The book Challenge!

This week I have a contest for my students. I’m calling it the book challenge but I think perhaps I should have called it the author challenge. In short it goes like this: All the students in my class are reading a book of their own choice. This has resulted in a varied list of literature in different genres, with authors from different ages and countries.

It used to be really difficult if you wanted to contact an author. You might send a letter to the publisher who then would read it and maybe pass it along to the author. These days however, almost every author has their own website, with a blog, an email, Facebook and or Twitter, making connecting with the author that much easier. Of
course if you are reading Emma by Jane Austin, or To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee connecting with the author is impossible. But still I would like to see how creative my students are.

The challenge is: Connect with the author, or in case he or she is deceased the leader of the organization for the author. Jane Austin.org, a fan club a family member or…..

I think Skyping with an author probably would get first prize! And the prize is? I think it should be a book, a movie or something special from the school canteen! Let the competition begin!

If any of you have done this in class please leave us a comment and tell us what you have done! So much fun to read about what other teachers do in literature classes to connect the classroom to the real world!