“And I think that’s what reading is… It’s a personal interpretation of the story, and it may not be the same as somebody else's. That’s the whole idea of a good teacher. There should be different interpretations, and sometimes a student will come up with something that I never thought of.” —Sharon M. Draper  

Give a story to twenty kids, and you might get twenty different takeaways. Some will catch the details you didn’t even notice. Others will pull out meaning that wasn’t intentionally placed, but rings true all the same. Sharon M. Draper writes for everyone and fiercely advocates for students’ right to read for themselves.

Sharon knows the capacity of a book to transport and transform kids; she was the kid who maxed out her library card every Saturday at the Cleveland Public Library. She then became the teacher who read aloud to even the most skeptical students, and the writer whose bestselling novel "Out of My Mind," which was adapted into a film for Disney+ and remains requisite reading for many middle schoolers year after year. A two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner, Sharon is the author of "Stella by Starlight," "Blended," "Tears of a Tiger," and many, many more.

In this episode, "Good Luck, They’re Yours: Sharon Draper on Giving Students Room to Read," Sharon discusses what it means to trust readers, how her students helped guide her first book, and seeing her stories banned in classrooms. We also talk about church music, spiked lemonade, and how she ended up with a special library card that gave her access to the library's adult section, even as a child.

When we asked Sharon to come up with a reading challenge, she was reluctant to give us a list of must-reads. Maybe that’s not surprising, given her past frustrations with inflexible required reading lists. In true teacher fashion, she flipped the assignment and gave us a lesson plan. 

This week’s Beanstack featured Librarian is William Schaller, the middle school librarian at Hoffman Middle School in Houston, Texas, for the past seven years! William shares his secret sauce for getting kids excited about reading. 

Show Chapters

Chapter 1 - The Reader Kid

Chapter 2 - Spike Lemonade and Porch Stories

Chapter 3 - Shut Up and Say You Like It

Chapter 4 - We Never Say That in the Locker Room

Chapter 5 - Student Teachers

Chapter 6 - Reading Challenge

Chapter 7 - Beanstack Featured Librarian

Links

• The Reading Culture
• The Reading Culture Newsletter Signup
• Follow The Reading Culture on Instagram (for giveaways and bonus content)
• Sharon Draper
• Sharon Draper Instagram
• Cleveland Public Library
• Up the Down Staircase
• Sharon M. Draper receiving the National Teacher of the Year Award
• Beanstack resources to build your community’s reading culture
• Jordan Lloyd Bookey
  
  

Host and Production Credits

Host: Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Producers: Mel Webb and Lower Street Media
Script Editors: Josia Lamberto-Egan, Mel Webb, Jackie Lamport, Jordan Lloyd Bookey