From: Katy Southern <kasouthern>
Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 15:29:40 -0500

Fabulous topic!

Bridge to Terabithia - the first book to make me cry. And I cried a lot - every time I read it.

The Lorax - I wanted to speak for the trees, those truffula trees.

For some reason or other, between Second and Third grade I was obsessed with the Childhood of Famous Americans series. I think I read every volume our small, hometown library owned. While I realize now that everything I read in those books wasn't historical 'fact,' they did introduce historical figures and events to me. As a result, I think I found some parts of history classes easier - the names, events, inventions, etc., weren't completely new to me. I didn't appreciate this until later in life.

Boxcar Children series - another series I devoured.

Treasure Island and Kidnapped - When I was ten, I asked the librarian at our library to help me get the copy of Treasure Island off of the top shelf. I had just seen the movie and was excited to find out that it was from a book! The librarian very reluctantly helped me, telling me that I wouldn't like it because it is a 'boy's book.' I had never heard of such a thing, and was annoyed, so seeing the copy of Kidnapped next to it, I requested that book as well. I defiantly read and enjoyed every page, and decided right then that certain books weren't just for boys or girls.

Madame Bovary/Sherlock Holmes' books - An odd combination, I know. I "read ahead" and needed more challenging books to read. Unfortunately, the library didn't allow kids under 13 to check out books from the adult section. I was eleven at the time, and knew I wanted to get my hands on the Sherlock Holmes' books. My very busy working mother had take me to that section of the library and check out books for me (my school was two blocks away from the library, so this was a hassle). In front of the same librarian who had earlier kicked me out of that section of the library, she told me to pick out any books I wanted. I got my Sherlock Holmes. I also went to a shelf labeled "classics" to get something 'appropriate' and ended up with Madame Bovary. The librarian wasn't very pleased, and in retrospect I think it was because in this fairly conservative community, Madame Bovary would be considered a little illicit. My mother didn't bat an eye - if I could read the book, I cou ld check it out.

I've never let anyone tell me what I cannot read.

Katy Southern University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Assistant - Department of English Ph.D. Candidate - Department of English (Composition and Rhetoric) Graduate Student - School of Library and Information Studies
Received on Thu 25 May 2006 03:29:40 PM CDT