Book Review: To Catch a Mermaid, by Suzanne Selfors

Boom Broom awoke to find his little sister, Mertyle, looking for spots.

"It's a good day for spots," she announced, examining her knobby knees with a magnifying glass. While Boom rubbed sleep from his eyes and stumbled out of bed, his sister made up another ridiculous excuse for not going to school.

Summary:

Delving further into To Catch a Mermaid, the reader discovers that Boom Broom is a twelve-year-old with a lot on his shoulders. Ever since a freak twister touched down in Fairweather Island a year ago right in the Broom's front yard, and carried off Mrs. Broom, the family had never been the same. Mr. Broom refuses to leave the attic except for bathroom breaks, or to grab food prepared by the hired cook. The cook is a proud Viking descendant named Halvor who only prepars fish, fish, more fish, and thick black coffee. Mertyle, Boom's little sister, refuses to leave the house, inventing one sickness after another so she wouldn't have to go to school. Boom refuses to let the twister alter his life and tries to carry on, but he still has to deal with his family's eccentricities, and with neighborhood bully Hurley Mump and his equally bully-ish family.

Then one day, Boom is sent out to get fish for dinner. He brings home a very odd fish salvaged from a reject seafood bucket down at the docks. When he and Mertyle discover the fish is no fish, but a real, live merbaby, things start to get interesting...

For Teachers and Librarians:

The author crafts a totally believable story around a freak twister, a grieving family...and a merbaby. This book is an excellent addition to a fantasy fiction unit. A project on mythical creatures could morph from there. A study of weather patterns on islands would be an interesting extension. From there, you could expand into a comparison of weather on cold water islands vs. warm water islands. A discussion centered around not letting fear or grief get control of your life could spring from reading this book, too. There's a lot of material to be mined from this complex and vastly entertaining story. But past all of that, it's just a great story. Imagine...finding a merbaby who grants your most fervent wishes...

For Parents, Grandparents and Caregivers:

Suzanne Selfors got the idea for To Catch a Mermaid while jogging one day in Vancouver, British Columbia, as she watched children play in tidepools:

I realized that one of the universal joys of childhood is discovering things. What would be a neater thing to discover in a tidepool than a baby mercreature? And so, the story was born. - Suzanne Selfors - Class of 2K7 Interview

Your kids will delight in a fantastic story about a wish-granting merbaby, and the hilarious and intense situations that follow. This is a book with something for everyone - humor, suspense, action and adventure, and mystery. Give it to your kids to try, and they won't be disappointed!

In a different direction, kids who have lost a parent, through whatever circumstances, have a lot of sorting out to do. Perhaps this book could help them work through some of those feelings. Everyone in the Broom household is trying to figure out how to live life after Mrs. Broom is swept away, but none of them is doing a very good job. Until that fateful discovery of the merbaby. Eventually, each of the Brooms learns something about themselves, and each of the Brooms finds a way to move on, and each of the Brooms learns to depend on each other. It's a roundabout way to figure things out, but this book might open some doors...

For the Kids:

A twister carries off Boom Broom's mother, right off of their front lawn. A year later, his dad won't leave the attic because he's afraid of the wind, his sister invents illnesses so she won't have to leave the house, and the family hires Halvor the Viking descendant to cook for them. But he only cooks fish, and fixes thick, black coffee. One day, when Boom is sent to get fish, he comes home with an odd one. Soon, though, he realizes it's no fish - it's a merbaby! Imagine! Finding a merbaby!  And, it grants wishes! But, Boom, his friend Winger, and his sister Mertyle get a lot more than they bargained for when things start to get hairy - literally - and Mertyle is in danger. Can Boom save his sister? Will his father ever leave the house? Are they doomed to eat fish and black coffee forever? Pick up the book and find out...

For Everyone Else:

If you love a good fish story, this is the book for you. If mythical creatures intrigue you, this is the book for you. If you're a Viking descendent, you'll learn a thing or two about Vikings and mermaids. If you're looking for an interesting twist on a twister story, this is the book for you. Really, you can't go wrong. Check it out.

