Favorite Books too!

When I was packing to leave the house I'd been in and out of for thirty-four years, I eventually had two groups of books.  The books I liked were in five freestanding shelving units leaned against the garage ready for the BIG GIVEAWAY on the weekend.  The books I loved were in fourteen cardboard boxes in the middle of the living room.

Five years later,  they are still in the boxes.  Soon they will be out and I will hold them again. I might be able to pick a favorite then, one above the others...probably won't happen. If there were a fire and one survived, that would be my favorite. If you needed a book, a special meaningful book, I could open any box, pull out one and give it to you to read. That would be my favorite. If I take them all out to shelve and find the book I read to my son a thousand times, that would be my favorite.

Before I unpack my books, I will search the boxes in my brain and list those favorites I find there:

Little Britches...first  of seven books by Ralph Moody about growing up in Colorado ranching country. I loved him with all my heart as he portrayed his life from about seven to twenty-two.  I actually read this book aloud to my classes for twenty two years. There is still one section that evokes a welling up from deep within that catches me up every time. And, I still cry when I read it.
He was the first author I ever wanted to meet. I actually contacted him the year before he died.  I was as excited as my students to hear his voice on the telephone which we rigged up so the class could ask questions and we could all hear the answers. I made arrangements to visit him with thank you cards. He was ill and couldn't make the meeting.  His wife did and was gracious. It was early in my teaching career. I never imposed like that again on any other author.  But, I'm glad I did with him.

John Brown's Body...a poetic examination of the Civil War by Stephen Vincent Benet was assigned reading in the first English class in which I was placed in my new high school in the middle of a semester.  The class was a well-established average group of turned off students.  The teacher was equally disenfranchised.  This book changed everything, for me, and him! I had not been exposed to epic poetry nor the richness of double and triple meanings found within each nightly assignment. I bounded into the classroom each day with questions and discoveries, enthusiasm and excitement. My teacher became a changed man...we read passages, discovered hidden profound meaning and references within them, laughed at the cleverness and sly humor embedded by the poet. I'd like to say the rest of the class caught the mood and responded in kind.  I hope that happened. Instead, I seem to remember it was hard to get any responses from all but a few and I think the teacher gave up after awhile and it was just us. It was so exciting to be in the thrall of a captivating book.
I was in the class for two weeks before I was moved to the highest level English. I met the teacher years later at a conference. He smiled broadly at me as he confessed those were the best two weeks of his teaching career. He changed to Counseling soon after. He said if teaching could have been that much fun always,  he would have remained.

In Cold Blood...Truman Capote's genre founding true-life novel, changed what I believed about books. Weren't there only two categories in the library, fiction and non-fiction?...how could you mix those? He was the first. This type of true life novel still fascinates me now nearly fifty years later. Laura Hildebrand wrote two of my favorite narrative histories, Seabiscuit and Unbroken. Her ability to entwine the subject in the mesh of history, culture, and the aspirations of a generation make these unforgettable. They helped me see a broader scope for my life and inspired me to make a greater impact on my own. Unbroken came to me when I had given up. It gave me strength to continue and a desire to try. Surprisingly, to me, Capote also wrote a romantic favorite of mine, Breakfast At Tiffany's. He was a master of voice and tone.


And, a last book for my 'favorites' list today is a battered biography of George Washington , American Hero, with LIBRARY DISCARD stamped on the front cover. I had passed it by on the table where I found a huge reference book of Audubon prints, a reproduction but beyond my reach when it was published, and, here for the taking! I was adding it to my pile when my son got my attention. He was making his own collection of, the History of B17 Bombers in WWII, How To Draw Animals, and other books appreciated by a thirteen year old. "Look what I found", he said excitedly. I glanced at George on the cover in his familiar 'Crossing the Delaware' pose. Offhandedly, I replied, Oh! Nice. "Look again!" he insisted. I saw nothing special.  His eyes greeted mine with excitement,  and his mouth was a Cheshire Cat smile. "Who wrote it?", he asked knowingly. I looked.  Ralph Moody! I couldn't believe it!  An obscure work, one of my favorite author's earliest, sold to school libraries way before Little Britches' success!  And my son!  My wonderful son, had spotted it and knew! He knew! He knew me that well!  I was floored and awe struck. And, I remained so for his entire twenty-one years.  My favorite book.