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This is the sixth year of our school-wide reading program. A book
is selected and provided, free, to everyone on campus. This
book can be discussed and taught within every aspect of our curriculum. Mrs. Sandra Crouch,
former assistant principal at White County High School, began this program as a
reading incentive and as a community-building process. Since we are
all reading the same book, we have that in common. The concept
of a school-wide reading program was developed from an idea of Dr.
Beth Caldwell, English teacher at White County High School.
Selections have ranged from the horrors of the
concentration camps (Night, by Elie Wiesel) to the humorous
exploits of Grandma Dowdel during the Depression (A Long Way From
Chicago by Richard Peck) to the experiences of Jake at the Applewhites'
Creative Academy. Will Hobbs' Far North took us
on an adventure into the snowy Northwest Territories. We met Johnny
Raven, a Dene elder, whose wisdom saves the lives of two teenage boys;
Gabe and Raymond, who survive an incredible journey of struggle and
discovery; and "the Hammer," the winter weather conditions
that threaten our characters. We met ravens and a "winter bear"
and beavers and a wolverine. Will Hobbs has given us many memories.
This year we have picked Silas Marner by George Elliot for
upperclassmen and The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau for the
Freshman class.
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