One Small Reading Ritual (and other summer thoughts)

Good evening everyone,

Once a month, right around this time, after my wife and I tuck our two boys into bed, I open up the laptop and log into our local library account. I then proceed to have the absolute best time, placing a gigantic book order. Typically, I request around 20 books (I’m not quite sure if there’s a limit to the number of books I can order at one time, but if so, I have yet to reach it). Ten or 15 to read aloud with our young children and then a a few each for Lizzie and me. Books that I’ve screenshot as they come across my feed, books that come widely recommended by local bookstores and all-star librarians and fellow English teachers.

A few days later, the books magically appear at our local branch, and then the fun truly begins. My son and I recently and organically developed a neat tradition. We read each book at least once. Many, despite their merits, quickly get moved to the “return” pile. The mighty few, however, have the pleasure of getting read again and again and again (per Lucca’s request). After a week or two, we discuss: which library books are worthy of inclusion in our permanent collection? In other words, which books have we loved so much that we should buy a copy of our own to keep for-ev-er (sorry, we just watched The Sandlot again the other day)? Recent favorites include Mr. Fox’s Game of “No!” and pretty much everything that Julia Donaldson has ever written.

Here are three books that I requested for myself:

A few quick thoughts and takeaways here as we think about our role as educators and continue planning for the 26-27 school year:

1. Do not underestimate the power of routines, rituals, and repetition.

2. Shout out to our libraries and librarians.

3. Be a model. There’s a great quote on one of the opening pages of The Daily Dad; in fact, it’s a poem that legendary basketball coach John Wooden memorized (after the birth of his first child) and hung in his home:

   
   A careful man I want to be,
   A little fellow follows me;
   I do not dare to go astray,
   For fear he’ll go the self-same way.

   I cannot once escape his eyes.
   Whate’er he sees me do, he tries;
   Like me he says he’s going to be,
   The little chap who follows me . . .

4. While it’s easy to get caught up in the national trends and headlines, the real work remains hyper-local. For example, how many of you have read “The End of Reading is Here” piece in The Atlantic? To be fair, I thought the writer approached the subject with care and nuance. But here’s where I have ultimately landed on this issue: I am not going to spend my time attempting to predict the future. Instead, I am going to focus on the present — and on providing my children and my 8th grade students with the best education possible, one that is full of joy and wonder and routine and yes, lots of books. To that point . . .

5. As we look ahead to the 26-27 school year, please reach out if I can answer any specific questions for you or if we can collaborate on any projects, units, events, etc. Be sure to check out recent updates (such as this one) to see what I’ve been working on. (You may have noticed that I’m starting to put resources in one central place. More to come soon!)

6. A headline that I liked seeing today: “The University of Chicago is banning electronics in classrooms for first-year law students, in a move to combat the use of artificial intelligence in school.”

7. As I work on a proposal and outline for a second book, I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for all of you who continue to champion my first one, Just Read It. It was recently included in “EdWeek’s Ultimate PD Reading List.” Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

8. As a reminder, I’m excited to share several resources that will help you nurture an authentic community of readers and writers:

   1. A Year of Extended WRAP Prompts/Tasks. One extensive WRAP prompt/task (often requiring a strong, handwritten paragraph – at a minimum) per week, from the first week of the school year through the last. Feel free to assign each of the 40 tasks in this order, tweaking, adding, omitting, etc. as needed. Or pick the prompts that work best for your classroom (whether students are reading whole-class or self-selected books) and assign them as needed throughout the year. As always, reach out with questions, suggestions, ideas, etc.

   2. Here are 96 WRAP prompts/cards that encourage students to ANALYZE and DISCUSS any self-selected and/or whole-class book. The prompts in this set are intentionally short and sweet, allowing students to respond on a sticky note or index card or to simply turn and share with a classmate.

   3. And here are 96 WRAP prompts/cards that encourage students to REFLECT on their reading identity and to DISCUSS their reading lives in an authentic fashion. This set serves as excellent conversation starters for both students and educators alike -- in English classrooms, during student and/or faculty book clubs, to kick off department meetings, and around the kitchen table. Simply download the PDF, print in color, laminate, cut, and you’re good to go. Please let me know if you have any questions and/or suggestions. Happy reading!

   4. I’m in the process of revising one final WRAP “set” that is aligned to my grammar sequence. Prompts like this one: Write a compound sentence that describes the central conflict in your current read. Or this one: Write a sentence using a compound adjective (one-way street, well-known author, fast-paced novel, etc.) to describe the book, author, character, etc. Stay tuned :)

   5. As a reminder, here’s a potential Article of Week “sequence”, which includes thematic text sets/mini-units (pages 1-2) along with standalone articles and debate topics (page 3). And here are 65 debate topics/questions.

9. Please let me know if your school, district, or organization is planning a JUST READ IT (use the code RAVEN25 for 25% off + free shipping) book study, or if you would like for me to deliver a keynote address and/or lead a workshop or PD session in 2026 or 2027. Feel free to share this letter with your school and/or district leaders. You can also contact Authors Unbound (requests@authorsunbound.com) to arrange a speaking engagement and view my speaking profile here. You can also reach out directly via email (jarred.amato@gmail.com). I love connecting with fellow educators and supporting/strengthening your team’s literacy efforts, and it’d be an honor to collaborate.

   Cheers,

   Jarred