Next Tuesday, September 18, the first of the themed Great American Read episodes will air. Titled “Who am I?” it focuses on books about self-identity and characters’ journeys. These themes are the classic catalysts of coming-of-age stories, which are admittedly one of my favorite genres. One of the ideas broached in the episode is that of reading a book at the right time.
Voting for the Great Berryville Read starts today!
Welcome to Bracket #1 – Great Berryville Read Who Am I? Edition. Next week on Tuesday, September 18th, the Great American Read episode “Who am I?” will air. This episode will explore some of the books on the list that examine themes of identity and personal growth. We’ve assembled a bracket that requires you, gentle reader, to pick your favorites and decide which of these 16 books should advance to the next round of the Great Berryville Read voting.
At the Berryville Library this summer, we’re all busy reading the books on the Great American Read list and pondering which ones we’ll vote for in the Great Berryville Read. When I mentioned the Great American Read to my friend and one of my former English professors Elise Bishop, she mentioned really enjoying A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Well, that was one I hadn’t read, so I was determined to make it one of my selections. I’m glad I did because I really enjoyed it! (Thanks again for the great suggestion, Mrs. B!)
Continue reading “Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943)”
Everyone’s going back to school this month, so we figured we would too, with these books set in boarding schools and residential colleges.
I’m not sure what it is about boarding school stories, but they seem to really resonate with American readers, despite most Americans never having attended one. Perhaps that fact is the very thing that makes them so exotic and appealing.
I certainly am not immune! I strongly suspect that I would not have liked boarding school, but that didn’t stop me from working my way through and enjoying many a tale of rich people–or not-so rich people with a scholarship–having awkward adolescent experiences far from home.
“Campus confidential” is the oddly specific genre we are going for so be forewarned!
Thanks to Mary-Esther for helping me research this post!
Continue reading “Oddly Specific Genres: Campus Confidential”
I’ve talked on here before about my hesitance concerning depressing animal books for children.
There are a lot of books/movies that could be added to the list of depressing animal stories for kids, and Old Yeller is definitely one of them.
However, even though it is the granddaddy of all depressing animal books for kids, it is a story that I have a soft spot for. In fact, I’ve reread it a few times and always enjoy it. I can’t deny that it is terribly sad, but I think it has a lot of good things to offer before it rips your heart out and depresses you for days.
Though the book is something I have revisited on numerous occasions as an adult, I have not watched the movie since I was a child. I remedied that this past weekend.
As always, beware–some spoilers do follow.
The author with your initials challenge took me an embarrassing amount of time to find a book for. None of the authors with my initials seemed particularly interesting to me, until a few weeks ago when Mynette told me I really needed to read S. E. Hinton’s classic coming-of-age story, The Outsiders. In addition to being intrigued by her recommendation, I also realized that Hinton shares my first and middle initials. In the weeks since then, the book has come up a couple of times with other people, and whenever I would admit to never having read it, the response was always a confused “You’ve never read The Outsiders?”
Having finally read The Outsiders, I now understand everyone’s reaction. I’m actually embarrassed that I hadn’t read it before.
Continue reading “2016 Library Challenge: An Author with Your Initials (S. E. Hinton)”
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