Live on The View today, Whoopi Goldberg kicked off Scholastic’s “One Million Bookprints for One Million Books” Campaign – an initiative to donate one million books to kids in need through the literacy nonprofit Reach Out and Read. By joining Scholastic’s online book community YouAreWhatYouRead.com, you can make a Bookprint – a list of 5 books that have shaped your life. And for every Bookprint, Scholastic Book Clubs will donate a book. It is that easy to make a difference this holiday season!
1. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
3. We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
4. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
5. The Courage of their Convictions by Peter Irons
This was a fun list to make, because I got to sit and remember for a while. I made three very good friends because of Anne, and I love the story of our friendship. It makes me smile. I remember shaking with anxiety in my fifth grade classroom as Meg confronted IT in A Wrinkle in Time and the tears of relief I cried in front of everybody when she resisted him. Moby-Dick reminds me of the first class that James and I took together in college (American Lit from 1760-1865) when we were first dating. Holding hands under the desktop can make even that long boring chapter on the anatomy of the sperm whale seem romantic.
Mulvaneys was one of my first forays into contemporary fiction, made when I was 14 or so, and it shook me to the core with its grimness and its quiet joy; Courage made me realize--really realize--that ordinary people could change big things, if they tried.
Don't forget to go over to Scholastic today to create an account and share your Bookprint. (And then come back and share your Bookprint--and the stories behind your picks--here!)
I love this! I picked Anne (of course!); Taran Wanderer; A Ring of Endless Light; North & South; and the Bible (it's cliche to always pick the Bible, but it, more than anything else I've read, has shaped me into the person I am today, so I couldn't in all honesty leave it off. Even though I really, really wanted to add Till We Have Faces to the list, too). The theme I saw woven throughout the books and my reasons behind them is the teaching I have gained from them to seek compassion, understanding, joy, and humility in life. And that they are all brilliant stories, of course.
ReplyDeleteI thought loooong and hard about picking A Ring of Endless Light...while I loved it and it could definitely make the list, Wrinkle in Time made me marvel a bit more so I had to pick that.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea that your books share a similar theme. And if I look at mine, I suppose the reason they appeal to me is because they are the stories of people who have overcome BIG THINGS to find life's small joys. That's apparently what appeals most to me. Who knew?
The Courage of their Convictions is on my list too! And I bet we read it for the same class :)
ReplyDelete10th grade American History? ;)
ReplyDeleteI wrote my college applications essay on Mary Beth Tinker and cried soooo many indignant tears while writing it.
What a fabulous idea! I'm impressed that you've read Moby Dick!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your list and why you picked them.
ReplyDeleteBermuda Onion: I wouldn't have read it if my grade wasn't heavily dependent on it! But it really surprised me with how fun and readable it really was.
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