OUR COMMUNITY THE EXCHANGE ROCKS FALL 2020 The Reading List “I started with the classic Chronicles of Narnia, which Following his decision, Pat selected The Prisoner of Ice I had never read. We made it through the first three and Snow, a couple of kid-detective short stories, and books and the kids enjoyed them, but these books tapped into Newbery Medal-winners including From were written in the 1940s by C. S. Lewis — a white, the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The THE LI’L British man. I found the implicit gender roles and One and Only Ivan, and its sequel, The One and Only subtle racial characterizations to be out of sync with Bob. “We all loved these books and I only cried a little TRAILBLAZERS how aware kids in today’s community are and the in front of the kids,” said Pat. values I like to reinforce, so I decided not to continue BOOK CLUB with those,” said Pat. When shelter-in-place started around the U.S., many parents found themselves taking on a new role as part-time educators. The “I saw the burden put on our daughter and parents who might also need help, so I started Adventure son-in-law trying to home-school our 7-year-old the book club.” granddaughter, Poppy,” said Pat McClellan, Beginning with five kids, the Li’l Trailblazers Continues founder of AppExchange partner Proton 7 Book Club has grown to about a dozen Group. “I offered to help out by reading to participants, ranging in age from 7 to 12, Poppy on Zoom every day. I knew some other from Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, With so much great literature to discover, Pat says the start reading. I get the books on my Kindle app on my and California. sky’s the limit. “I’m committed to doing this until the computer so that I can share my screen as I read. kids are back in school or we run out of books!” Some of the kids like to read along, others just listen.” However, there may be a practical limit on size. “I want “I hope the parents get some time every weekday to keep it small enough that I can speak with each where they know their kids are safe and engaged in child every day to let them know they are valued and something constructive. For the kids, I hope to inspire I’m glad they’re here,” said Pat. or nourish a love of reading, and an understanding of Pat McClellan, If you’re interested in starting a new chapter of the Li’l how the ‘solitary’ activity can actually be really social. founder of AppExchange Trailblazers Book Club, Pat says it’s a relatively low- I’m so delighted to see the way they’ve made friends effort way to help both kids and parents adjust to the with each other.” said Pat. partner Proton 7 Group current world. “Get a Zoom account, pick a book, and 33