I do a lot of my Newbery Book reading on the bus, to and from work. So far, each book I've taken with me has elicited comments from other passengers.
When I was reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (which my husband just finished in honor of his upcoming road trip to NYC with our older son, who read the book when I did in January), a woman and her upper-elementary daughter both said it was one of their favorite books. They ride in the same time as me each morning on their way to the local Waldorf school. We've also compared notes on knitting projects.
Another rider told me how thrilled she was to go to the Met after reading the book and see the bed.
With Holes a university student from China (another person with whom I've talked knitting) gave it rave reviews in broken English. Likewise a high school skate-punk student said, "That's totally the best book" (or something like that).
I end up having conversations with people I never otherwise would just by sharing that common bond of great youth literature.
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3 comments:
That's great! I love how books can spark interesting conversations.
I have been amazed at how the books maintain relevancy as well. My husband and I were watching The Amazing Race the other night and the teams were in Krakow and visited the Tower with the bugler. Two other books that I recently read from the list parallel other current non-fiction that I am reading...nice to find that even older children's books are reflections (in some ways) of current topics.
Flusi
I got a little tingle as you compared us readers to Claudia in our quest for "being differnt."
My husband read the book last week in advance of taking our older son to NYC and he, too, loved it.
If only there were more books with its gentle wisdom.
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