A weekly recommendation to level up your book matchmaking.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Range: 13-18
Summary: 10th grader Ian isn't quite sure if there will be food to eat, clothes that fit, or a safe car for his mom to drive. Living on land his family has owned for generations, he is sure that he can fix motors, hunt for deer, and take care of the huge dog that wanders into his life. As the Vermont winter turns into spring, Ian will need all of these skills, as well as the community that has gathered around him, to survive the tragedy that strikes.
Teaching with Gather
Recommend Gather to students who:
- Loved The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Like Ponyboy, Ian is a refreshingly authentic first-person narrator who zigs and zags while telling you his story — which is really the story of his whole community and the land they share.
- Were moved by the overcoming-the-odds, finding a better future, and first love narrative in Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.
Why bother reading or recommending it?
The whole time you're reading it, you know something bad is going to happen. It's almost enough to put it down because Ian is a character you'll like immediately and you don't want to see him get hurt. But as you wait for the tragedy to drop, you'll see over and over again the beauty in Ian's life. It's in his history teacher, The Sharpe, who relentlessly believes in him. It's in his knowledge of the woods and rivers, and how he helps elderly Mrs. Ellsley who lives next door. Of course, the beauty is tangled up in the house they can't afford to heat, the prejudice from classmates who just don't get it, and the stomach-wrenching anxiety of being one misstep away from losing it all.
For kids like Ian, Gather is an essential story to validate that yes, their lives are hard. And, for kids like Ian, it's a reminder to pay attention to the community that will gather around you because you do not need to survive the hard alone.
And the best way to teach with it is...
Gather has enough character development, complex themes, and literary devices (hello foreshadowing) to study it as a whole class novel. If you're looking to update a realistic fiction text in your 8th or 9th grade curriculum to one that highlights rural life in the USA, give Gather a shot.
Resource of the Week
When you're in the midst of a whole class novel study, you'll likely host a Socratic Seminar. And if you host a Socratic Seminar, you'll want to collect assessment data to help students grow their speaking and listening skills.
Have a good one and learn everything you can,
Hannah
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