Reading Roll Call is a classroom activity I conduct with my students at the beginning of every week to see what they are independently reading. I always share the title of a book that I am reading to model participation and showcase the lifelong commitment to reading that I’ve made.
The Reading Roll Call idea stems from Donalyn Miller‘s book Reading in the Wild. I have adapted the activity and idea into blog form to track my reading progress on a weekly basis. Happy Reading!
War Is Boring: Bored Stiff, Scared to Death in the World’s Worst War Zones is one of the most popular books in my Classroom Library on two fronts. It is a popular book students name during Reading Roll Call due to its format as a graphic novel. It is also one of the most “eh, I thought I would like it, but I didn’t finish” books.
Students and adults, alike, think graphic novels are “easy books to read.” My students are finding that that is not the case as this one has given them trouble. I want to see what all the trouble is about that way I can recommend it appropriate and see where the struggle is coming from.
From the Back of the Book
“As a correspondent for The Washington Times, C-SPAN, and BBC Radio, Axe flew from conflict to conflict, reveling in death, danger, and destruction abroad. Meanwhile, back in D.C., his apartment gathered dust, his plants died, and his relationships withered. War reporting was physically, emotionally, and financially draining – and disillusioning. He had begun his sojourn as a “war tourist.” But the next four years turned David into a deeply political man – his work became less about him and more about the true victims of the world’s conflict. Loosely based on the Web comic of the same name, with extensive new material, War Is Boring takes us to Lebanon and Somalia; to arms bazaars across the United States; to Detroit, as David tries to reconnect with his family; and to Chad, as David attempts to bring attention to the Darfur genocide.”