Elani likes reading “a lot”. Growing up she always had a book with her. Her greatest influence was her mother, who was an english teacher. She enjoys reading because it allows her to learn about different experiences. Whenever she reads a new book, she gets to explore new topics and adventures that she knew little or nothing about. Although she does love reading, she does not like all types of books. Elani only likes certain books that suit her interests. History, lifestyle, and just boring books do not fall in her list of good reads. A predictable book is a pet peeve of hers.

Elani would like to be a reader that understands everything that she is reading. She wants to be able to understand the purpose of her reads and why they were written. Her struggle with understanding is that she has not read too many books with reasonable morals.

 Mohammed is a reader that is mainly into fantasy texts and any other takes a lot of work for you to get interested in them. His love for fantasy books stems from him reading the Harry Potter series as a kid. His favorite being the fourth installment, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Harry Potter is a book that he loves till this day because of how the main protagonist is relatable with a lot of depth.
 Mohammed struggles with sticking with a book, it is hard for him to find a book that maintains his attention. He also struggles with finding the motivation to read. His reading happy place is when he finds a book that is so interesting that it doesn't feel as if he is reading. His weak spot in reading is that he doesn't comprehend books with complex sentences as easily. 

J’lynn does not find her happiness in books. Reading is not her favorite thing to do. She does not find an interest in most books but when she does she can never get enough of it. J’lynn’s favorite book is Hollow Went Down and she described it as turkey meatloaf. She said it was like turkey meatloaf because you can’t just have one bite, you need more. J’lynn wanted more of the book, she couldn’t get enough of it.

J’lynn tends to abandon books so whenever she finishes a book completely she is proud of that read. She doesn’t feel pride when she abandons books because she knows that she can finish it she just doesn’t have an interest for it. If she could throw a book out the window it would be the Hunger Games. She hated the way that it was over glorified because she found the book to be very predictable and that “the plot was trash.”

J’lynn loves the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. That book was the first book that that she was really expoused too and it was just a large part of her childhood. Her reading happy place was really anywhere but especially on the trolley on her way home. She said it is a nice way to end the day.

Jamal’s happy place in reading is when he receives a new book. He becomes intrigued from the fresh start of a new book. With all the positives that come along with reading, there are some negatives when it comes to reading for Jamal. If there is a chapter that isn’t as interesting to him he can begin to read words without really comprehending them which is one of his weak spots.

If Jamal’s life was a book he stated the title would be “Out of Control Life of Jamal”. The book he is currently reading now is “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”. Reading autobiographies on important men and women that were a big influence on the world is books Jamal loves to read. Maze Runner is the book that Jamal feels he relates to the most!

Tigidonkay goes by TK and she enjoys reading the most on her bed by the window in the evening while it is raining outside. Her favorite genre is Science Fiction. The best book that she has read so far is called, “The Mysterious Benedict Society”. A reading dealbreaker for her would be a story that unnecessarily goes on for too long.

When asked, “If the current book you are reading now was a person what kind of person would it be,” She responded by saying that it would be a kind and gentle person who gets a thrill out of discovering new things.

If her life was written in a book, it would be called, “TK in America”. It would hold details of her journey from Sierra Leone to America.

Savannah only reads what she thinks is interesting to her. Something that blocks her from the busy and loud world around her. A book that lets her explore new things besides the things that she experience everyday. There are times where books fail to grab her attention and keep her in their world, so she decides to end their relationship together. She doesn’t like books that makes her sad and biographies, that talks about someone else’s life.

Her favorite childhood books that she still loves today would have to be “Gullible’s Troubles.” It’s a book that she loves until today because she can relate to it; she’s gullible. It’s also an interesting and funny book because the protagonist of the book believes in everything that’s everything he’s been told. Another book that she still loves is, “Goodnight moon,” in this bedtime story, the narrator said goodnight to. She said that the book is cute and it’s calming in a way that can help her sleep as a kid. Maybe even till now….

“Exploring Black Girl Magic,” that would be the title to Savannah Manns’ life. Why, you would ask? It’s because she want to be a better version of herself. Even though throughout her life she’s on a journey to finding the real Ms.Manns, in the black community, she’s found some magic in her. She grew up with a difficult situation in her family, but she’s getting there. As she goes on with her life, exploring the black girl magic in her, she’s also learning more and more about the world around her through the books she reads.

Ever since Charles was a little boy, he loved reading. Diary of a Wimpy Kid entertained him through middle school and was the gateway into more advanced reading. The interesting cartoons in the book told him that reading does not always have to be boring. He always hated books like non-fiction that would throw words at you in an extremely boring way, but he realized that all he wanted from books was to be engaged.

Motivation was a big problem for charles concerning reading. He didn’t read much. He still doesn’t read much, but he tries. Right now, he’s reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and he loves it. His favorite character right now is a character in the book, the main protagonist: Junior. Junior is an Indian boy living on a reservation. The book is very similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid, with the medley of childish cartoons and real problems. This one is much darker as it deals with a lot of the struggles people on a reservation have. This works for Charles. As he gets older, he moves onto more advanced reading. Maybe he’ll read a lot more too.

Siani’s favorite place to read is, surprisingly, the bathroom. She finds it to be the most quiet place when she needs to read something. For the same reason, she can’t really read around her friends, or just loud places in general, since she gets distracted easily. No one ever bothers you when you’re in the bathroom, reading or not, so maybe she’s onto something here.

In any case, that’s where she reads her books, including her childhood favorite, The Outsiders. The Outsiders is still to this day her favorite book from when she was younger. It was partly because when she first started it, she didn’t really like it. Eventually, though, she did get into it, and from then on she fell in love with it. The opposite is true of the book To Kill A Mockingbird, which is the book she’d most like to throw out of a window. Maybe it was because so many people claimed it was so good coupled with her inability to really get into it that made her dislike it. It also may just not be her preferred style of book.

What is her style, however, is Teen Fiction. She feels like her favorite genre is Teen Fiction, mainly because she just thinks life in those stories are so much more interesting than in real life, while still maintaining a relatability that other genres don’t reach. She just finds it more entertaining than most other genres out there. To her, it’s basically real life, if real life had more fun and crazy things going on in it.

Sopheary Sok does not read often, but when she does, she makes it count. She enjoys science fiction books because they encompass realistic fiction and fantasy. She has read The Giver and enjoyed the dystopian novel because it explored fantastical elements. Sopheary hopes to read more often, but has trouble finding sufficient time to do so.

   Sopheary favorite reading place would be in a cute coffee shop during fall. She would enjoy this setting because it is calming and peaceful. Sopheary weak spot in reading is getting invested in a book. She has a hard time getting engaged for long periods of time in books.

Elanor Shamble likes reading, but when a specific book is assigned — not so much. Three books she hurl out a window so they can “crash and burn” are: Island of the Blue Dolphins, Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, and The African: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.

Instead, she is much interested in non-fiction books, with rarely any character interaction. If she had a choice to be in any book she has read — it would be her second grade novel called “No More Dead Dogs” which takes place in a middle school. The main characters are apart of drama club, it has an overall happy vibe. If she were placed into her usual genre of books she’d be quite lonely and in a fourth dimension or outer space.