The Time Is Now
For several years before the pandemic stopped in-classroom education, I volunteered at my neighborhood elementary school coordinating a reading program; the Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB). Each year, sixteen middle grade books were selected for kids in the program to read. The books were the very best and on a wide variety of subjects and genres, including new books, classics, fiction and non-fiction. The Reading Champions huddle to come up with the correct answer The program really motivated the children to read. The kids formed their own teams and chose their own team name. The goal was, that between all of the member of a team, all 16 books would be read. The kids really loved the battles. The competition was fierce. I found it all very rewarding, and so fun to get to know the children, the rascals as well as the star students. These four awesome women called themselves, The Battling Nerds Because I read all of the books each year, a by-product of the whole t...
