Middle-schoolers will be going on an adventure ‘By a Maine River’

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Over the ensuing few weeks SeDoMoCha Middle School students will be taking part in a shared reading experience through the One Book, One Adventure program as they read “By A Maine River” by Thomas Mark Szelog and Lee Ann Szelog.
    “It’s a photography chronicle of a year beside a Maine river,” librarian Gayle Peirce said on Feb. 25 shortly before grades 5-8 gathered in the gymnasium for the One Book, One Adventure kickoff. Peirce said in late March the authors will be visiting SeDoMoCha to work with students, with a session planning for pupils and parents on the evening of March 24.

    As the students sat on the bleachers, they noticed a group of tourists walking around the gym. The visitors — portrayed by a trio of teachers — were looking through binoculars and taking pictures of the sights. They quickly told those looking on that what they were doing, to which Peirce told the audience, “We can do this through One Book, One Adventure.”
    “This year we are calling it One Book, One Adventure and we are hoping we all can go on a great adventure,” said grade 8 social studies teacher Dyan McCarthy-Clark. She said the two Szelogs have “written a book about the things they have seen in nature in Maine.”
    McCarthy-Clark said as the students read “By a Maine River” in teams they can choose to take part in several related contests. The competitions include a “critter crawl” with displays created based on the various wildlife depicted as well as photography art and poetry contests. McCarthy-Clark said many of the various contest entries will be displayed for the public to see.
    “The first-place winners in all these categories will be awarded, besides a ribbon, an autographed copy of the book by the authors,” she said.
    Copies of “By a Maine River” were then handed out, with each group assigned a critter for One Book, One Adventure.