For Educators and Librarians Continued

There is No Such Thing as a Bad Question?

I love questions. As I've grown older, I think my taste in questions has matured. It takes a better quality of question to impress me than it did when I was a kid. There is no such thing as a bad question. But, there is such a thing as better questions, greater questions, questions of a more profound (and exciting) nature.

I have always been attracted to books that frame great questions, books that leave the answers up to the readers. I don't like being preached to, and I've always thought that there is more than one answer to the great questions great books frame. I have always been attracted to books that challenge my view of life and make my world larger, not smaller or more comfortable. I read not to confirm what I already know, but to question what I already know. I suspect many other people read for the same reasons.

Make Me Happy

The most important things you can tell me after reading one of my books are: When did you cry? When were you angry? When did you laugh? When were you frightened? When was reading painful? When did you know that the book was going to stay with you for a long time?

All those other "academic" questions might be interesting, but they are not important. They do not change the lives of the readers.

Emotional Ownership

When a person becomes emotionally involved in a book I've written, they being to own the book. Emotional ownership. At that point, the book I wrote is no longer mine. It belongs to the reader. The reader might as well cross out my name on the cover and replace it with their own name.

When that happens, I have done a good job as a writer. I have breathed life into a story that is bigger than me, bigger than itself.

Tag, You're It

These are thought that influence me when I enter a classroom to teach writing or to inspire reading.

What are your thought about MY thoughts? Share them with me. Follow the link below to the Reader's Forum. You can post all of your thoughts, share them with others. Or email me directly. I appreciate your input.

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