The Power of a book

I always head off to class visits and booktalks hoping that one book I share will be checked out by just one teen. I love books (well, duh!) and truly believe they can touch someone, either as bibliotherapy or just keeping them out of trouble.

Today I had a wonderful, touching experience and shockingly it came from a 6th grade teacher rather than a teen. I usually take about a dozen books, mix of fiction and non-fiction, with titles printed on a bookmark so the teens can mark the titles they are interested in checking out and tell me which ones they want to hear about. The last title I booktalked was The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin (click on the title for my booktalk).

**Just an aside: The book came out in September, made the Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) and Quick Picks for Teens lists for 2007, and was a favorite on the YALSA-bk list-serv. I had read an article by Nancy Werlin published in a recent Hornbook that discussed the reasons why she decided to write the novel in letter format. **

Anyway, I shared my booktalk and read part of the first letter Matthew writes to Emmy and all the students were quiet. I almost didn't booktalk it since the subject matter is hard (child abuse) but I absolutely loved the book (wish it woulda won the Printz) and want it to be read.

Like I said, it was the last book and so I started putting my stuff away and the teacher told her students to silent read for the last ten minutes. The other teacher in class stopped them and said she wanted to share something with them.

She started talking about how writers' ideas usually come to them at strange moments and are often triggered by things they hear, read, or see. Then she got choked up and said that the format of The Rules of Survival clicked with her as a way to share the story of her son, who was tragically killed on the 4th of July. She could take the letters his classmates had written for class assignments, notes from MySpace, and other writings and compile them into a book about grief called Healing Words. She showed them the notes she had taken on the back of her bookmark while I was talking.

We all know I'm pretty emotional so I almost cried. I swear--from the time I started the booktalk until she finished speaking and the kids left for the next class--not a peep was made. It was one of those WOW! experiences. As teachers and librarians, you know you touch lives but you rarely get to see it or hear about it. It's just one of those intrinsically motivated jobs but days like today really make you say, Okay what I do is important. I do make a difference.