Nothing Special

The starting line.

Before heading to his first period class, an 8th grade boy rushed into my room. "Miss O'Leary I finished UNBROKEN last night! I read nine chapters, I couldn't put it down. Like, I really liked it."

"Oh my gosh! I am so proud of you!"

"Yea, it's pretty awesome."

I felt like my heart was going to burst with pride for this young man. I did everything in my power to have a school-approved celebration at 7:25 in the morning. If I could've arranged for confetti cannons in short order, I would have. But someone was missing; there was only one other person on the planet who would understand.

"Did you tell Ms. Cotillo?"

"No, I was going to find her next!" I paraded him out into the hall, in view of his English teacher. I placed my hands above him, imaginary spotlights illuminating his literate head.

Though her beaming smile revealed she knew what he was about to say, Mary let him have the glory. She joined in our glee, cheered as he walked off to class, and then caught me in a hug as I dissolved into tears.

"That's it. We can hang our hat on that child alone. That's all we need. We can be done now!"

I wrote an email to my principal, telling him that Mary and I could now retire.

But today was nothing special.

"Can we just read today?"

No one knows UNBROKEN is the first book this young man has ever read on his own. No one knows that he attends replacement literacy classes multiple times a week and regularly tests in the below average range for reading. No one knows that two years ago, I made a promise to his worried mother: I would find a book that would make her son read. No one knows that as recently as last week he doubted his own abilities and was nervous about finishing on time. No one knows that he wrote "All In!" in his class journal way back in September, when writing his goals for the year.

Today was nothing special.

By the time the morning was over, we were visited by three more children, all singing the same tune: "I Couldn't Put It Down Last Night!" As we walked to lunch, preparing to test these eager readers, Mary looked at me and said, "And today was nothing special. Like, we're still a week away from the due date. They're just loving it!"

Let the adventure begin.

The adolescents who crammed our testing table before eating their lunches today - there was a line - were overwhelmingly struggling readers. The first six kids, packed in like sardines at a table meant for four, were all Special Education students.

As of today, 141 kids have passed the test for UNBROKEN. Seven of them have asked to take another one "because it was fun" or "I want to prove it even more."

And today was nothing special.