Summer of Shelf Discovery: Start Reading!
Welcome to the Summer of Shelf Discovery Readalong, where every week we’ll be reading one chapter of Lizzie Skurnick’s bookish memoir Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading along with ONE of the books she writes about in each chapter.
This week, read Chapter 1, “Still Checked Out: YA Heroines We’ll Never Return”, and one of these:
Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume
Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
The Great Brain by John D.Fitzgerald
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Ludell by Brenda Wilkinson
Or read a book you enjoyed as a teen that has a memorable heroine, or a modern book that you think belongs in this “canon.” Then join us next Monday June 11 where we’ll discuss the chapter and the books we read in the comments.
This is not one of those reading challenges with lots of rules–I hope this will be a fun and easy way for many of us to live the joy of re-reading that Skurnick writes about.
June 4th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Yeah … it is here! I am starting with a re-read (A Wrinkle in Time), a new book (Danny), and an extra credit with my favorite heroine (Narnia and Lucy Pevensie). I won’t read all of Narnia this week, but there are some favorite passages I want to revisit.
June 4th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Patricia, I’m starting with Wrinkle in Time as well. I’ve thought about re-visiting Anne of Green Gables–does Anne belong in the heroine category, or perhaps the bonnet one?
June 5th, 2012 at 7:47 am
I read chapter one of Shelf Life and marked all sorts of stuff to talk about on Monday. I just ordered Ludell, which was the only book in this chapter I haven’t read. I’ll be behind, though, as I imagine it would arrive till after Monday (story of my life right now).
I’ve read a Wrinkle in Time so many times I could recite it to you. I can’t wait to talk about it.
June 5th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Now it feels like summer! I too was very tempted to reread Wrinkle, but decided to discover why I remember Harriet, but don’t have a clue about anything that really happened in the story other than her keeping that notebook. Oh, yes Anne for sure! And Lucy, when I can remember how I “saw” her before watching that 1980’s BBC series. How about Liesel, The Book Thief?
June 5th, 2012 at 7:58 pm
I haven’t read The Book Thief, I must admit. I do want to say for those who live near a Half Price Books store, the clearance racks are a goldmine for the books/type of books from Shelf Discovery. I found 8 today in St. Paul!
June 7th, 2012 at 9:24 am
When I thought more about The Book Thief I realized it probably wasn’t Liesel herself that touched me so much, and that made me wonder if there are heroines I’ve met as an adult that could fit in this “still checked out” chapter, or if we need to first meet them as girls ourselves for them to have that kind of impact? The only other possible candidates I’ve come up with so far are Calpurnia Tate and Kate from The Perilous Gard (which I wish I’d read as a teen, but only discovered a few years ago). I know I should focus on the project at hand
Thanks again for putting it together! How fun your haul at Half Price Books must have been, I’m envious!