Among Friends by Katherine Sokolowski
Ah, the power of Social Media, specifically Twitter. There, if you are lucky, you can find people interested in the same things. For me, that would be anything revolving around literacy.
See, I was that kid in your class. The one who tries to sneak a book into their desk. Or, even better, inside of their textbooks. I walked down the halls of school with my book open, trying not to bump into someone as I read. It was inside their covers that I felt the most at home. There I could ride down the Mississippi with Huck and Jim, cry for Heathcliff with Catherine, plan out my cattle drive to Montana with Call and Gus, or listen to Atticus read a bedtime story to Scout. Books were everything to me. When I was young I discussed my favorites with my friends. As I grew up, that happened less and less. I still read all the time but my friends, while wonderful, weren’t as interested in talking about them anymore.
Luckily for me, Twitter allows me to surround myself with like-minded people. An example of this is the recent hashtag, #nerdybookclub. Through this we can embrace our inner nerd, that person inside who views the characters in books as friends, and discuss our favorite books ad nauseam.
The other day John Schu, @MrSchuReads, posted the mock Newbery shortlist from Anderson’s Bookshop. Many of us were lamenting that one of our favorite books, Hound Dog True by Linda Urban, was not on their list. The following tweet from Donalyn Miller, @donalynbooks, went out.
When I replied about wishing we could give the book an award it was purely in jest. But how awesome is this community that Colby and Donalyn have made it a reality? They can create a website, a survey, get Tom Angleberger to create a logo, and bring us all together. I am so glad to be part of this community, to count the #nerdybookclub members as my friends. And I cannot wait to see the amazing books that are nominated, what a wonderful resource for my holiday #bookaday reading it will be.
Katherine Sokolowski
@katsok
Katherine is a fifth grade teacher in Illinois. Be sure to check out her blog: Read, Write, Reflect.
Nerdy Book Club 
Love your post! I love that through Twitter, Goodreads, and now #nerdybookclub we have been able to surround ourselves with people like us, embracing our inner nerd.
Thanks for the comment, Colby! I was so crazed yesterday I never even got back here. Embracing our inner nerve is something I do regularly now, thanks to you all. 🙂
Katherine
Katherine,
It is ridiculously crazy how social media has impacted my reading life as well. At times it is so awesome I find myself having to take a break from twitter and blogs because I can’t even get to the books I want to read when I discover 100s more waiting for me. I fully agree with the idea of seeking out like minded people to help support our learning.
Tony
Tony-
I know, I need to take a break from the internet at times just to get other things done, but having conversations from you all is so much fun it’s hard to do. 🙂
Katherine
I find myself spending more time on Twitter than Facebook because so many of my friends there love to read and talk about the books we’re reading. So much book love!
I agree. Although I check in with Facebook I don’t comment or spend as much time there as I do on Twitter. Now that I’ve “met” several of my Twitter friends in real life, it feels even more like home.