COVID reads: pandemic reading lists

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Local artist Chasady Vandiver reads her copy of "The Lovely Bones" during this time of quarantine. (Photo courtesy of Chasady Vandiver)

CULLMAN, Ala. – Looking for a good book to break up the monotony of the COVID-19 quarantine? Look no further. The Tribune reached out to a handful of local educators and others for some suggestions.

Jennifer Calahan, Cullman High School AP Language and Composition teacher

  • “The Woman in the Window” (AJ Finn)
  • “A Minute to Midnight” (David Baldacci)
  • “The Chain” (Adrian McKinty)
  • “Educated” (Tara Westover)
  • “The Handmaids Tale” (Margaret Atwood)
  • “The Testament” (Margaret Atwood)

 

Denise Burroughs, Cullman High School AP Literature and Composition teacher

  • “The Poisonwood Bible” (Barbara Kingsolver)
  • “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee” (Casey Cep – Burroughs added, “It’s pretty interesting about an old murder trial in Alabama that Harper Lee was going to write about, but she never finished!”)

Burroughs also mentioned that for the fans of legal thrillers, her brother-in-law, author Robert Bailey, has written “The Professor,” “Between Black and White” and “The Final Reckoning.”

 

Leanne West, assistant to Cullman Mayor Woody Jacobs

  • “The Diary of Samuel Pepys” (Samuel Pepys – West added, “He just happened to live through The Black Plague and The London Fire back in the 1600s. It’s actually pretty relevant now, considering all that’s going on!”)

 

Chasady Vandiver, local artist

  • “The Lovely Bones” (Alice Sebold)
  • “Metro 2033” (Dmitry Glukhovsky)
  • “Fever 1793” (Laurie Halse Anderson)
  • “Frankenstein” (Mary Shelley)
  • “The Help” (Kathryn Stockett)

 

Maggie Darnell, Cullman Tribune reporter

  • “The Kite Runner” (Khalid Hosseini)
  • “1984” (George Orwell)
  • “Mindhunter” (John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker)

 

Marty Hardman, Fairview Elementary principal

Hardman recommended these book series for kids in grades Kindergarten through fifth.

Grades K-1

  • “Pete the Cat”
  • “Little Critters”
  • “Biscuit”
  • “Mittens”

Grades 2-3

  • “The Boxcar Children”
  • “Magic Treehouse”
  • “My Weird School”
  • “Flat Stanley”
  • “Who Would Win”

Grades 4-5

  • “I Survived”
  • “A Series of Unfortunate Events”
  • “Who Was?”
  • “Wayside School”
  • “A Dog’s Purpose”

 

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