May Book Club

The title of the book says it all. Dashka Slater, the author of The 57 Bus explains in her foreword that she did not want to write this story, but she felt like she had to. And as educators, parents, aunts/uncles, citizens of the world, this is a book that may be uncomfortable to read because of its messy truths and alarming parallels to our own classrooms and families, but we must. As Slater writes, “No one was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery. Not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the groups of kids that followed it. Not the adults - educators and parents - whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse.”

This is a cautionary story that cannot go without conversation. Read the sample chapter “Laughing” to get a sense of the complex intersections between humor, adolescent development, and unrestricted access to social media. Then, read the book and join us for a discussion.