My task for this week’s challenge was to choose a favorite character from a book and take a selfie with that character.
Here we are! My profile partner is a friend from the book, The Pink Motel, by Carol Ryrie Brink, illustrated by Sheila Greenwald. Meet Kirby. Kirby, these are my other friends!
I’m not joking when I say I read this book 20 times as a kid. Why was this book so important to me as a young person? Why is it still important?
Many of the books we had access to when I was in elementary school (in the mid- 60s and early 70s) were our parents’ favorites when they were young, or they talked down to the young reader, or had an agenda that was so obvious it hurt.
This book had odd characters in it, but at the same time, they were everyday people like me. Strange things happened. But most of all, through everything that transpired, the kids in the story were competent and capable. And they weren’t sheltered from thinking so.
It fed me in a very special way, and Kirby, my profile partner, was curious and determined. He was still a kid, and of course he made mistakes, but he was courageous and sensible in a way that I really respected and admired. He was open-minded, too, when the adults weren’t. Because of that, he could unravel the strange problems and solve the mystery in this odd, lovely little story.
You’ll see me and Kirby around the interwebs. He’s my profile partner for now, and will also travel with me to the WRAD events I attend next week.
If you are interested in learning more about World Read Aloud Day and LitWorld, you can look here. For great activities you can share with others, you can download the Classroom Kit here. If you’re on Twitter, follow the #WRAD15 hashtag to catch all the fun.
The Best of It 