By Emma Bell
Talon Staff
One teenager in a skirt.
One teenager with a lighter.
One moment that changes both of their lives forever.
And so begins the Goodreads.com review of The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater. Certainly gets your attention, doesn’t it?
Well, the book caught Barrington High School senior Lucas Matthews’ attention so much that he decided to build his senior project around reading and form Project LIT.
“I wanted to bring the fun and vibrant reading community of Project LIT to Barrington the moment I arrived,” explains Matthews, who arrived at BHS as a junior.
Matthews is the founder and leader of Project LIT, a new book club inspired by a similar club he attended at his former high school in Virginia. His mentor is Dr. Suzanne Costa, BHS’s library media specialist.
The 57 Bus is the first of two contemporary young adult books the club will be reading this year. It was selected from a list of four other choices and Matthews was pleased with the group’s decision.
“The book is so relevant and meaningful, especially today,” he said, “and we knew that it would be an excellent title for our community to read.”
The club encourages everyone to participate by meeting every other Monday from 3:15- 3:45 in the school library. All you have to do is attend or join the club’s Google Classroom with the code mhfgwv3.
Newcomers are always welcome, according to Matthews and Dr. Costa.
Project LIT also isn’t just for students. The club hosted a community-wide discussion at the Barrington Public Library on February 3.
“It was an awesome evening full of rich discussion, fun trivia and prizes, pizza, and an overall celebration of our book nerdiness,” according to Matthews.
His hope is that underclassmen will continue to keep the club alive following his graduation.
“I can't wait to hear about what Project LIT evolves into in the years to come!” he exclaims.
And as for this semester’s book choice: “As of now, it looks like Scythe by Neal Shusterman,” Matthews confided.