From: Jane Hertenstein <janeh>
Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 13:11:35 -0500

I am absolutely convinced that had I been a child growing up today I'd be medicated. I was hyper and anxious, always thinking and never got along with my classmates. A perpetual outsider and loner--yet I WANTED FRIENDS.

So for me reading became a safe place, just about the only place I felt settled and secure. And what did I like to read--REAL stories (that is before they slipped into genre and "problem" books).

The book that changed my life, THE OUTSIDERS. The memory of discovering this book is crystal clear--and like with all crystal clear memories it involves all the senses--not just hearing, but smell, taste--I remember where I was standing and what the weather was like. It was the last day of 6th grade and I found a copy abandoned in a locker. I took it (trying to decide if it was stealing or not) and read it that evening. What a way to start the summer. I had never read anything like it and it made me hungry for more. It gave me hope.

Still, today, it is a book that connects with me. My daughter was filling out an application for an extra curricular activity a few months back and one of the questions was to list your favorite book. OMG--she wrote THE OUTSIDERS.

Jane Hertenstein
Received on Sun 28 May 2006 01:11:35 PM CDT