Mini Interview with Reading Circle Facilitator Desi Di Nardo
Credit: Rick O'Brien
Question: What factors do you keep in mind when choosing which books you’ll be using in your reading circles? What makes a successful book for the circles, and is there anything that the less successful books have incommon? What book have you discovered the most from through your participants’ responses?
There are indeed key factors I try to take into consideration when selecting the books we read at the June Callwood Centre. Certainly, a bias on my part influences choice as I feel it is important to expose the group to books with a more literary slant no matter how simple the story line or narrating seems to be. However, I know to remain cognizant and sensitive to age, background, and reading ability when making that decision. The books should be able to touch the girls in a way that allows them to examine their own situations and empower them with the tools and motivation necessary to continue reading further books based not only on plot and character development but also out of the sheer simple pleasure they derive from reading aloud and the thought-provoking discussions which emerge from the reading circle.
I feel the books which are accepted and read with zeal are typically ones which portray a strong yet ‘fallen’ female protagonist, usually relayed in first person perspective so the girls are able to penetrate the mind and feelings of the character(s). There tends to be obstacles they themselves have personally encountered or are currently experiencing and often the struggle or conflict is resolved in a way that is accessible to the reader and illustrates how that character is redeemed or salvaged in a manner the girls can relate and/or aspire to.
The books which have proved most successful and engaging are Leslie’s Journal by Allan Stratton, The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, and (my personal favourite) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.
-Desi Di Nardo
