It Never Gets Old

All In! 2018

At approximately 7:10 am, a beaming twelve year-old bounced his way over to the Assistant Principal.

"I finished the book! I did it!"

You what?

"Murder on the Orient Express - I finished it!"

Mary called Erin over; after all, some moments call for two CRLs. "Whoa - what happened last night? Did you just read like crazy?" Erin asked. He laughed. "Yes! I went to bed at 9:30 but I stayed awake until I read the whole thing. I couldn't stop!"

We high-fived him and exchanged wide-eyed glances. The tow-headed boy chattered away, following Erin to her classroom. As students arrived for the morning, she casually threw a few questions at him until it became clear. He comprehended this novel as well as we'd expect any sixth grader would - and we could tell he had read it in its entirety. We had our man. This feisty blonde 6th grader was officially the first one All In! 2018.

Turns out, he had a bet with one of his teachers. She was on chapter five yesterday, he on chapter six.

"I'm totally going to finish it before you." she challenged him.
(Love and kudos to you - you know who you are - man, middle school teachers know how to play.) All he needed was the chance to prove her wrong.

Monday morning's big reveal!

The book was revealed on Monday morning (we promise we'll write about that next!) Kids couldn't have gotten the book until Monday afternoon. By lunch on Thursday, three have finished. Three students are All In! already.

We were not expecting this. We never expected our local Barnes and Noble to sell out within 90 minutes of dismissal Monday afternoon. We never expected in-depth conversations about justice in the middle of 7th grade lunch. We never expected kids to finish the book before we had even one question written. We don't even have a list yet! Thankfully, we only have to remember three names...for now.

Our kids are in the business of surprising us. And we couldn't be happier. After seven years, a few hundred Massachusetts middle schoolers have the Crazy Reading Ladies shaking their heads...and smiling.