The most important books we’ll ever read

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

Earlier this month I rated a book with 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. When the review auto-posted to Facebook, a friend expressed surprise at the low rating.

I was quick to reply that a 3-star ratings indicate an average book I enjoyed. The philosophy of my rating system is:

  • 5 stars: The book shaped me as a person, changed my outlook or perspective on issue, or expanded my personal philosophy.
  • 4 stars: This is a book I love and want to read more than once.
  • 3 stars: A book I thoroughly enjoyed, although I likely won’t read it a second time. The 3-star tier is my broadest and encompasses a wide range.
  • 2 stars: I didn’t enjoy the book, but it has enough literary/artistic merit to give it more than a 1-star rating.
  • 1 star: I loathed the book and it lacked any redeeming social, literary, or artistic value.

The Facebook conversation about my recent 3-star rating made me wonder, which books had I marked 5 stars on Goodreads? A wave of literary nostalgia washed over me, and I sauntered over to Goodreads to review my shelves.

Only one book has a 1-star review. (For the curious, that would be “Twilight,” by Stephenie Meyer.) There are five 2-star reviews, 27 3-star reviews, 10 4-star reviews, and 18 5-star reviews.

The numbers surprised me. I had expected my 5-star reviews to be the second-lowest number (with 1-star reviews being the lowest). Instead, they’re the second highest.

There is an obvious trend in my 5-star book picks, though.

All are books I read in grade school, junior high, and high school. (Only two were novels read in high school; the other 16 are from my middle school years.)

If this is put in the context of my rating system (that 5-star books are the ones that shaped me as a person, changed my outlook or perspective on issue, or expanded my personal philosophy), then the implication is:

The most formative books in my life were the ones I read in childhood.

That makes sense. In childhood, we are sponges for life experiences. We absorb the emotions and experiences of book characters and internalize those lessons. Through literature, we develop empathy. Seeds of ideas and self-philosophies are planted.

Stories can have an impact at any stage in life, but in the formative years they are especially powerful.

THE LAST OF THE REALLY GREAT WHANGDOODLES and BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA  made me believe in power of imagination. THE GOLDEN COMPASS was one of the earliest books to challenge me morally and religiously — decisions had consequences, and children were not exempt from those consequences. DEALING WITH DRAGONS turned the Disney princess stereotype on its head when I was introduced to Cimorene, who needed no prince to save her.

These are the books that inspired a love of reading, charged my imagination, and offered role models.

The books we read as children are among the most important books we’ll read in our lives.

This is why I take book selections seriously for each birthday and gift-giving holiday. I want to give books that make children want to read more. I want to give books that spark imagination, that make children think, and that challenge them in some small way (be it vocabulary, new ideas, etc).

Sarah’s ninth birthday is coming, and I have spent weeks honing in on the perfect book for her. (For the curious: my choice is Neil Gaiman’s THE GRAVEYARD BOOK.)

The importance and influence of childhood reading reinforces my commitment to writing kid lit. One day, I hope it will be one of my books that sticks with a child through the school years and into adulthood.

JULIE’S TOP 18 INFLUENTIAL BOOKS FROM CHILDHOOD
(5-star ratings on Goodreads)

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What you probably don’t know about the books you grew up loving

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

Who knew there was so much we didn’t know about the books we loved growing up?

For example, do you know what inspired Katherine Paterson to write “Bridge to Terabithia”? How about the 50 words — no more, no fewer — Dr. Seuss used to write “Green Eggs and Ham”? Do you know what happened to all the royalties earned by “Goodnight Moon”? What was the name of the sixth child in early drafts of Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”? Louis Sachar’s “Holes” wasn’t originally titled “Holes,” either — do you know what it was?

The answers to these tidbits and more are featured in episode 206 of Mental Floss’s List Show, titled “47 Charming Facts About Children’s Books.”

This compilation goes to show that sometimes, the Internet is a wonderful place full of wonderful things. (In this case, full of many fun literary tidbits.)

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How you can change the world with a good deed and a bow tie

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

One year ago, I learned the story of 11-year-old Colin, an unlikely hero who is asking us to make the world a kinder place with good deeds and bow ties.

The story goes like this: Last February, Colin’s mother Jennifer asked if he wanted a party for his 11th birthday. He replied there wasn’t a point because he had no friends.

Jennifer decided to create a Facebook page called Happy Birthday Colin. Her goal was to reach family and friends to extend birthday greetings and make Colin feel embraced. The mother wanted her son to know he isn’t alone.

In an hour, the page had 13 followers. The next morning, it had 50.

People began sharing the page and the story, and it garnered international attention. Within days, the page jumped to more than 1 million followers.

These days, the page has been renamed Colin’s Friends and has more than 2.1 million members worldwide.

One year later, Colin’s story is making a difference. Colin and Jennifer are asking people across the globe to recognize Be Kind Day, which coincides with Colin’s 12th birthday today.

This image was shared on the Colin's Friends Facebook page, featuring Colin wearing his bow tie.

This image was shared on the Colin’s Friends Facebook page, featuring Colin wearing his bow tie.

