It’s a Darien parent’s dream. Imagine a group of enthusiastic
third graders fired up to talk about not the newest Wii or Xbox
game but … quality literature! Thanks to an independent,
nonprofit educational organization called The Great Books
Foundation, many Darien students are enjoying a different kind
of fun called Junior Great Books (JGB). JGB is an enrichment
program offered at Ox Ridge School and other schools all around
the country. There are no lectures. No tests. And no wrong
answers (other than those completely off topic which are hard to
have unless you are trying to be a wise guy). But this is not
some flaky joke of a class. Far from it, the participants in JGB
are prepared, having read their assigned stories at home once,
often twice. They are engaged, interested, opinionated, and
wonderfully willing to share their views. How does JGB work? The
students read a story at home. Parent volunteers bring in a list
of interpretive questions that have more than one answer
supportable with evidence from the