Photography by Dianne Carroll Burdick
Comstock Park — As Johnathan Rand, aka Christopher Knight (both pseudonyms of Christopher Tod Wright) walked the halls of Pine Island Elementary, many students recognized him immediately because of his funky sunglasses.
The author spoke to an assembly at the school for about an hour on March 23 and entertained students about the importance of reading. Known for the “American Chillers” and “Michigan Chillers” series with titles like “Mayhem on Mackinac Island” and “Terror Strikes Traverse City,” along with other children’s books and adult novels, Wright told the students that reading can lead them on so many adventures.
“Reading isn’t something you do, it is somewhere you go,” Wright told the students.
Related: Imagining future careers, inspired to keep learning
One student from each classroom, selected for his or her participation in the school-wide reading challenge, met with the author after the assembly.
The assembly was part of Reading Month celebrations that included guest readers and teacher swaps for read-alouds. Classes also tallied their minutes to be counted in a March Madness bracket where classes competed against one another for total minutes read each week.
Stephanie Whitmore’s fourth-grade class won a mystery prize with Principal Brian Morrison for the most minutes read each week. Pine Island students reached their goal of more than 95,450 minutes of reading time.
