Edutopia – Emily Kaplan
“When I taught second grade, I had a student who absolutely hated reading. He’d made the decision that it was simply too boring. While his peers were busy devouring books, he’d spend his time distracting them, being silly, finding other things to occupy his time. That changed when we started reading Mo Willems’s We Are in a Book! I voiced the part of the elephant, Gerald, and he took the part of the pig, Piggie—good pals who come to realize that they are, in fact, in a book, and have the hilarity-provoking power to control what the readers say. Something about that dynamic must have been thrilling to my student, because We Are in a Book! turned him into a reader. It dawned on him, I think, that his own desire for silliness and play could be fulfilled in a story.” (more)