Day 23: My favorite books

I have two:

...and...

When I taught fourth grade, someone asked me if I'd ever read To Kill a Mockingbird.  Actually, it was more of an indictment--"You HAVEN'T read To Kill a Mockingbird?!!???  How can you call yourself a teacher?" (She didn't actually say that last part, but she was totally thinking it.)  Her incredible passion for the book caused me to make a special trip to Barnes and Noble just to buy a copy.  It was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  I found myself knee deep in one of the best pieces of American literature ever.  I found myself reading parts of the story out loud to my dad, because it reminded me so much of stories from his childhood.  Atticus Finch is one of the most noble characters ever imagined.  And then you have Harper Lee herself, who wrote the great American novel and then tried to fade into the background...it's all just fascinating to me.

Then there's The Outsiders.  This was the first book I ever truly fell deeply in love with.  I was in junior high--seventh or eighth grade--and one of my friends talked about what an amazing book it was.  This was a time in my life that reading anything besides Seventeen magazine was a pain in my behind.  But I decided to read it, in hopes that I might find something that didn't bore me to tears.  There were tears, yes, but not from boredom.  Since then, I've read the novel at least ten times, which is eight times more than I've read any other book.  The fact that S.E. Hinton--a teenage girl--wrote this gripping tale about teenage boys is incredible.  It is sad and funny and heroic and tragic.  And yes, there are times when it reads just like a high school essay...but to me that was part of the appeal.  As an adult, I love the lasting appeal this story has. I've watched 7th graders fall in love with this book for years.  The characters are timeless.  The girls love the tale of heroism and the boys love the adventure.  I love discussing the book with them, seeing it through their eyes again and again.

I'm gearing up to teach The Outsiders again this year. I've been building the book up for a few weeks.  I always have some students that refuse to believe that any book can be interesting. 

"Reading is boring." 

I can't wait to shatter that myth into a million pieces.