth of those titles grows exponentially when you share them with people who are special to you too. Read it forward.
Agree –> “While you may be like me and love seeing your bookshelves filled with titles that are special to you, the worth of those titles grows exponentially when you share them with people who are special to you too.”
When I loan books to students, I usually say, “It’s OK if this comes back to me, or it’s OK if you pass it on to somebody else.” The student who currently has my copy of DIVERGENT asked me if I wanted it back to get it signed by Veronica Roth last week, but I asked him to have it signed. He took care of that, and it’s signed “For Mr. Anderson and his students,” which probably ensures that it will keep finding its way back to me.
Love that, Gary. Lent out my already signed copy of Divergent. When student finished, she told me of another student of mine who wanted to borrow, so I just had her forward it to him. I talk to my students so much more about reading this quarter since we’ve started independent reading. And we are reading the same stuff! It’s pretty magical.