‘Baking for the Worst,’ ‘Own It,’ ‘A Detailed Guide to Shopping Cart Watching’ Westridge 6th Graders Dream Up a ‘Living Library’ in Language Arts

Want to learn more about teaching your dog to bake? Or how to properly watch shopping carts? Or why you should be playing volleyball? Well, look no further—the 6th graders have books for you! This week, the class created and presented their “Living Library” projects, an annual project in which students design and write about an imaginary book they would like to author. To kick off the project, the class heard from Upper School English Teacher Zoela Summerfield, who shared her expertise as a published author! Then, students designed a cover and wrote an author’s biography and a short description of their imaginary book. The goal of the assignment was to hone students’ persuasion skills as they attempted to convince peers to read their books.

This year’s topics included “Baking for the Worst: Baking for People Who Don’t Even Know How to Make Microwave Mac n’ Cheese,” “Blast Off (Will Spiff Make it Back to Earth?),” “What If: A Book of Crazy Conspiracies,” “101 Reasons on Why to Love Shrek,” “Just Keep Swimming (Swimming Can Change Lives),” and so many more! Although the stories themselves are mostly fictional, students infuse their personalities and interests into them.

Tahra M. ’30 titled her assignment “Own It: How to Turn an Awkward Moment into One of the Most Iconic Moments of Your Life,” written by an imaginary Tahra who graduated with a Ph.D. from ‘Harvard School for Really Smart People’ at the age of 15 and is an author, singer, actor, artist, chef, Youtuber, model, neurosurgeon, CEO, scientist, influencer, and so much more. When asked why she chose this topic, she said: “I feel like I do that a lot—I mess up, but I can turn it into funny moments that make me proud instead of embarrassed.” She found it fun to imagine that imaginary Tahra could do and be all the things she listed, similar to none other than Barbie!

Westridge School, 324 Madeline Drive, Pasadena, (626) 799-1053 ext. 200 or visit www.westridge.org.