Sunday Shadowing on I-94: What We Know vs. What We Bring to the Table as Readers...

These awesome peeps are teachers Colby Sharp and Jen Vincent:

Colby Sharp & Jen Vincent pretending to fight over my book.

For the past three weeks they have been generously fighting over my book, The Pull of Gravity. You can meet Jen and Colby, and read an introduction to the series, Sunday Shadowing on I-94 by clicking on these words.

During week #1, they discussed Nick's relationship with the Scoot and the general themes of friendship in the story. During week #2, they talked about Nick and Jaycee's romance. And, last week, week (#3) I joined them through the magic of Google Docs to chime in as they talked about Nick's Dad.

This week, week #4, they finish up their month-long series with the second part of our Google Docs chat which focuses on Nick's mom. You can read here at Colby's terrific site, Sharpread, or here at Jen's terrific one, Teach Mentor Texts. WARNING: THERE ARE SPOILER ALERTS!!

So, if you read The Pull of Gravity, and struggled with your feelings about Nick's mom and/or dad, here's your chance to commiserate, get feedback, or throw your two cents in!

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to Jen and Colby for their TPoG love, and for spending four Sundays talking about it, and giving it such a warm, cozy space on their blogs. It's been amazing to eavesdrop, to chime in, but mostly to read things like this: 

"JEN: If I encounter someone who is in this situation in real life, I know I’ll think back to this book and try to be understanding."


Words like that are writer's gold. Truly.

- gae

Sunday Shadowing on I-94 - Part 3: No love lost for Nick's Dad?

Colby Sharp & Jen Vincent pretending to fight over my book.

So, here's Sunday #3 in Jen and Colby's series on The Pull of Gravity. You can meet Jen and Colby, and read an introduction to the series, by clicking right here.

During week #1, Jen and Colby discussed Nick's relationship with the Scoot and the general themes of friendship in the story.

During week #2, they talked about Nick and Jaycee's romance.

This week -- oh boy! -- they talk about Nick's Dad.

By far, the Dad is the most controversial character in the book. He's the most obviously flawed -- outwardly and inwardly.

To me, he is also sympathetic. But not all of my readers agree.

For instance, while finding the dad's actions wrong, Colby struggled to relate a little:

"COLBY: If I lost my job as a teacher, I could totally see myself ending up like Nick’s dad. It would be so hard to lose your identity like he did. I’m not sure if I would gain 100 pounds or lose 100 pounds, but it would not be pretty."

 while, we had to, um, delete Jen's cusses:

"JEN: WAIT! I have to clarify something before we go on... (spoiler deleted from here but not from the actual post) . . . Because after that I can only think of him as a really big (use your imagnation). I know people make mistakes but some things are just wrong. I don’t see that as being Nick’s fault..."

And, both are great with me! Really! I love it! That's part of what makes reading so personal. We bring to it our own values, our ideas of what's right and wrong.

We also read things into the text that often aren't there. We make assumptions. We read these assumptions into the story as rote.

And, I love this too: that, as a writer, we don't know what a reader will bring. We take a reader as they come to us, and we must give them room to breathe. But it's an interesting thing to see play out. It makes each reader-writer experience we encounter richer and more unique.

Continued thanks to Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Colby Sharp at Sharpread for the tremendous honor of this series.

- gae

Sunday Shadowing on I-94 - Part 2

Colby Sharp & Jen Vincent pretending to fight over my book.

So, last Sunday, I told you about these two awesome teachers, Jen and Colby, who are doing a February series on The Pull of Gravity.

You can meet Jen and Colby, and read an introduction to the series, here.

Last week Jen and Colby discussed Nick's relationship with the Scoot and the general themes of friendship. Links to that discussion on each of their sites, can be found in the introduction.

This week they talk about Nick and Jaycee.

And, while Jen, of Teach Mentor Texts somehow manages to make comparisons to how she felt when she read Romeo & Juliet (!):

"It was just as fun to read about their relationship developing as when I read Romeo and Juliet, maybe even moreso..."

Colby, of Sharpread, brings comparisons closer to home:

"I think at Nick and Jaycee’s relationship was my favorite part of the book. Nick reminded me a lot of myself in high school. Believe it or not, I was not exactly a ladies’ man in high school."

Oh, I've seen you jumping up and down about Babymouse, Colby, so that is totally impossible to believe. ;)

Anyway, it's been such an honor to have Jen and Colby discussing my book every Sunday (so, thanks guys!), and next Sunday is a real treat. Because yesterday, I joined in on the chat in Google Docs for over an hour -- on the extremely heated subject of Nick's dad.

And, let's just say that Jen had strong feelings on the subject, and happily, she didn't mince words. ;)

Colby, however, may have deleted a few of them.

Stay tuned next Sunday, as Colby and Jen read on I-94.

-gae