CCBC-Net Archives
[CCBC-Net] What book has changed your life?
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Kathy Johnson <kmquimby>
Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 21:10:14 -0400
Harriet the Spy would be number one on my list, too. I must have checked it out of my library (far smaller than any branch of Brooklyn Public) regularly for three or four years. As a young reader I completely overlooked her flaws and focused on the spying part of her activity. Something like ten years ago, an essay in the New York Times Book Review, gave me a clue as to why. This essay looked at Harriet, Jo March, and Anne Shirley (I think those were the others) as writers in preparation. Harriet's spying honed observational skills.
Harriet was also a great source of comfort to a generally lonely child. There were all of eight students in my grade, and I often felt like an outsider; knowing that a child in the city could feel just as isolated helped. The tomato sandwiches and the long, long hot baths were ambrosia and nirvanah, to be dreamed of.
So much of the rest of it went right over my head at the time. This was definitely one of those books I looked at differently when I read it as an adult. However, it was also one of those rare works where I could see what had attracted me as a child, as well as the "real" story.
Kathy Quimby
At 06:43 PM 5/23/2006, MNevett at aol.com wrote:
>Life changing books-
>1) Harriet the Spy- first book I ever read featuring a main character who
>was extremely flawed- PLUS, I was the first one to check it out of my
>branch of
>Brooklyn Public- I should have known I was a future librarian to get such a
>thrill out of that!
>2) The Princess and the Goblin- the librarian who recommended this to me had
>a nametag- his name was Mr. MacDonald. I was awed and honored that he
>"chose" me to read his book- and was too modest to claim it as his. It
>wasn't until
>I was enrolled in library school, taking History of Children's lit, that I
>found out the truth. Luckily I wasn' t devastated, and was able to
>appreciate
>how special I had felt back then! He was inadvertently a role model for me as
>a children's librarian.
>3)Pentimento by Lillian Hellman- I was actually an adult when I realized
>authors could lie, and even some non-fiction, particularly autobiography,
>could
>be fiction!
>the list could go on and on and on....
>Micki
>
>
>Micki S. Nevett
>Westmere Elementary School
>Guilderland Central School District
>Albany, NY 12203
>nevettm at guilderlandschools.org
>mnevett at aol.com
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>CCBC-Net mailing list
>CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
>Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
>http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Tue 23 May 2006 08:10:14 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 21:10:14 -0400
Harriet the Spy would be number one on my list, too. I must have checked it out of my library (far smaller than any branch of Brooklyn Public) regularly for three or four years. As a young reader I completely overlooked her flaws and focused on the spying part of her activity. Something like ten years ago, an essay in the New York Times Book Review, gave me a clue as to why. This essay looked at Harriet, Jo March, and Anne Shirley (I think those were the others) as writers in preparation. Harriet's spying honed observational skills.
Harriet was also a great source of comfort to a generally lonely child. There were all of eight students in my grade, and I often felt like an outsider; knowing that a child in the city could feel just as isolated helped. The tomato sandwiches and the long, long hot baths were ambrosia and nirvanah, to be dreamed of.
So much of the rest of it went right over my head at the time. This was definitely one of those books I looked at differently when I read it as an adult. However, it was also one of those rare works where I could see what had attracted me as a child, as well as the "real" story.
Kathy Quimby
At 06:43 PM 5/23/2006, MNevett at aol.com wrote:
>Life changing books-
>1) Harriet the Spy- first book I ever read featuring a main character who
>was extremely flawed- PLUS, I was the first one to check it out of my
>branch of
>Brooklyn Public- I should have known I was a future librarian to get such a
>thrill out of that!
>2) The Princess and the Goblin- the librarian who recommended this to me had
>a nametag- his name was Mr. MacDonald. I was awed and honored that he
>"chose" me to read his book- and was too modest to claim it as his. It
>wasn't until
>I was enrolled in library school, taking History of Children's lit, that I
>found out the truth. Luckily I wasn' t devastated, and was able to
>appreciate
>how special I had felt back then! He was inadvertently a role model for me as
>a children's librarian.
>3)Pentimento by Lillian Hellman- I was actually an adult when I realized
>authors could lie, and even some non-fiction, particularly autobiography,
>could
>be fiction!
>the list could go on and on and on....
>Micki
>
>
>Micki S. Nevett
>Westmere Elementary School
>Guilderland Central School District
>Albany, NY 12203
>nevettm at guilderlandschools.org
>mnevett at aol.com
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>CCBC-Net mailing list
>CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
>Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
>http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Tue 23 May 2006 08:10:14 PM CDT
