WHAT I'M READING WEDNESDAY: Boy Giant by Michael Morpurgo

Unless you have a 10-year-old, you've probably never heard of this book.

Which may make you wonder, "Why is Theresa reading a book for 10-year-olds?"

And then you might think, "Theresa probably has a 10-year-old."

You would be right.

But still, "Why is Theresa reading it?"

My business is all about creating book-learning communities for organizations in order to make reading and learning more social and transformational.

Reading itself is a passive activity.
Speaking is an active activity.

Just like I read alongside the organizations that I work with, I also read alongside my children.

Specifically, I do this with my daughter, who is more of a reluctant reader than my son.

We have a community of 2.

Every book she has to read for school, I read too.

We pass the book copy back and forth. Sometimes I read a loud to her at night, but often we read solo and separately, and then come together for discussions about the characters, the setting, the plot, and the climax. We make comparisons and distinctions between our lives and theirs. And so on, and so on.

When it's time for her to do her reading journal entry or prepare a presentation for the book, she's much more engaged in the eventual product, because she's been much more involved in the entire process.

I don't really have to help her that much because I have been helping her all along the way.

No one ever did this with me, but I know and see its benefits.

It reminds me of a podcast conversation recently, where we talked about employee engagement, and how often managers want engaged employees, but lead dis-engaging meetings.

Do you participate in any reading communities? What's the impact?

Originally posted on LinkedIn with comments.

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