Jennifer posted this explanation on the Colin’s Friends Facebook page:

Colin has always been the first one to help someone, even when things were tough for him, he was always kind to everyone. So for his birthday, we would like to ask you all to do Colin’s favorite thing – anonymous acts of kindness. On March 9th, we’d like to declare it Be Kind Day, and we are asking all of Colin’s Friends to do an anonymous act of kindness, but to honor Colin’s birthday, please add a bow tie into whatever you do. For example, leave a card for someone who needs cheering up, and sign it only with a bow tie. Or make a care package for a homeless person, and slip a note card inside with a drawing of a bow tie. On March 9th, to celebrate Colin’s 12th birthday, let’s make kindness go viral!

This young man went from friendless to famous in a matter of days. Now he and his family are using their Facebook platform to reach an international audience of millions to encourage kindness and generosity.

Colin is changing the world, one bow tie-labeled act of kindness at a time. And he’s asking us to join him.

Let’s help him make the world a nicer place today.

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How do you define yourself?

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

“Who are you?”

It’s a question society asks every day.

Everywhere we turn, we are asked to define ourselves: Twitter bios. Facebook profiles. Blog and website About Me pages.

Our definitions categorize us. We say we are writers, designers, artists, engineers, doctors, librarians. We call ourselves knitters, painters, parents, sons and daughters, book lovers, sports fans.

We define ourselves in so many ways.

But we never say who we are. Only what we are.

For writers, authentic characters depend on who, not what. We can say our characters are dentists, or journalists, or newspaper delivery boys. But that doesn’t tell us who they.

Who is about motivation. It’s about quirks. It’s about desires. It’s about personality, emotions, actions and reactions.

So … who are you?

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You’re never too old for fairy tales

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

Once upon a time someone (no one seems to know who) dubbed Feb. 26 as Tell a Fairy Tale Day.

Each year, those who recognize the holiday — mostly elementary schools and libraries — grab their favorite happily-ever-after tale from the bookshelf and read aloud to students, patrons or, in my case, a fat house cat named Webster Oxford Roget Derek Stroebel.

(Yes, my cat’s initials spell WORDS. Fitting, since he’s named after two dictionaries, a thesaurus and two journalists.)

Others take it upon themselves to channel those medieval days before computers or typewriters and write their own with pen and paper. (Bonus points if their writing utensil has a feather plume.)

Or perhaps they celebrate in the tradition of oral storytellers, imparting their tale verbally without a scribe to save it for later.

Whatever the method, it’s a holiday that gets two ink-stained thumbs up from me. Tell a Fairy Tale Day 2015 is tomorrow, so there’s still time to plan a fantastic fantasy celebration.

Fairy tales didn’t leave us behind in childhood. There’s a little bit of Peter Pan in all of us who never grew up, and the magic of folklore and fantasy has followed many of us into adulthood.

A sampling of film and television is a reminder of fairy tale influence in everyday life.

The television series “Once Upon a Time” (7 p.m. Sundays on ABC), now in its fourth season, follows the lives of the residents of Storybrooke, a New England town populated by fairy tale characters transplanted from their magical kingdom into the United States by a curse. The TV series “Grimm” (8 p.m. Fridays on NBC), a police fantasy drama borrowing from the famous Brothers Grimm, debuted in 2011 and is in its fourth season.

In 2012, two Snow White spinoffs competed for attention in movie theaters: the spoofish and laughable “Mirror Mirror,” featuring Julia Roberts as the wicked queen, hit the silver screen in March, and “Snow White and the Huntsman,” featuring Kristen Stewart as a sword-wielding Snow White, came out in June.

One year before “Mirror Mirror” was released, Amanda Seyfried hit the theaters in March 2011 playing the title role in “Red Riding Hood,” a spin on the classic story that includes a village-terrorizing werewolf.

The 2005 film “The Brothers Grimm” not only features the fairy tales but also Heath Ledger and Matt Damon playing the writers of those tales. There’s the 2009 SyFy Channel miniseries “Alice,” a modernized version of “Alice in Wonderland.” And, of course, Disney’s latest rendition of “Alice in Wonderland,” directed by Tim Burton and casting Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

And who can forget the 2014 Disney silver screen musical “Into the Woods”?

You get the point. You don’t need me to list them all. The examples are countless — I would miss dozens if I tried to list them all.

Fairy tales aren’t just for children anymore. Their popularity only seems to be gaining ground. The Maison Mochino, an Italian hotel, opened in spring 2010, and each room is tailored to individual works of literature, many inspired by fairy tales.

The Little Red Riding Hood room includes a plush wolf lying in the bed when guests enter. One of the tables in the Alice in Wonderland room is a giant teacup. And who could resist a giant ruffled pillow shaped like a cupcake? Hansel and Gretel certainly couldn’t, and I wouldn’t object to having one at home.

All of these tidbits in our culture — the television shows, films and hotel — are marketed toward an older audience. And it’s an audience that seems all too ready to consume.

So go ahead. Celebrate Tell a Fairy Tale Day this year. Pay homage to the stories you continue to treasure, whether it’s reading an original or a fairy tale-inspired book, watching a movie or catching up on the latest spinoff on TV.

Or better yet, just start writing. Throw in some dragons and dwarves and swords. Make pigs fly.

And may you keep enjoying fairy tales happily every year after.


[Editor’s note: This originally ran as an installment of Julie Stroebel Barichello’s newspaper column SpeakEasy in The Times (Ottawa/Streator, IL) on Feb. 25, 2013. It has been updated to reflect the 2015 observance of Tell a Fairy Tale Day. See the original column at bit.ly/1fhyyCf.]  

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