Washington Post wants to know what books touched your life

[heidit at netbox.com]

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27451-2001May1.html

The important points:
Students at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington DC, like 
other D.C. students, each had to read 25 books; they thought it would 
be a good idea to get Washington Post readers into the act.

The teacher of their Reading and Math Strategies class, Janeece 
Docal, had showed them an article about Burlingame, Calif., teacher 
Jim Burke. His book "I Hear America Reading" was a compilation of 
letters from people saying why reading was important to them and what 
books had changed their lives. Many of the Bell Multicultural 
students said they had never read anything that had much effect on 
them.

Docal told them she did not believe it and brought in more than 30 
books that had altered her thinking about the world and asked her 
students to do the same. She told them to drop the disenchanted teen 
act. Maybe the weight of textbook prose had dulled their senses and 
maybe American youth culture did not celebrate great moments in 
literature, but she knew they had read things that had moved them.

It worked. The students began to bring in books that were, in small 
but important ways, precious to them. 

You can tell the students of Bell Multicultural why the books that 
touched you still pop into your heads at unexpected moments. Letters 
can be addressed to Janeece Docal at Bell Multicultural, 3145 Hiatt 
Place, NW, Washington D.C. 20010. Or just take a few minutes now to 
type out a quick e-mail. Send it to Docal's class at this address: 
jdbellmulticulturalhs at hotmail.com.

And if you don't mind, please cc a copy to the author of the Post 
article at mathewsj at washpost.com or education at wpni.comso that he can 
improve his own reading list, and use some of his readers' thoughts 
in a future column.