My Journey With The Project LIT Community

It started with an article:

“Where Books Are All But Nonexistent”. 

After reading about the prevalence of book deserts, Dr. Jarred Amato and his students decided to do something about it. They created Project LIT (Literacy In The) Community (@ProjectLITComm). Their group created Little Free Libraries to spread the love of reading in their community. They wrapped up books during the holidays to share with elementary students. They wrote beautiful reflections on the books they were reading. I participated in literacy chats with Jarred, and followed the community’s work on Twitter, and when they decided to expand to other states, I applied to become a chapter leader.

I was so excited to introduce new titles to our students and staff, and was told it was fine as long as it “did not interfere with instructional time.” I believe that reading, reflecting on, and discussing diverse books IS instructional…but I digress. Not knowing how much interest there would be, we started small our first year, committing to read just two of the titles. A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park and Refugee by Alan Gratz became our first official books. I was able to purchase them because of a Donors Choose grant. We continued to meet monthly, supplementing our reading with books from our school’s novel list.

This year I decided to incorporate more Project LIT titles, and was able to do so because of the Book Love Foundation grant that I received. Our students participated in a book tasting at our informational meeting, and after making their choices, we read and discussed the following books:

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu (The Track series) by Jason Reynolds

I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina

The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Perez

I do make sure to have at least one copy of each Project LIT title in my classroom for the students who wish to borrow them. One of our 7^th graders took the lead this year, creating questions and leading our discussions. Our last meeting in May was a Summer Reading Preview, where we each booktalked some of our favorite titles and created TBR lists. I presented a session about Project LIT for our local reading council, and have invited our public library to join our meetings starting in the fall (we meant to start this year, but scheduling conflicts prevented it). 

Here are some thoughts from members who have moved on to high school:

“I really enjoyed how we all met and talked about the book. More specifically, the questions we discuss made us all think about the book in a different way and in a different point of view, which is always nice. Also, I really liked how every meeting, people were included in the conversation, and how we all got to share our opinions and ideas about the books.”

“I just liked talking about the books and being able to relate my thoughts about the book with other people who have read it and understand my connections and stuff. 🌞”

The students currently in our local Project LIT Book Club identify as…

Black

Asian

White
Latina

Gay

Straight

Questioning

Male

Female

Nonbinary

I believe that our classroom libraries need to be inclusive of all of our students. For one thing, students need to be able to see themselves represented in the books that we add to our shelves. But also, students need to read about and understand those who are not like them. If you are not yet familiar with the work of Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, you can start here: Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors   

Here are the Project LIT Book Club choices for 2019-2020. 

I continue to be blessed by the students, teachers, and authors who are a part of this community, and anticipate many more great discussions in the future!  📚 💗