How often do you read?
Math teacher Michael Grenard: I just listen to tapes more than I read these days, but I’d say I read at least three hours a day because that’s how long I’m driving back and forth.
English teacher April Beene: I read pretty frequently, and I’d say I read here more lately since I have little kids at home. I mostly read things I’m teaching about because since I teach three different classes, it gives me much to read. I’m usually reading every day. Before I had kids, I preferred paperbacks. I like to write in them. But since I’ve had kids, I read a lot at night when they’re in the room with me, on either my Kindle or like last month, I started listening to audiobooks and doing like a jigsaw puzzle.
English teacher Julien Gaumer: I actually try to read daily besides teaching. I’m reading a hard copy personally, but sometimes I’ll listen to audiobooks, so whichever I can fit with my schedule.
What genre do you prefer to read?
Grenard: I do a lot of sci-fi/fantasy, but I also love mystery novels. The current novel I’m in is a mixture between sci-fi and fantasy. It’s “Warhammer 40000” if you’ve ever heard of it.
Beene: My favorite genre is historical fiction. I read a lot of it, but I really try about any genre. I’d say the one I read the least is romance. I like when there’s a romance subplot in another genre, but I don’t typically pick one that’s like just romance.
Gaumer: I typically prefer historical fiction. I also enjoy nonfiction, and I enjoy drama.
Who is your favorite author?
Grenard: I don’t know. I was into Stephen King when I was younger, but that was me doing a sci-fi fantasy round. Now, I read a lot by Robert Jordan. He wrote “The Wheel of Time”. But, really, I don’t have a favorite. I’ll get on an author, and then I’ll just go crazy and read everything he’s ever written.
Beene: Toni Morrison, and I’ve got her all over my room. I teach about her in my AP classes, too. She writes historical fiction. She looks a lot at the black experience in America and how so much of American history is the black experience. And, I mean, she’s all over the place. She does different time periods, and her books are always kind of dark and sad throughout most of them but get very hopeful at the end.
Gaumer: Personally, I really enjoy Kristen Hannah, Frieda McFadden, Kelly Rimmer and Colleen Hoover.”
What is your favorite book?
Grenard: It comes down to a couple. There’s this book by Robert Heinlein called “Stranger in a Strange Land.” It’s sort of a fantasy/sci-fi book that’s one of my favorites. He’s a great author, I read a lot of his stuff. Also, if you’re a fantasy fan, you can’t not think about Tolkien, so I would also say “Lord of the Rings.”
The premise behind “Stranger in a Strange Land” is there was an expedition to colonize Mars, and it failed, but only one lone child survived. As it turns out, there were Martians and so he was raised by them. He comes back to earth with strange and different concepts and starts to kind of shape the world in his thought process, kind of in the process of becoming more human. He made the world more alien, and some might argue better. So, the book questions your morals and what standards should look like in society and how things are vs. how they should be.
Beene: My favorite book is probably “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. I also teach that. It’s another really dark one, but it’s so good because all the characters are so fleshed out and they feel real and they’re all kinda problematic.
There’s also “North Woods,” which I really loved. The book looks like a house and all the different people who lived in it over like 300 years. I also really like this book called “The Essex Serpent,” which is a little Gothic and historic fiction, but it’s got a bit of a creepy mystery at the heart of it.
Gaumer: My favorite book is “The Nightingale” by Kristen Hannah.
What would you suggest your students read?
Grenard: Oh, just read anything. Read what makes you think; reading what you’re interested in is the bottom line.
Beene: I typically ask the students what they enjoy first. I find that just because I like a book usually doesn’t mean that someone else is going to like it, because I have a pretty particular taste. I think everyone does, so usually I’ll ask them what genre they like, and I have my classroom library organized by genres, so I’ll just let them pick out a book.
Gaumer: What I suggest my students read is determined by the genre each of them prefers. Books are kind of like clothes. Just because the tag says one size fits all doesn’t mean that it’s true. I would encourage my students to discover what they like to watch on TV or what they would prefer to watch at the movies, and then I would direct them towards a book that they would hopefully enjoy something similar in the genre.
