At this time of year, I'm just thankful for a little quiet time to spend with family. I rarely have any, but when I do, I love just sitting and watching as my kids grow into their own personalities. One of them can be quite compassionate and hysterical. The other can be quiet and contemplative. While confined to the car with them for approximately 12 hours this past week, I was reminded that in order for them to be confident in themselves, I have to remember to show confidence myself. I am a confident reader, but have been criticized in the past for reading "too much". Reading is a big part of my life. Some may say it takes up too much time, but I defend that critique wholeheartedly...it's my job. I like what I do. I've worked a long time to become a librarian and guess what librarians do? They read. They have to. Most of the time I read for work and some people just don't understand how that works. How am I to recommend books/authors to students when I'm not familiar with the material? Once I get to know a student, I can usually place a book in their hands that I know with 90% assurance they will love! It's not magical. It's not a talent. It's the product of work. Reading. Why am I standing on the soapbox shouting to the world? I really don't know. Guess I felt it necessary to take some of the guilt from my fellow readers for spending so much time buried up in a book. I admit that some people neglect responsibilities and that too much of a good thing is a bad thing, but shouldn't we all strive to be the best _____ we can be? And further more, sometimes we busy humans forget to stop and breathe.
I had the opportunity to do just that this past week. My daughter struggles with the concept of "reading as homework" and really, who can blame her? When I'm "required" to do something, I find myself enjoying it less. As a school librarian, I KNOW that reading at home is ESSENTIAL to growing a reader/writer, but I wonder how many less students would read at home anyway, even if we didn't require it and provide a grade for it? I won't be conducting this experiment any time soon, but I do wonder... Anyhow! I picked up an additional copy of Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord to read along with my daughter. And as I knew it would be, the story was delightful. It's the story of Tess, who lives on an island just off the mainland. The government has decided that unless they can add to their school's enrollment, the doors will be shut. So one of the islanders comes up with an ingenious plan to have the families take in foster children. Their hearts are pure and the concept appears to work until Tess' family welcomes their foster child to the island. He's angry. Has been in numerous foster homes. Misses his mother and wants to return to her. What ensues is a heartbreaking story of acceptance, with themes of HOME and LOVE and FAMILY. What makes a family anyway? I love Lord's books, so I flew through it. Leaving my poor daughter waaaay behind. I was pleased to be able to talk to her about the book and answer some questions she had about this realistic fiction novel set in Maine. Some of the vocabulary was foreign to her and some of the concepts, such as lobster trapping. Hopefully my daughter will finish the book this week and we can get her book report finished and turned in! Shew!Once I finished, I found myself with 5 days left in vacation and no reading material. Because I'm frugal and have been encouraging my students to read digitally for free through our local library, I decided to download free classics. I started with H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. It's brilliant. What an imagination! I would love to discuss this with my students next year during a book breakfast! If you haven't read Wells' science fiction classic about our future as humans, you should! It's a quick read, short...mind-blowing. (And the movie could NEVER do this book justice! I saw it...it was NOT good!)
And so once I finished that, I needed more. So I downloaded Sinclair Lewis' classic American comedy, Free Air. This story, set in the early 1900s, follows Claire and her father, Mr. Boltwood, as they drive cross country from Brooklyn to Seattle in search of clean air and relaxation. Claire drives and is stubbornly snooty when the book opens...she soon finds that her regal "air" doesn't sit well with 'commoners' as she is quickly humbled by many she meets. I love the evolution of her character, despite her numerous tries to staunch it. And who wouldn't love Milt Daggett? He's the male lead and is immediately smitten with her at first sight...jumps into his teal bug and follows her anywhere she leads. I also enjoy his character's growth as he learns to like himself more and her less. I'm halfway through and have found myself chuckling at the sarcasm and wit displayed by the author. There was one sentence that caught my attention and wouldn't let me move on until I responded to it...
"When he had been tempted by a smooth stretch to go too breathlessly, he halted, teased Vere de Vere, climbed out and, sitting on a hilltop, his hands about his knees, drenched his soul with the vision of amber distances."
Ahhhhhh. That's how you write a sentence, folks!
My next book will be Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George. She won the Newbery Medal for this in 1973. I'm excited to share this book with my December Book Breakfast members even though some of them have already communicated to me in no uncertain terms, that it's just "not as good a book as what we have been reading". Ha! Love that they're becoming literary critics! I'll attempt to help them understand the significance of this story, as it was released in 1972. (I was months old, btw).Happy Reading!
RC
No comments:
Post a Comment