Yes, I've officially decided I'm sick. Since I'm sick, I will use the Dis to make me feel better. But, how much of a Dis dose will do it?
BTW, those of you thinking I'm not 'working' today, you're half right. Today is school-wide standardized test practice day. Today involves little more than making sure students have a number 2 pencil and verifying they're making continuous circular movements with said pencils.
So, as I was sitting here sniffling, sneezing, and well, feeling sorry for myself, I caught something out of the corner of my eye. To be precise, it was the word KINGDOM. Unless you're surfing the Dis, that is not a high frequency word. Like two magnets attracting, I quickly shot toward this word. It was located on the front cover of a book one of my little angels was reading. I made some excuse about needing to see whether this book was appropriate reading material and snatched it out of the, by now, very frightened child's hand.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is where the spotlight shines down and the chorus of angels begins singing

: I held in my hand a book about Disney. It wasn't a guide book, or a map book, or a history book, or any other kind of nonfiction book. It was a FICTION book about DISNEY.
I held:
The Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson!!!
I have decided to tell myself that none of you must have known about this book's existence, otherwise you'd have told me...Right???
This book has made me unusually happy for several reasons:
#1: Every day after lunch, my school does a campus-wide Drop Everything and Read program, also known to some of my students as the Don't Even Attempt Reading program. There is truly nothing funnier than watching a 12-year-old avoid the act of reading. As if it would cause them bodily harm, they use a plethora of time-wasting tactics. They usually begin by staring at their desks. The staring then moves from the tops of their desks to staring at the ceiling panels overhead. At this point, their cuticles become very interesting to them, and a process of biting, sucking, picking at their fingernails begins. I don't really know how long a child would fool with their own fingers, as I generally bark at them to quit it quite quickly, but I'm fairly certain it would be an indefinite process if reading avoidance could be assured.
The funny thing about this is that as much as a child hates TO read, they LOVE being read to. Go figure! So, every Wednesday, much to preserve my sanity as to give their nails a reprieve (and time to grow back!), I read to them. We are currently reading some angst-filled book entitled You Don't Know Me. It has some questionable parts, but the children LOVE it! (Yes, it came from the school library. I am not reading them unapproved, questionable books.)
However, we are dangerously close to finishing this book, and I have not had the foresight to line up another. (See where I'm going with this?)
So, ta-da! We will be continuing our joint DEAR time on Wednesday's with Disney After Dark! I am over the moon with the thought of incorporating Disney into my classroom. Think of all the great discussions we can have about Disney while reading the book? My mind is almost numb with either a genuine fever or a Disney-induced fever...
Side note: We've also read some of the Peter and the Starcatchers series this year in DEAR. Ridley Pearson is one talented man, and he will make for an easy segue into the new novel.
Reason #2: I'm getting a little tired of reading only guide-type material. The inner middle schooler in me is craving a silly read, and this should be perfect.
Reason #3: On CharlestonPrincess's PTR, we were just talking about book clubs and how more of them should exist. Well, here's a chance for a Dis book club, just as long as you don't mind reading pre-teen fantasy!
Okay, enough rambling, I'm now off to purchase The Kingdom Keepers!