Wrapping Up:

Mystery, suspense, adventure, humor, action - what's not to like? To Catch a Mermaid has all the makings of a classic.

Title: To Catch a Mermaid

Author: Suzanne Selfors

Pages: 256

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Publisher and Date: Little, Brown Young Readers, 2007

Edition: 1st

Language: English

Published In: United States

Price: $14.99

ISBN-10: 0316018163

ISBN-13: 978-031601866

Book Review: The Tail of Emily Windsnap, by Liz Kessler

I'd never been in the ocean. I'd never even had a bath. Hey, I'm not dirty or anything-I do take a shower every night. But there isn't enough room for a bathtub on the boat, so never in my life had I been totally immersed in water.

Until the first Wednesday afternoon of seventh grade.

Summary:

Emily Windsnap has a secret. She discovers it by accident, in seventh grade swim class - her first time ever immersed in water. Her legs feel like they've fused together as soon as she hits the pool, then feel normal when she hauls herself out, and it totally freaks her out. Later that night, she jumps off the pier near her houseboat to see if it happens again. And it does: she sees her legs morph into a sleek purple-and-green tail, then morph back into legs when she's out of the water. After she gets used to the idea, she's thrilled, and starts taking secret swims in the ocean to test out her newly discovered fishy self. For a while, she's the only one who knows her secret. But then she meets a new mermaid friend, Shona, who shows her a whole other world beneath the sea.

Emily begins to wonder: is this why her mother never let her in the water, even though they live on a boat? Does she know what I am? And then the lighthouse keeper, Mr. Beeston, starts acting strangely towards her, and Emily starts getting suspicious. Why is he always around? And how come her mom seems to forget things Emily had just told her, after Mr. Beeston's regular coffee-and-doughnut visits? With help from Shona, Emily starts piecing it all together, and what they finds out changes Emily's life forever.

For Teachers and Librarians:

The Tail of Emily Windsnap is an engaging and exciting story that is a perfect book around which to build a reading unit on the fantasy genre. It could also fit well into a mystery unit, as Emily works to uncover just who she is, and why Mr. Beeston is around so much, and what has happened to her mother, and why her mother seems not to recall her father (she wants to, but can't, and doesn't know why). You can also incorporate lifestyles - Emily and her mom live on a boat. Mr. Beeston lives in a lighthouse. Others live in conventional houses. What type of home do mermaids live in? A discussion on family groups and their similarities and differences could come into play as well: Emily and her mom are a family. Some kids live with two parents, some live with grandparents, or guardians, or aunts and uncles, etc. It is also a great story to use within a friendship unit - how do we meet friends? What kinds of things do friends do with or for each other? How do friends make us feel? And of course, you could use this book as a fun supplement to an ocean unit, comparing and contrasting real ocean dwellers with fantasy ones, for example. The possibilities are endless. Which will you choose for your students?

For Parents, Grandparents and Caregivers

The Tail of Emily Windsnap is a fun, yet meaningful book with a great focus on family - in various forms. It shows a positive friend relationship, a good way to contend with kids who aren't very nice (with a bit of fun, feel-good justice thrown in for good measure), and some great examples of problem-solving and working together toward a common goal. And besides all that good stuff, it is a fantastic story that your kids will just love. (And so will you.)

For the Kids:

Have you ever dreamed that you would discover some magical side of you that you never knew existed? Well, that's just what happens to a seventh grade girl in The Tail of Emily Windsnap: Emily has never been immersed in water, and she wonders why (since she and her mom live on a boat near the ocean). So one day, she decides to find out, and persuades her mom to let her take swimming for her seventh grade gym class. On the first day of class, Emily's legs fuse together the instant she hits the water. OMG! She's a mermaid! She manages to hide it from her classmates, then goes on secret swimming adventures when no one else is looking. It is on one of these trips that she meets another mermaid, Shona, who introduces her to the mermaid world, and an age-old mystery that goes on there. Could there be a connection between Emily's questions, and the mysterious goings-on down below? There's only one way for you to find out, and that's to find this book and get reading.

