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[October 2017] Project Lit inspires new book club

Olivia Foster ’18

The book club culture is alive and booming, and it’s making its way towards Staples.

Debating the merits of a plot line, having lengthy conversations ranging from serious to lighthearted and noshing on a platter of cheese and crackers are all staples of book club culture, and will soon be a part of the Staples community as well.

English teacher Rebecca Marsick is the driving force behind implementing the book club. She was inspired by an unusual source: Jarred Amato, a Maplewood High School English teacher in Nashville, Tennessee. Amato created Project Lit, a system of delivering books to schools in urban areas, otherwise known as “book deserts,” that lack access to an abundance of literature.
“Books are a really great way and a really safe way to start discussing issues that we’re grappling with as a country today,” Marsick said.

In Amato’s own classroom, he recognized the deficiency of books and decided to establish Project Lit as a way to increase student access to books and foster conversations about a different book each month.

“All students deserve access to high-quality, culturally relevant books along with ongoing opportunities to discuss those texts with caring peers and adults in their community,” Amato said. He has already seen success with his students after implementing Project Lit, and the Staples club hopes to have the same results.

Marsick envisions the conversations will reach outside the walls of Staples and cover a wide range of issues. The club is flexible; it will meet once a month during the lunch waves and anyone can stop in to chat even if they weren’t at the past meeting. Information about future club meetings will be spread through email; check out @marsickreads and @mrlynchstagram on Instagram for additional information on the club and great new reads.

Last year, hard-core reader and English teacher Reilly Lynch worked with Marsick to start the book club. This year he plans to help out and chat alongside students in the club. “Part of the experience of reading is being able to talk about and pull out your favorite parts and discuss. I’m most excited to see a group of people discussing this book [The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas] that is highly relevant, semi-controversial, and seeing what it can do for the community and the thoughts it can provoke,” Lynch said. “We are really trying to push a culture of readers. This is just one of many tools we have to make reading more visible, and to make people realize its potential and how enjoyable it can be.”

Natalie Carozza ’21, an avid reader, is excited for the opportunity to participate in a book club that would make it more manageable for students to read books outside of the curriculum. “I usually read in my spare time, which is generally during the summer,” Carozza said. “Depending on my work load I might join the club, because I think it’s a great way to get people involved in reading during the school year.”

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