Top Ten (Maybe) Influential Reads

                Recently I was challenged to list the ten books that have influenced me in some way, or at least have stuck with me over the years. If you know me at all, that task is a daunting one. Often my students ask me which, of all the thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of books I have read, is my favorite. I usually reply that I don’t have one; naming one single book as my favorite would be like choosing one of my children and setting him or her on a pedestal above the rest. I can’t do it. However, I have decided to attempt this list of ten books.

                I thought that I would start by shooting from the hip—just listing books that came to me off the cuff. That list came to about three dozen books, and that was before I went back to Goodreads.com to see if I had missed anything. (Of course, I had. I ended up with 56.) And so I had to set a few parameters, to narrow my list.

1.       I excluded all religious books. Yes, I am a practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), and religious scripture and text had made a big impact in my life, but I figured that at least half of my list would be dominated by religious tomes like The Book of Mormon. And so I decided to eliminate them from my list of ten. Perhaps, I’ll create another separate list of strictly religious texts for another time.

2.       The next eliminating element involved series. I decided to cut all series out of my list and depend solely on works that stood independently. This includes items like The Hobbit  by J.R.R. Tolkien, even though it is technically not part of a series; it is still connected to the world of Middle Earth and the story of The One Ring. If I could only choose one book from a series, I’d end up cutting my wrists instead of items from my list. Maybe I’ll do an influential series list later, too.

3.       The third part of purging dealt with professional reading. Although they have shaped my occupation, works by Kelly Gallagher, Penny Kittle, Deborah Dean, and others were cut to the scrapheap, because, like some of the other rounds of reduction, they might be a little too particular. As I look at shelves in my classroom as I type this, I can hardly decide which have been the top influences in my teaching career, let alone my life. Again, it sounds like this might be another list, although this one might have to be broken down by subjects as well: teaching writing, reading, classroom management, leadership.

4.       I also eliminated poetry.

So where does this leave me? Well, it left me with 17 titles that I felt had influenced my life

and stuck with me.

But before I reveal the top ten, here are the honorable mentions (in alphabetical order by title): Beowulf, Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes, Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen, Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer, Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar and (believe it or not) Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Quite an eclectic mix, I think. It sort of represents the motley patchwork that makes up my life, though. I wish there were room to share all the stories behind all of these. Some of these, though, I have already written about; others I have not. Perhaps I will later.

                So here is the list in alphabetical order by title. I offer no explanations at this time. Deal with it.

1.       Choosing Up Sides by John H. Ritter

2.       The Chosen by Chaim Potok

3.       Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

4.       Guys Write for Guys Read ed. Jon Scieszka

5.       Lord of the Flies by William Golding

6.       The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

7.       Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss

8.       To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

9.       Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt

10.   Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

As I look over this list, I regret that I can’t include many (MANY) more, but I suppose that’s just something I’ll have to live with. The good news is that there are many more books to read before I sleep.

If you want to see my Goodreads stuff, and we're not already friends (on the site), please send a request. More than likely I'll honor your request. Heh heh.