Pagers Reading Program
The Pagers reading program is in its fifth season for the high school and fourth season for the middle school. Approximately 25% of the student body successfully completes the program each quarter.
Fourth Quarter Pagers Books
High School Selection:
This book comes via a recommendation from Dave Ziebarth, who read this book last summer. It is The Soul of Baseball: a road trip through Buck O'Neil's America by Joe Posnanski. If you are like many, you probably don't even know who Buck O'Neil was. Well, he was worth knowing! Buck, who died recently at age 95, was one of the great players from the Negro Baseball Leagues - along with other, more familiar figures like Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson. For years Buck traveled all over America educating everyone he could about the great players and great teams of the Negro leagues.
Posnanski, a sports writer from O'Neil's hometown of Kansas City, spent the 2005 season on the road with Buck and captures that experience in this book. The book interweaves three themes: the history of the Negro leagues; the rich baseball culture of America, past and present; and a tribute to Buck O'Neil's inspirational spirit.
Group Discussions during both lunch periods - Wednesday, May 21 and Thursday, May 22
Middle School Selection:
Montmorency: thief, liar, gentleman? by Eleanor Updale is the fourth quarter middle school book. The setting is Victorian London... "When a petty thief falls through a glass roof while fleeing from the police, it should be the death of him. Instead, it marks the beginning of a whole new life. The thief is sewn back together by a brilliant young surgeon, and before long he's become the chief exhibit at medical gatherings across the city. It's at one of the learned discussions that he first hears about an amazing addition to the London streets--the sewer system--and an idea begins to form. The sewers are the perfect escape route for a series of daring robberies, and the thief is the only one with the ingenuity to pull them off. He takes on two identities--the wealthy, sophisticated gentleman Montmorency and his filthy, corrupt servant, Scarper. But Montmorency must constantly be on guard. His whole life is built on lies, and the slightest mistake could betray him." (from the book notes)
Group Discussions during lunch period - Monday, May 19 and Tuesday, May 20
Details of the program are found at the link below.
Pagers is coordinated by Ann Girres, Media Specialist.
"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."
- Joseph Addison