For Everyone Else:

The Tail of Emily Windsnap is a great story for kids. It's also a fun bit of escapism for adults, along with a couple of side trips down memory lane (dealing with "mean girls" at school, wondering who you are, wishing you had some secret magical "thing" to discover about yourself...oh, that last one may just be me...) Bottom line: magical book, magical story, you'll love it!

Wrapping Up:

The Tail of Emily Windsnap pulls the inquisitive mind in right from the cover art, and the story keeps that mind firmly entrenched in the fantasy: willingly suspending its disbelief, and having a grand time in the process. Read the book. Your mind will thank you.

Title: The Tail of Emily Windsnap

Author: Liz Kessler

Cover Art: Sarah Gibb

Pages: 224

Reading Level: 8-12 years, Grades 3-7

Publisher and Date: Candlewick Press, 2006

Edition: First US Paperback Edition, 2006

Language: English

Published In: United States

Price: $5.99

ISBN-10: 076328115

ISBN-13: 978-0763628116

Author Spotlight: Suzanne Selfors

Suzanne Selfors started writing seriously in the fall of 2002, on the very day her youngest child stepped on the bus for school. She has had the writing bug, however, ever since fourth grade, when she wrote, cast and directed a play for her school. 

Having written two previous novels for adults, her debut middle grade children's novel, To Catch a Mermaid, was published in 2007. She followed up with Saving Juliet, a young adult novel published in 2008.

Mrs. Selfors studied at Bennington College in Vermont, then graduated with honors from Occidental College in Pasadena, California, in Documentary Film Production. She then received an MA in Communications from the University of Washington.

Born in an army hospital in Munich, Germany in 1963, she now lives in Bainbridge, Washington, where she grew up. She, her husband and two kids live in a historic house there built by her pioneer Norwegian ancestors.

Sources:

Suzanne Selfors Biography

Class of 2k7: Suzanne Selfors

Suzanne Selfors Official Site

A Star is Born

Author Spotlight: Liz Kessler

Englishwoman Liz Kessler has always wanted to write. Not only that, but she was convinced from a very early age that she would become a poet. She was nine years old when her poem, "Jinx's Shop," was published in the Manchester Evening News, in 1976. Yet, fate had different writing goals in mind for Ms Kessler: by the time she'd reached her 30's, she had decided to write books - switching her job to part-time in order to have more time to write.

She studied English at Lougborough University, then did her teaching qualification at Keele University, then received her Masters degree in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Following university, Ms Kessler lived on a narrowboat on a canal for about 10 years, then moved to a house in Manchester for two years, then rented that house out for another year while she traveled around Europe in a campervan. (You can read about her traveling adventures on her blog: Liz Kessler's Blog.) Her newest adventure is to sell that Manchester house and move, possibly, to Cornwall.

She has been a teacher of English, and of Media Studies, and has run Creative Writing courses. She has been a journalist in local and regional newspapers in Manchester and York, in England. And of course, she writes novels for kids. Her Emily Windsnap series - about a seventh-grade girl who discovers she is a mermaid - now numbers four titles, and she has written two books in the Philippa Fisher series - about an 11-year-old girl and her fairy godsister.

Born in 1966, Liz Kessler grew up in Southport, England, the youngest of three siblings. She has a Dalmatian named Poppy, and enjoys sailing, playing guitar, surfing, and practicing one of her favorite hobbies: poi. (You can catch a glimpse of Ms Kessler and her poi skills here.)

Sources:

Liz Kessler Official Site

Liz Kessler - Wikipedia

New Talent: Writers: Liz Kessler (BBC)

Liz Kessler: 'Straightforward and Simple, that's me' - Bookwitch

Don't Put Away That Sandshovel!

Summer may be winding down, but that doesn't mean you have to abandon playing in the sand. There are still quite a few sand sculpture festivals and competitions yet to be held, both family-friendly and professional:

Sandcastle and Sculpture Day - Held annually on the third Saturday in August, on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. The 2011 competition is this Saturday, August 20th, so if you're hoping to enter, you'd better hop to. The application deadline is Friday, August 19th. 

