This week’s edition of the “Sunday 7” includes several book recommendations and an exciting Project LIT announcement. Before we begin, however, be sure read this beautiful blog post by my friend, Julia Torres.
Julia touches on the impact of Nic Stone’s (#BookBeyonce) recent life-changing visit to Montbello and what it takes to help students develop reading identities, especially those who grow up in book deserts, before addressing the most recent school shooting:
Love is also a verb. It’s not just what you think, feel, or say. It is not the expression of now-becoming-defunct “Thoughts and prayers”. It’s what you do. If we truly want change, we have to show that with our actions. The future is now. We cannot afford to wait for “someday”. Change has to begin today.
Unsurprisingly, it’s our students who are leading the way, demanding better, changing our world.
1. SAVE THE DATE: Project LIT Summit
I’m thrilled to announce that our inaugural Project LIT Summit will take place here in Nashville, TN on June 16, 2018. More details to come soon, but we’d love for you to join us as we spend the day celebrating our efforts to increase access to diverse books and promote a love of reading in schools and communities across our country!
2. REBOUND!
Kwame does it again! Fans of The Crossover will not be disappointed with the prequel, which brings us back to the summer of 1988 as Chuck Bell struggles to cope with the loss of his father. Again, this book is about more than just basketball, and readers of all ages will find themselves rooting for Chuck from start to finish!
Good news for my Nashville friends who can’t wait for the April 3rd release: Kwame will be at Parnassus Bookstore this Wednesday (4 CT)! Hope to see you there!
3. Book store finds
A few of the gems I found during last week’s trip to McKay’s bookstore:
4. Next Project LIT Book Club: MARCH
One comment that stood out during our class discussion of the March series last week?
“The crazy part about this? It’s all real.”
I cannot recommend the trilogy enough — I’d argue it’s a must-read for MS & HS students. And Nashville friends, we’d love for you to join us in the Maplewood High School library on March 9 (7:30-8:30 AM) for our next Project LIT Book Club. We’ll be discussing books 1 and 2 of the trilogy.
5. Book and TV Recommendation
On a recent SI podcast with Richard Deitsch, writer Jonathan Abrams discussed his new book, All the Pieces: The Inside Story of The Wire, which I cannot wait to read. Abrams also recommended that fans of The Wire check out Showtime’s new series, The Chi. My wife and I binge watched all five episodes this weekend – it’s outstanding!
6. Celebrating Black History Month
Looking forward to 
our school’s African American Read-In later this week!
7. Moment of the Week
One of my students was looking for a new book to read at home, so I handed her a copy of Long Way Down.
“Oh, it’s a Jason Reynolds book? I know it’s gonna be good.”
And with that, wishing everyone a wonderful week. Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or comments via email (jarred.amato@gmail.com) or Twitter (@jarredamato). Thanks, as always, for reading!
DR. JARRED AMATO 