What's YOUR Favorite Childhood Book?

Let me share a story with you. It is called "What's Your Favorite Childhood Book?" That is the question that I got to ask our faculty and staff and graduating seniors recently. Why? In further celebration of "Get Caught Reading" month, I wanted to inspire our young readers to new ideas for books to check out for themselves by allowing them yet one more way to connect with the people they look up to and admire around SCS. With the responses that were received, I created a hallway display with names and pictures of the individual respondents and of the title and author of their particular favorites.

The fun part was watching the reactions of those who participated and those who stopped to look at the display. As individuals were asked, so many began to smile as they remembered back to a particular story that brought them much joy as a child. Discussions were sparked spontaneously in the Teachers Room as faculty members shared about their personal favorites, and the books they enjoyed reading to their children. Students would look at the display to see which books their staff member parents or teachers liked and come in to ask for those books to read. Reports were regularly coming in from parents who said favorite books became a topic at their dinner table at home. Quite a few times, clusters of individuals -- from custodians to pastors to office staff to teachers to students to parents and visitors -- were found gathered outside of the Library Media Center, with necks craned upward commenting and smiling as they recalled their own favorites, or as they found they had something new in common with another person in the school community. Many times, individuals were spotted thoughtfully looking up at the display as they pondered the question of which book was their own favorite when they were little.

Part of what makes this so special is that so many times, I have seen that the favorites of older staff members are also the favorites of some of our seniors and also of our youngest students. When one looks at the hallway display, and listens to the squeals of delight from those who pass by it is apparent that there is no clear cut distinction that certain generations like some things and other generations like others. The moral of this story: Good literature is timeless, and worth passing on!