•  Sand Sculpture Contest - Held annually at Point Reyes National Seashore, California. They'll be holding their 30th annual contest on September 4, 2011.
• North American Sandsculpting Championship - Held as part of Virginia Beach, Virginia's annual Neptune Festival, and spanning several days. This year's celebrations - the 38th annual - are from September 28-October 9, 2011. 
• Sand Castle Days - Held on South Padre Island, Texas. This year's festivities - the 24th annual - run from October 19-23, 2011.  
• The American Sandsculpting Championship Festival - Fort Meyers Beach, Florida's 25th annual competition is set for November 2-6, 2011.

Itching to get building, but not sure how to prepare? No worries. I dug around and found some basic sand sculpture building tips to get you started, courtesy of Sandscapes.com and KarmaKrew.org. These tips are helpful for sand sculptors ranging from tall to small, and everywhere in between:

First, gather your supplies. 

You don't have to go out and get any special gear. Just poke around in your kitchen, garage, anywhere there's miscellaneous stuff, and see what you've got that you could use. First and foremost, you'll need big water buckets - some of those giant 5 gallon plastic paint buckets work well, if you have a few empties hanging 'round the garage. And you'll need shovels - long handled ones with short scoops are ideal - and the more, the better. After that, use your imagination: pastry knife, old paintbrushes, spoons, butter knives, toothpicks, water spray bottles, rakes, ice cream scoopers, drinking straws, funnels...really, anything that looks like it might be even a little bit useful. You should also have a drawing or photo of what you'll be building, so you have a reference to work from.

Next, find your spot.
Pick a spot on the beach. Scoop up a golfball-sized wad of wet sand into your hand and form it in a ball. If that sand ball can roll around on your flat palm without breaking apart, you've found your building spot. You also want to pick a spot close to the water - 'cause you'll need lots of water - but not so close that your masterpiece will get washed away by the next big wave. Check for the high water mark, and use that as a guide for where you want to park your project.


Then, prepare your sand.

You'll need very wet sand. Very wet sand. Did I mention VERY WET sand? Dig a hole close to the water, but not too close (see above suggestion), scooping out that VERY WET sand from the hole and piling it onto the flattened out spot where you've decided to build. If digging a big hole doesn't get you down to the water table for that drippy wet sand, or if you can't get enough sand that way, haul water up from the ocean/lake/body of water with your buckets and dump it on the sand. 

As you pile up the VERY WET sand, form it into a rough approximation of the shape of the thing you're sculpting. (It could be a castle, sure. But, it could also be a mermaid, or a giant spider, or a dragon, or even a life-size sculpture of Chuck Norris. Be creative!) Anyway, pile that sand up, gently jiggling each plop you add to the pile, so that it settles into the sand beneath and it all bonds together - do not pat, punch, stomp the sand. Gently jiggle. Jiggle. Jiggle. Keep plopping and jiggling until your pile looks big enough for what you're planning to carve it into.

Finally, get sculpting.
Carve out the details, and turn that sculpture idea into reality. Here's where you get to use all those odds-and-ends you gathered back in the first step. And don't forget those most wondrous of sculpting tools that you always have on you - your own hands and fingers. 

Keep referring back to your drawing/photo/reference to keep yourself on track as you sculpt the sand. Always start at the top and work your way down, and keep the sand wet (remember that water spray bottle?). And remember: patience. Carve out a little at a time, not in big chunks, and you'll have more control, making your sculpture look just the way you imagined it would. And if something goes wrong, just adapt and go with it. You may find that what you thought was a big mistake takes your work of art into a totally unexpected, yet fantastic direction. And don't forget to take a picture when you're done. Your sandy sculpture won't last forever, but at least your memory of it can.

* * *

 

Now, go have fun!

Wonderful Weirdos of Literature Series 2012 - Installment #9

Time for Installment #9 of the Third Annual Bugs and Bunnies Wonderful Weirdos of Literature Series. (New here? Just click the link above, and that should get you caught up nicely. Feel free to click around to the other links you'll find there, but don't forget to come back to this post and continue the fun.)

