Written by Chris Waterbury|

On Friday September 19th, The Morgan School staff and students participated in the annual summer reading I Love This Book book chat. All sophomores and seniors were assigned a book to read this summer.  The books were selected by the teachers and staff who would head the book chats. On Friday September 19th the  teachers and staff met with the students who read their books. In past years the book chat has been a very successful program that promotes reading throughout the summer and keeps students enthusiastic about reading.

Students have many opinions on the annual book chat. Many students say it is a great break in the day and that they look forward to it. Sophmore Marcus McDermott had this to share about the book chat,” Although the book I chose wasn’t my favorite, I still enjoyed my first book chat and felt I got a lot out of it.”

During the book chat I participated in English teacher Eric Bergman’s group on the book My Two Flags. This book chat was particularly special because Mr Bergman invited the author of the book Javier A. Robayo. After participating in book chat for two years, I found this book chat the most interesting and interactive chat yet. Javier was born in Equador and moved to The United States in 1988; the book is a collection of his high school journals morphed together to tell a story of him growing up and experiencing the challenges of trying to fit in throughout high school. Javier learned a lot through his experiences and had many great lessons to teach the group. Javier had a few strong reasons for writing his book; he said, “I hoped to change how someone thinks” as well as “this is what happens anywhere and everywhere.” Along with much more explanation and conversation, Javier helped the group understand a book from not only the readers’ point of view but also the author’s.

This year’s book chat was a success overall. The students and staff had a great opportunity to come together and talk about their summer reading. Hopefully the book chat will continue to be a great success in the future.