From One Book Lover

Book lovers have a connection no matter their specific preferences. If you've read a book I love, or even one I didn't love, I don't care whether you consumed pages, pixels, or the dulcet tones of Juliet Stevenson or Bahni Turpin. You and I are pals. That is how I feel about Annie Spence, librarian and book lover. Our friendship began with the intriguing title Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks , and it naturally grew.  Flip this book open to any page, and Spence will grab your attention with her wit, compassion, insight, and appreciation for what books mean in a life. Take To Kill a Mockingbird . (Seriously, go to the library, take it out.) (Just kidding.) (Not really.) She couches her letter to this book in her reading relationship with her family, primarily her oldest sister. The glimpses into their years growing up was heartwarming and charming, and not mushy or sentimental. The revelation at the end of her letter made me gasp. Annie — and I ...

My young friends Alex and Philip have begun their summer vacation — which, for me, always meant books. Scads and piles and armfuls of books. I'd go to the library a couple of times a week to return the ones I had inhaled and come home with more. It was a gorgeous week in Los Angeles when, as a fourth grader, I holed myself up in my room and read the the entire  Chronicles of Narnia . (It was five days, really.) I still remember shivering from the cold of the eternal winter and the White Witch. But this is today. What do — no, should — the kids of today read? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here are a few suggestions. (People of an age may recognize a title or two.) Up the Down Staircase — a New York City high school teacher new to the education system experiences life in a big-city high school. The Graveyard Book — A toddler wanders into a graveyard one tumultuous night and is raised by its residents. To Kill a Mockingbird — This classic page-turner is one of my...