All caught up? Great! Let's get going, shall we? Last week, our theme for Installment #8 was Classics...And Classic Twists. This week's theme is: 

Strange Goings-On

To Catch a Mermaid, by Suzanne Selfors
Ages 9-12

Boom Broom is a twelve-year-old with a lot on his shoulders. Ever since a freak twister touched down in Fairweather Island a year ago right in the Broom's front yard, and carried off Mrs. Broom, the family had never been the same. Mr. Broom refuses to leave the attic except for bathroom breaks, or to grab food prepared by the hired cook. The cook is a proud Viking descendant named Halvor who only prepars fish, fish, more fish, and thick black coffee. Mertyle, Boom's little sister, refuses to leave the house, inventing one sickness after another so she won't have to go to school. Boom refuses to let the twister alter his life and tries to carry on, but he still has to deal with his family's eccentricities, and with neighborhood bully Hurley Mump and his equally bully-ish family.

Then one day, Boom is sent out to get fish for dinner. He brings home a very odd fish salvaged from a reject seafood bucket down at the docks. When he and Mertyle discover the fish is no fish, but a real, live merbaby, things start to get interesting...

 The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy, with illustrations by Ian Schoenherr
Ages 10 and up

It's 1952. February. With only a week to prepare, the Scott family makes a sudden move from Los Angeles, California to London, England. As her parents get started in their new jobs writing for a television show, fourteen-year-old Janie Scott finds herself trying to navigate her new school - and not feeling very good about it. But then she meets Benjamin Burrows, a boy with a defiant streak and dreams of becoming a spy someday. 

Benjamin's father is the local apothecary who had given Janie a curious homesickness remedy the day they'd arrived - a remedy which, to Janie's surprise, actually seemed to be working. When she and Benjamin go out on one of Benjamin's self-assigned spying missions, they soon discover that his father is no ordinary apothecary. Just before Benjamin's father goes missing, he charges them with protecting his mysterious book, the Pharmacopoeia, from falling into the wrong hands. But whose hands are those? What secrets does the book hold? And, can it help Janie and Benjamin find his father, before it's too late?

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
Ages 13 and up

Jacob Portman loved listening to his grandpa's stories. And when he was just six years old, he decided to become an explorer, figuring it was the only way to have a life even half as exciting as his Grandpa Portman's had been. Soon, though, Jacob came to realize that most of Grandpa Portman's best stories couldn't possibly be true - especially the ones about his childhood. 

Those stories were about awful monsters he said were after him in Poland, where he was born; and about the Welsh children's home he was sent to when he was twelve, to escape those monsters. It was an idyllic place that kept kids safe from those monsters, he'd told Jacob, and that was protected by a wise old bird. Even more fantastic were the photos he'd show Jacob of the peculiar children there - an invisible boy, a levitating girl, a boy with two mouths, among others. The older Jacob got, though, the less he believed Grandpa Portman's stories, until eventually he stopped asking him to tell them.

When Jacob was fifteen, something terrible happened, and his world was turned upside down. Then, when he turned sixteen, Jacob received an unexpected gift from an unexpected giver, which contained an even more unexpected - and mysterious - item within. Soon after that, he found himself halfway across the world, on a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovered the ruins of a place called Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Jacob did some investigating, and very soon Grandpa Portman's "stories" began to take on a whole new - and ominous - meaning.

The Twits, written by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake
Ages 7 and up

Mr. and Mrs. Twit live in a house with no windows - the better to keep out prying eyes. They're smelly, nasty, ugly, and mean spirited, and they play horrible practical jokes on each other. They smear HUGTIGHT sticky glue on the branches of their Big Dead Tree each night to capture birds for their Bird Pie supper, but consider having Boy Pie instead when they find four little boys stuck to the branch one morning. They keep a family of monkeys in their home, forcing them to do everything upside down, in case their idea for an upside down monkey circus ever comes to fruition. And no one has ever been able to stop them from doing the dastardly things they do.

