Change your world @ your library
First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries – school, public, academic and special – participate.
In the spirit of the National Library Week theme for 2006 (Change your world @ your library) -- I would like to know what books have changed your world. In fact let's turn this into a contest and the winner will have their life changing book donated to the library of their choice, by me. So here's the rules:
- Think about all the books you've read. Pick one that has changed your world.
- Post the title and author of the book in the comments area. Also, include a reason as to why this book changed your world. (This can be as brief or lengthy as you want).
- If you have a particular Oklahoma library that, if you win, you like your life changing book donated to then include the town and name of that library.
- I will choose the winning entry based on my librarian training and will then purchase the winning title myself and donate a copy of it to the Oklahoma library of your choice. If you do not specify which library then I will pick an Oklahoma library myself -- my choice will be based on OCLC holdings.
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Title - Job: A Comedy of Justice
Author - Robert A. Heinlein
Library - Any library that doesn't already own a copy.
It was tempting to select Stranger in a Strange Land, but both of these books by SF master Heinlein challenged my views of society, and Job (with a long "o", like in the Bible) is less likely to be on library shelves.
In this comic adventure the protagonist, Alexander Hergensheimer, finds himself cut adrift in spacetime -- jerked from one parallel Earth to another with no control or reason. Along the way he meets Margrethe, a young woman in the same predicament. As they travel together, they fall in love, and it seems that all the craziness will be alright as long as they stay with each other.
There's only one real problem, and it's one of faith. Alex is (or was) a Fundamentalist minister. He believes that all these perigrinations are signs of the coming Apocalypse. Margrethe, on the other hand, is pagan. She believes in the old Norse gods and goddesses. Alex fears that, if she doesn't "see the light" in time, they won't be together after the end. In the last chapters, as in the best of Heinlein's work, it's best to suspend all assumptions and ride out the roller coaster to a marvelous conclusion.
Job is a book I might suggest to readers of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time-Traveler's Wife or Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
The book that changed my world: Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
I love poetry. I love teaching people how to teach. Things are pretty good in my world but now and then something happens to re-affirm my life choices.
Children’s Literature for Elementary Teachers is a class I teach for Oklahoma Panhandle State University at Goodwell, OK. The class meets where my real job is-in McKee Library, and at the beginning class each semester, I tell my students that “Children’s Literature is not Rocket Science. Children’s Literature is books and pictures that appeal to our students…books that make them want to read!” As the class proceeds, we learn how to choose books for their literary quality using the same guidelines that apply to any book. I have included a section of poetry books in my class syllabus. I find that many students have no prior knowledge or appreciation of poetry so we learn the elements of poetry and even write in poetic forms that are easy to teach to elementary students like cinquain and haiku.
A few years ago, I came across a book, written for a 5th or 6th grade reading level, that expresses how children relate to poetry and I started using it to introduce the segment on poetry for children’s literature class. I read the book Love That Dog, in it’s entirety and we discuss how poetry can be an inspiration for children to write creatively. The book wrenches my heart each time I read the story to my students. Sometimes, I have to ask a student read the last few pages aloud for me. In the book, a young boy who initially believes that “poetry is for girls” begins to write his own thoughts and feelings in poetic form. We see him grow in expression and confidence as he tells us about his “yellow dog, with his tongue hanging out, saying ‘pick me, pick me’.” He eventually writes about yellow dog being hit by a car and without sentiment or gloom, we see into the boy’s heart, through his poetry.
I love the book so much that I wrote to the author, Sharon Creech, and told her about how I used her book in my class. Sharon responded to me and she encouraged me to explore writing poetry, since I “obviously love all things poetic.” I started writing poetry and “good or bad” writing makes us look inside ourselves and see the world through different eyes. I am including one of my poems with this essay. It’s not a “work of genius” but it helped me put some things in perspective by expressing my thoughts and feelings. Thank you, Love That Dog, for changing my world.
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Once I Knew
By E. Stewart
When I was thirty-two, I knew who I was!
Clearly marked categories gave me definition.
Finally, everything made sense.
Then the world turned
Catching me by surprise.
The life I knew seemed inside-out, and
dwindled down to a pace Of forward time until
Something clipped me flying by
and spun me through the space of then and now.
Here I am, two score years older,
an agéd oracle with no knowledge, no clues
With only one hope…a distant glimmer
that some future
heartbeat
Might reveal everything again.
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