Renaissance Reader

The Steward School Renaissance Reader program matches students with faculty sponsors to read and discuss literature outside of the confines of our curriculum.

Goals

  • To motivate students to develop reading habits that will produce intellectual growth
  • To reward students whose reading has generated exceptional understanding and insight
  • To encourage teachers to read and discuss books both in and out of their field to further the goal of a broadly informed faculty and student body
  • To establish a means for faculty to set an example of reading for pleasure
  • To provide an opportunity for several students and teachers to read the same book to allow group discussion
  • To establish another means by which teachers can connect with students in significant ways

Method

  1. At the beginning of each academic year, every faculty member who chooses to participate will submit to the committee the titles of two books that he or she wishes to sponsor. (Please note: none of the works submitted should appear in The Steward School curriculum.)
  2. Students may also suggest books they would like to read and ask a faculty member to sponsor the discussion.
  3. Students should have a 20- to 30-minute individual or group discussion with the faculty member to explore the quality, significance, and implications of the work.
  4. The faculty sponsor should then notify Mrs. Define about the book(s) read and student(s) present for discussion.
  5. Students who have read a minimum of five works and who have had satisfactory discussions will be named Renaissance Readers and at theAwards Ceremony will receive a certificate noting this accomplishment.
  6. Students must have completed a minimum of two of these readings by the end of the first semester (December).

RENAISSANCE READER – FACULTY­SPONSORED BOOKS SUGGESTIONS

Lee Healey -Wonderby RJ Palacio

Andy Mudd - I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes, Spycatcherby Matthew Dunn, or anything by Lee Child (the Jack Reacher series).

Heather Jeter - A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway or Pompeii by Robert Harris

Laura Akesson - A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, A Brief History of Timeby Stephen Hawking, or Antimatterby Frank Close

Gardner Mundy - And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (and Unbroken)

Amy Cooper -The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

Mary Greenlee - The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Lynn Define – The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, or If I Stay by Gayle Forman (see Mrs. Define for more suggestions)

Chris Lundberg - Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (and Mundy and Householder)

Sarah Dwelle - Killer Angels by Michael Shaara or The Partly Cloudy Patriotby Sarah Vowell

Karen Hudson –Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Kraybill, Nolt, and Weaver-Zercher orThe Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin

Terri Shelton- The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls and The Road Cormac McCarthy.

Chip Chapman – A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (see Mr. Chapman for more suggestions)

Kristen Householder – Me Before You by JojoMoyes and Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

Marsha Hawkins - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings,The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon, or Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt .

Leslie Kovach -Divergentby Veronica Roth

Stephanie Arnold - Neverwhereby Neil Gaiman andOryx and Crakeby Margaret Atwood.

Carrie Vandervelde -The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, or Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Bruce Secrest – Lead, for God’s Sake ToddGongwer

Carol Moore - Wild by Cheryl Strayed and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Chrisitina D’Angelo – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn or Gone by Michael Grant