But one day, a new bird comes around. And the monkeys get bold. And soon, the monkeys and birds work together to turn the tables on those terrible Twits.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, written by Judi Barrett, and drawn by Ron Barrett
Ages 4 and up

In the tiny town of Chewandswallow, the weather came three times a day: at breakfast, lunch and dinner. But what fell from the sky wasn't rain or snow. Juice might fall at breakfast time, followed by some eggs and toast. For lunch, a storm of hamburgers might blow in. Dinner weather might bring lamb chops with peas and baked potatoes.

People watched the weather on morning TV to know what would be on the menu the next day. And if they were going to be outside, they carried a plate, cup, napkin, and silverware with them, so they were always prepared for whatever the weather brought. They even had a system for dealing with any leftovers. Everything was very orderly and well-run.

But one day, the weather changed. Sometimes, only one type of food fell - the whole day. Other times, a full meal fell, but none of it went together, and it ended up very unappetizing. Eventually, the food that fell began to get bigger. And bigger. And bigger. And soon, the town became overrun with giant food, and too much of it - way too much for them to handle. What's a town to do?

* * *

I hope you had fun during Installment #9 of the Third Annual Bugs and Bunnies Wonderful Weirdos of Literature Series, reading about these books with Strange Goings-On. Even better, I hope you go out and find them. And read them. 

Before you go, I'll leave you with this:

Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything's different.

             - Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes comics)

Come back next week for Installment #10, for some characters who have their own ways of doing things...

Fifty Fave Books - In No Particular Order

Have you heard about The Big Read? Well, let me fill you in if you haven't. (If you have, then bear with me...)

In 2003, the BBC conducted a survey of the British public in order to find the "Nation's Best-Loved Book." It was a controversial show, as some praised it for raising public awareness of literary reading, while others saw it as a sensationalist approach to literature. Similar contests were held in other countries, including: Australia, Germany, Hungary, and various cities in the United States.

Here in the States, that original premise has morphed into The Big Read, a program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. Its purpose? "...to restore reading to the center of American culture." How are they doing that? Click on the links at then end of this post for more information.

Now, this post was inspired by reading a meme I've seen on blogs lately. It lists 100 Books - supposedly from The Big Read (but actually not, as blogger The Rabid Paladin found out after some digging) - where you're supposed to mark the ones you've read, the ones you plan to read, and the ones you've loved.

Well. I'm not about to type in a list of 100 books that someone else made up, then only mark about 30 or so of them! (Yes, I checked...) So instead, here is a list of fifty fave books I've read and loved - in no particular order:

1. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

2. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

3. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

4. Wicked by Gregory Maguire

5. The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett

6. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D.

Schmidt

7. To Catch a Mermaid by Suzanne Selfors

8. Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

9. The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl

10. Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott

11. The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

12. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

13. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

14. The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

15. Sons by Pearl S. Buck

16. Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck

17. A Painted House by John Grisham

18. Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy

19. All of the Harry Potter Books, by JK Rowling

20. All of the Robert Ludlum novels, by, well, Robert

Ludlum

21. Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary Wolf

22. The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly

23. The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls by Elise

Primavera

24. The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

25. Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke

26. Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

27. All of the Narnia books by CS Lewis

28. The Lemonade Club by Patricia Polacco

29. All of the Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey

30. All of Shel Silverstein's poetry collections

31. Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo

32. Coyote Summer by W. Michael Gear

33. Centennial by James Michener

34. Charleston by John Jakes

35. One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus

36. Roots by Alex Haley

37. Queen by Alex Haley and David Stevens

38. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

39. The Touch by Colleen McCullough

40. Good Families Don't by Robert Munsch

41. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

42. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

43. Tuesday by David Weisner

44. Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen

45. Black Beauty by Anna Sewel

46. The Giver by Lois Lowry

47. King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

48. Heidi by Johanna Spyri

49. Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter

50. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

I could go on...

How about you? What are some of your favorite books? Drop me a comment (or several) and let me know...

Sources on The Big Read:

The Big Read - Wikipedia

The Big Read - BBC

The Big Read - National Endowment for the Arts