A New President and Positive Literature!

Toby and readers,

     Well . . . America has a new president! Some are happy. Some are sad. Some are fearful. Some are mad. I, readers, am none of these things. I am optimistic. Not to be confused with happy, but optimistic. I'm not the most thrilled, but I am hopeful. I'm hopeful that we, as a nation, have selected someone who will carry us through the next four years without killing us all. But. . . is that not what we always want? How was this election any different from ones in the past? Sure, the obvious reason, a female ran, but what about overall? We had multiple candidates, whom all had different goals for this nation and stances on national issues. But that's no new development, America. We have always had different parties with different views. We have always had candidates who said things that others were outraged by, so what is the big difference?

     The difference in this election, readers, was the media. Whether it was a tweet, an audio recording, word of mouth, or something said in an email or letter, everyone in the nation – the world even- had instant access to it. For weeks on end, the same quotes were covering newspapers, TV's, and magazines. What if we had the same media coverage now as we did in 1885? What if you bought a paper from a newsboy and that was how we got our quotes and opinions from presidential candidates? Would that not change things? I certainly believe it would! If every single person did not have their opinion displayed all of their Facebook or their Twitter the election would have been so much more civil. If friends and families did not comment attacks toward each other for their own opinions, wouldn't we be so much happier?

     Literature, in every form, has such power in this world! Literature in the form of a newspaper article, in the form of a social media post, and even a poster in a business has so much power. What if all of the negative influence from literature, like mean comments or unprecedented opinions just to start a fight, was turned into positive literature?

I want you to help me do this. Help me make some positive literature, please?

     A while back, I received a book titled Operation Beautiful by Caitlin Boyle as a gift from an aunt, who knows my stance on positive encouragement. The book challenges each of its readers to anonymously encourage people. All the challenge asks is that you, the reader, write something positive on a Post-it note and stick it somewhere for people to see. Mirrors, coffee pot handles, bathroom stall doors, and car steering-wheels or windows are great places to leave a note and some of my personal favorites. Why, you ask, are you telling me about this book? Because, readers, I challenge YOU to Operation Beautiful. If each of you readers left three notes with the website “operationbeautiful.com” on the bottom of the sticky note to share our cause, we could reach hundreds, if not more, people with our inspiration. If you decide to accept this challenge, I would love for you to comment a picture of your notes!

These are some of my favorite notes that I've seen thus far:

Until next time dear readers, Anna

Some of My Favorite Books!

Toby and readers,

     As a young child, I was always surrounded by literature. Whether it was books in my classes at daycare or going to work with my mom and reading magazines on shelves, I've always had some form of literature around me. I think that automatically set me up to have a passion for literature. As I grew older, and into novel-level reading, my passion grew to writing as well as reading. For the last four or five years, I've been writing non-stop. Poems, songs, stories, random sentences, single diary entries every two months or so, just about every form of writing you can think of. 

     Just about every human being who has ever held a book has a favorite, eh? Even people who don't necessarily like books or reading, have a book that they like more than all the rest, right? Well, if nobody else does, I certainly do. I'm quite fond of many books and always love to read someone else's favorite book. Even if a book isn't in my favorite genre, I'll read any book that I've been recommended because you never know, it could wind up being your new favorite. Today's post is a list of some of my favorites, as well as some that I'd love to have the third and fourth grade kids read. Enough blabbering about favorite books, let's get to the books.

While all of these books are filled with tales of adventure, love, joy, fear, and sadness, my absolute favorite book is a combination of all of the above and so much more. . . The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It tells a whimsical tale of a young boy and... well... his phantom tollbooth. I do recommend that you read it, if you haven't yet, and if you have, it's always a good idea to read it again, as it may mean an entirely new thing to you with each reread. 

Until next time dear readers, Anna.

Making A Difference In The World Through Literature

Toby and readers,

     I tend to be a background player. A barely there character. A fairly unnoticed team member. Sure, I have four or five close friends and my classmates sometimes talk to me in the hall if they notice me... but they usually don't. I'm not invisible, I guess. I just tend to keep quiet and try to blend in. However, I will always speak up in class to share my thoughts, if our topic interests me and our opinions are asked for. Take today, for example.

     Today, in my American literature class we discussed a cool topic. Social issues. Not very literature-y, I know, but it will be soon. We are going to read Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, so our teacher had us discussing social issues, such as the one in the book, racism and slavery. Women's rights, abortion, LGBT rights, immigration and deportation, social class differences, and religious rights are some of the other social issues we discussed.

     Each student had to pick one of these topics and write down several ways to stop the issue. I selected women's rights for my topic, as it is something I feel very strongly about. Thinking about all of these issues and hearing my peers solutions to them made me realize how easy it could be to make a difference. I can't single-handedly put an end to any of these, but with the help of my peers we can make a difference.

I want to make a difference.
I can make a difference.
So, I will.

      I want to make a difference by encouraging youth to read and write much more. Through experiences in my life and looking at history, I've seen how important books are and how much of an impact they can make.  Uncle Tom's Cabin made a huge impact against slavery, and is still an insanely large staple in the American battle against racism.

     I plan to ask some of my peers to help me gather books to give one book each to a class of third and fourth graders every month. If each child reads their book, and themselves or their parents write a short description of what the child thought of the book, then returns it to me to show that they read it, they will receive a prize such as a toy or an ice cream sundae party at the end of the month. I figure, if the kids have a reason to start reading and writing, they just might enjoy it enough that they will begin to read and write on their own, without the promise of a prize.

     I don't know that my plan will work, or that my peers will be willing to help, but I'll never know if I don't try. I'm going to ask my American Literature teacher if I may have 5-10 minutes in her class next week to pitch my idea to the class to see if they're willing to help. And even if they don't want to help, I'll still go through with the plan and try to inspire the kids.

     Well, time to pitch my idea to the president of the school and see if I can have some time to present in class.

Until next time my dear reader,

              Anna

~To be expected in the next post: A list of some of my favourite books and stories, and some that I'd love to have the youth read.