Loved To Pieces. . . with Colby Sharp

Happy Monday, everyone! Today, we are thrilled to welcome the one and only Colby Sharp to the Cottage!

As book creators (and moms), we love teachers who are passionate about putting just the right book into a child's hands. Teachers and librarians are on the front lines, so to speak, creating lifelong readers with their enthusiasm and love of children's books.

Colby Sharp is one of those passionate book-loving teachers. So, we thought it would be pretty cool to find out what book he loved to pieces as a young reader.

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When I think back to what book I loved most in elementary school the book that always pops into my head is Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. It was the first time that I remember wanting to be like a character in the book. I didn't really want to be stranded or attacked by bugs, but I wanted to be brave. I wanted to do things extraordinary. 

Hatchet was read to me in the fourth grade by a male student teacher. My dad has always been a huge reader, but I think that it was important for me to see a man outside my family as a reader. I loved Hatchet so much that I convinced my parents to buy me a hatchet of my own. After school I would hang out in the school woods reenacting my favorite scenes from Hatchet.

The hatchet Colby got after reading the book.

This summer I was hired to teach in the same building that I attended as a child. The same building where I was introduced to Hatchet. The first thing that I did when I visited the library was check to see if they had any copies of Hatchet. They did. It made me smile.

Colby Sharp is a husband, father of three, and a third grade teacher in Michigan.

You can read his fabulous book blog SharpRead here. Find him on twitter @colbysharp.

Colby also currently helps out with The #SharpSchu Twitter Book Club, #TitleTalk, and the Newbery Challenge.