Every semester, my last classes are about endings. I receive papers on the subject and, before that, spend four classes brainstorming with students and helping them revise their drafts. Each semester I realize it is not just an academic exercise: Endings are all around us, and we must learn to handle them gracefully.
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre and data from booksellers. Information on the books below came from The New York Times Book Review, Dec. 6, 2009.
2009 Children’s Books Recommended by The New York Times
1. The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (Ages 8-13)
2. The Great and Only Barnum by Candace Fleming (Ages 8-12)
3. The Secret Circus by Johanna Wright (Ages 2-6)
4. Fire by Kristin Cashore (Ages 14 and up)
5. Flawed Dogs by Berkeley Breathed (Ages 8-12)
6. A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na (Ages 1-5)
7. Not Last Night But the Night Before by Colin McNaughton (Ages 4 and up)
8. It’s a Secret! by John Burningham (Ages 3-6)
9. Creature ABC by Andrew Zuckerman (Ages 3 and up)
10. Life-Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya with photographs by Toyofumi Fukuda (Ages 3 and up)
For my students, the end of the semester is a time to rejoice. They are “free,” able to sleep late or travel or return to their families. Many are able to earn next semester’s tuition by working during winter break; gone are the years when students just sat around and watched TV between semesters. But their teachers who, like me, witness the cycle every semester know better. We know the end of a semester or year is an emblem of more weighty endings in our lives. How we end interim experiences may mirror how we will end relationships, jobs or even our lives. Endings are emblematic of greater finalities.
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