A flurry of book requests

Posted on by Mark Isero

favicon The Kindle Classroom Project is flourishing. Here’s how I know:

– Kindles are streaming in (~1 a day, on average),
– Students are requesting tons of books.

It’s heartwarming. Students are reading, and they’re reading a lot, and as a result, they’re requesting books at a pace of around five a day.

The KCP Library is up to 406 titles. Here are a few books that students requested today:

Retribution of Mara Dyer   I Am Legend   After

The Retribution of Mara Dyer (requested by Elizabeth), I Am Legend (requested by Leo), and After (requested by Nandini) are all excellent choices. When students have choice, they choose well.

The best part about my promise — that if a student requests a book, I’ll honor that request — is that students spend more time reading. They churn through books, talk about them, and build a robust reading life.

As the KCP grows (~90 Kindles the past three months), the demand for books grows. It’s time to build the Kindle Library to 500 titles and to continue honoring students’ reading interests by providing them with high-quality titles.

Will you help? I’m piloting a cute new donation button. It’s quick and easy and fast and safe (using PayPal competitor Stripe). If you have a credit card, $10, and less than two minutes (it really is fast), please consider buying a book for a student. Here is the button!

[stripe name=”Kindle Classroom Project” description=”Help students love reading again.” amount=”1000″ payment_button_label=”I want to donate $10 to buy a book.” image_url=”http://www.iserotope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/13-Stack-of-Kindles-e1421308500362.jpg” checkout_button_label=”Donate” enable_remember=”false”]
If you donated (or have already donated — there are many of you), thank you very much! I can’t wait to thank you more formally. If right now is not the right time, I too appreciate your interest in young people and enthusiasm for the KCP.

Update: Mary (Parkersburg, IA), a sustaining donor to the KCP, has contributed again! Thanks for getting this little book campaign started! And thanks, Kate (Oakland, CA) and Michele (San Francisco, CA), too! favicon

reading

Why it matters that Mark Zuckerberg is reading books this year

Posted on by Mark Isero

Mark Zuckerbergfavicon Mark Zuckerberg is reading books this year.

Every year, Mr. Zuckerberg makes a self-improvement goal. They’ve been varied — everything from wearing a tie to meeting a new person every day to learning Chinese to eating meat only from animals he’d personally killed.

Mr. Zuckerberg’s goal to read a book every two weeks this year is a big deal. Obviously it’ll help several authors and publishers make tons of money. (Mr. Zuckerberg’s first book, The End of Power, jumped from #45,140 on Amazon to the Top 10. That’s pretty amazing.)

But I’m less interested in the book industry and more interested in how Mr. Zuckerberg, at least this year, will become the new Oprah.

Here’s what The New Yorker had to say about Mr. Zuckerberg:

Mark Zuckerberg New Yorker

Many of us (including author Jonathan Franzen) may have not always liked Oprah’s book choices, or even the idea of one extremely powerful person recommending what we should read. But Oprah got millions of people reading — and millions of people talking about the books they were reading.

That’s the problem with books — vs. movies, TV shows, and even podcasts. There are too many of them, and not enough people are reading the same books at the same time, and so therefore, a lot of times, this is what happens between friends.

Friend #1: Hey, did you read Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande?
Friend #2: No, but I heard about it.
Friend #1: You totally should read it.
Friend #2: OK, right. Yeah, so have you read All the Light We Cannot See?
Friend #1: No, but everyone else has. Is it good?
Friend #2: It’s amazing. You should read it.
Friend #1: OK.

This silly conversation happens all the time — and would never happen with a top movie, like Selma, or even a popular podcast, like Serial. With other forms of media, there are more shared experiences and shared conversations.

That’s not to say that I dismiss reading for its own sake. There are plenty of books I read that I love that don’t need to be talked about. Some books are just for me. Reading is wonderful as a solitary act of self-discovery.

But sometimes, I want to talk about a book. And even in book clubs, discussions sometimes stay on the surface. If books are meant to challenge our perspectives, to deepen our sense of meaning, and to build connection and empathy, then it would be nice if they’re talked about sometimes.

And that’s why I like that Mr. Zuckerberg is reading. Read on, Mr. Zuckerberg! favicon

SF students give thanks for Kindles

Posted on by Mark Isero

favicon The Kindles have been in Kathleen’s classroom in San Francisco for less than two weeks, and already, students are writing thank-you cards.

Here are a few! (The first two didn’t photograph well.)

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“Thanks so much for the Kindles, Mr. Isero! You’ve opened me up to so many books. I am currently reading The Shallows, The Alchemist, and The New York Times. Thanks! –Nick

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“Dear Mr. Isero, Thank you very much for the Kindles. I am excited to read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. The Kindles will come in handy! —Sincerely, Eryka Q.

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“Dear Mr. Isero, Thank you so much for the Kindles! They have opened the doors even wider into the world of reading. You are so kind for donating all of these Kindles to us juniors! Because of this Kindle, I will never lose my interest in reading.” —Sincerely, M.C.

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“Dear Mr. Isero, I am very happy to know that someone like you takes pride in helping young adults. I would like to appreciate and thank you for the Kindles. They make reading so much better! I am reading The Cartel series, and I’m on Book 5, thanks to the Kindle. Thank you so much!” —Jada

* * *
I think these are wonderful — it’s great to get thanks. But really, the gratitude goes to the hundreds of people from across the country who have found the Kindle Classroom Project and donated their Kindles. (And to Kathleen, who is encouraging her students to read every day.) (And to Kathleen’s students, who are reading up a storm.)

This gives me an idea. It’s time that the students know the name of the generous donor who contributed their Kindle. That way, if they want to write a thank-you card, they can thank the donor directly. Once the student writes the note, I would fill out the envelope with the donor’s address and mail off the note.

Thoughts? favicon