Read On: Pretty Tough Book Club

Last month I received a note from a teacher at Apopka High School in Apopka, Florida who is a huge fan of  ”Pretty Tough” by Liz Tigelaar, the first book in our young adult fiction series. 

JoJo says, “I loved it as a teacher who sees students just like the ones in the book. I loved it as a sister who I did get along with growing up…”

At Apopka High School, there is a reading event called “Oasis.”  It has been going on for about 6-7 years.  Any teacher can select a book to promote.  The library makes a really nice poster of the teacher, the book and all the information so students can sign up.  The students read the book and then meet during lunch in a special room in the media center to discuss the book over pizza and coke. 

JoJo had never done an “Oasis” but since she  LOVED the book so much, she organized a discussion for each of the 3 lunch shifts.   Usually, teachers sign up anywhere from 8-16 students but more than 34 students read ”Pretty Tough” and wanted to take part.

Through a friend of a friend of a friend, JoJo contacted us and asked for some Pretty Tough goodies to raffle off during the event. We were happy to oblige.

Here’s JoJo’s recap of the “Oasis,” including the girls’ ideas regarding film casting!

Everything worked out perfect today. We got into some interesting discussions about sisters, coaches, and school. The girls loved the t-shirts and the next book (”Playing with the Boys”) and want to know if we can do this again. .

The group had a bit of a hard time with the casting of the potential movie…here are the ones they came up with:

Krista: Blake Lively
Charlie: Dakota Fanning
Martie: Jada Pinkett Smith
Noah: Mike Vogel
Cam: Zac Efron
Brooks: Brenda Song
Pickle: I have a girl in my class who said she wants to be Pickle. She is a cute girl; very animated and plays soccer! I told her to make a video and we would send it to you!!

Thank you again for making today very special and memorable…One more thing…I re-read the book and took some notes to prepare simple questions for the raffle ticket as they entered. And I cried…again! Tears in the coffee this morning as I finished the last 20 pages!

Time to grade some papers…thanks again for everything.

Joanna “JOJO” Lowe

If anyone wants to organize a book club discussion around “Pretty Tough” or “Playing With the Boys” (Penguin) let us know and we’ll try to help out.

Read on….