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Daphne, I too kept Gary Paulson books in my classroom library. I taught 8th grade and I found reluctant readers who avoided it in 6th grade did pick it up and read it in 8th grade. It was wonderful to have great authors for Young Adult readers like Paulson.

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Did you read Watership Down aloud? My kids loved it. I just couldn’t not read aloud the last chapter, too emotional!

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I read many books aloud to my students but not "Watership Down." I did have many students read it independently. Such a great one!

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I kept a copy of Watership Down available in my classroom though I read it aloud only one year. I loved the book and its message is certainly relevant today.

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O Frank - you are so right; the The way the book and it was extremely difficult to read, but the way it is written gives such a wonderful way to deal with death. Especially for children. I am heavily paraphrasing now, but the sentence that really got me was:

“Knowing that he didn’t need his body any longer, he walked away with his new friend (death)”. Jeez, I get choked up just writing the final words. However, it is an almost sublime feeling and my hope is that I wish us all to have such a peaceful passing.

I am also thinking of Emily Dickinson‘s line, “I could not stop for death, so he kindly stopped for me.“

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Beautifully written Thank you

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