POLL: Police chief reveals love of poetry to P.A. students

“I like those books because of that time frame because of the way they describe things and the language they use,” he told the students.

He pointed out books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer have stood the test of time.

“They’re classic because they’re awesome.”

As he described the main character Pip’s journey from poverty to riches, Cooper teased the end of Great Expectations.

Even though he said he wouldn’t give away the end, it seemed Cooper couldn’t resist giving the spoiler away to his captive audience.

He made up for that by revealing something they might not expect – Cooper is a big fan of poetry.

The students he read to stuck around after to talk about their own taste in books.

This includes Maze Runner, If I Stay, comic books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the Dragonbreath series, Divergent, and the Hunger Games series.

One of the kids explained the Middle School series follows a kid who’s been picked on and fights back against them in humorous ways.

While most older generations might not be familiar, they may be relieved to find out the paper book is alive and well.

Only one student out of five that paNOW spoke with chooses to read on a tablet instead of paperback.

They also shared their take on books that have been turned into movies, which is becoming more common.

While some chose the movie over the book because it’s quicker to get through, many said they pick books over movies.

One girl gave her reasoning based on the Divergent series.

“You couldn’t really tell in the movie how Tris felt about Tobias but in the book you could because she was talking about it.”

She added the lack of detail in movies compared to books makes a difference.

The school also invited people out for Family Literacy Day by reading by a mock campfire Tuesday night.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk

by Chelsea Laskowski