Teacher Tuesday

Today's good sport is Craig Seasholes, a teacher with a passion for poetry who teaches in at a school in west Seattle.

Craig, please fill in the blank:

You should never read and (blank) at the same time.

You should never read and ....fight the need to Sleep... at the same time.  I believe in the power of both reading and sleep. It's not an either/or thing at all.

If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring for her to read?

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino.  This master storyteller's brilliant series of first chapters ending in cliff hangers is a perfect plaything for people who love to read....in small bites. Reading the first chapter aloud would be perfect for an expectant TV audience.

What is the funniest book you’ve read?

I couldn't choose just one funniest book if my life depended on it! Mo Willems is taking the cake for the early reader set, with That is Not a Good Idea tickling several funny bones at once. Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's Peter and the Starcatchers is snort-through-your-nose funny prequel to this re-imagined Peter Pan for upper elementary.  For older readers, I still find Dave Macauley's Motel of Mysteries a brilliant send up to the King Tut hype, as is Leo Lionni's Parallel Botany for spoofing scientific proceedings of biologists and desert mystical philosophists.

What is the saddest?

OK, so the fact is I've got issues with most  question with  -est adjective forms.  The Fault in Our Stars was sad and lovely , poignant enough to stand out in recent YA fiction. But then so was Roz Chast's graphic memoir Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? and there humor helps soften the blow while allowing grief its due. 

Favorite reading snack/beverage?

I'm a chai tea and gingersnap kinda guy.

What’s next on your TBR list?

Groaning shelves of  TBR loom over me as I struggle to keep up a with read/write/share habit for school  and Unshelved.com/bookclub audiences. Tonight  Ed Piskor's HipHop Family Tree towers from the top of the pile in anticipation of his appearance in Seattle Short Run Comix and Arts Festival Nov 15th at Washington Hall.

Teachers, librarians, reading coaches, principals, custodians, lunch ladies, anyone with school connections: Please play along! Email me here and I'll get you the questions so you, too, can be featured on Teacher Tuesday.