Books That Shaped America

Books That Shaped America is one of the most intriguing online exhibits in the Library of Congress. The books listed here span 2½ centuries of American history.

These books have had a profound effect on American life, but they are by no means the only influential ones. And they are certainly not a list of the “best” American books. Curators and experts from throughout the Library of Congress contributed their choices, but there was much debate—even agony—in having to remove worthy titles from a much larger list.

Here are some of the books listed for the time period 1950-2000:

E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web (1952)
According to Publishers Weekly, Charlotte’s Web is the best-selling paperback for children of all time. The likely reason is that it is just as enjoyable for adults to read as children. This story line centers on a clever and compassionate spider and her scheme to save the life of Wilber the pig. It is especially notable for the way it treats death as a natural and inevitable part of life.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)
Although mainstream critics reacted poorly to Atlas Shrugged it was a popular success. Set in what novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand called “the day after tomorrow,” the book depicts a United States caught up in a crisis caused by a corrupt establishment of government regulators and business interests. The book’s negative view of government and its support of unimpeded capitalism as the highest moral objective have influenced libertarians and those who advocate less government.

Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1963)
By debunking the “feminine mystique” that middle-class women were happy and fulfilled as housewives and mothers, Betty Friedan inspired the second-wave feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Friedan advocates that women need meaningful work and encourages them to avoid the trap of the feminine mystique by pursuing education and careers. By 2000 the Feminine Mystique had sold three million copies and was translated into several languages.

Malcolm X and Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)
When The Autobiography of Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little) was published, the New York Times called it a “brilliant, painful, important book,” and it has become a classic American autobiography. Written in collaboration with Alex Haley (author of Roots), the book expressed for many African Americans what the mainstream civil rights movement did not: their anger and frustration with the intractability of racial injustice. In 1998, Time magazine listed The Autobiography of Malcolm X as one of ten required reading nonfiction books.

What other books do you think are on this list? Find out at Books That Shaped America.

Lorin Catudio 
Redmond Library Board, Emeritus

Summer (of Learning) is Here!

Growing up, reading was always the best way to let my imagination go wild.  While living in a military installation overseas, there normally wasn't much to do during the summer time, but there was always the good old library to visit.  We had a summer assignment of sorts, where we had a bingo card, with each square containing the name of a book.  The goal, of course, was to read through as many books as possible to get as many bingos as possible.

I don't really recall what the prizes were but I know that there were definitely no Tablets or iPads or anything of the sort at the time.  Maybe a cup that had a little label that had "Reading is Fun" along the side or something along those lines.  Still, it was a great program, and I had a chance to explore the center of the Earth or fight evil space men alongside my hero in an adventurous battle to save the world.

And now with the sun slowly starting to peek through the clouds, comes summer, and with it, the Summer of Learning at KCLS!

I didn't really grow up with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), and contrary to my current career, I was actually more interested in arts, crafts and languages.  If STEM was a big thing at the time, I'm sure I would have fallen into Science and Technology but alas it wasn't something available for myself.  Which is why I find it so exciting to see KCLS offering Programs that not only hit Reading and Art but also STEM.

Here are just some of the ones that I find interesting, though they aren't in Redmond unfortunately:

Bubbles, Volcanoes and Rocket Balloons Workshop
Presented by Debbie Hansen, The Science Lady.
Ages 3 to 5. or Ages 5 to 7.
Discover scientific laws through fun experiments including rocket balloons, effervescent bubbles, a baking soda volcano and dancing raisins.
Dates & Locations


Mathemagic!
Presented by Thomas Pruiksma.
Ages 8 to 12
Discover secrets about numbers and learn to do mathemagic (math + magic) tricks to amaze your friends and family in this workshop.
Dates & Locations 

Hands-on Bunraku Puppet Manipulation Workshop
Presented by: Thistle Theatre.
Ages 8 to 12.
Discover Bunraku puppetry, a traditional Japanese art for hundreds of years. A brief history, mechanics and demonstration of the Japanese art form is included.
Dates & Locations

Candy Experiments Show
Presented by Loralee Leavitt.
Ages 5 and older.
The author of Candy Experiments demonstrates that candy is more than a sugary snack. It can be an amazing science experiment! 
Dates & Locations
 
Candy Experiments Workshop
Presented by Loralee Leavitt.
Ages 8 to 12.
The author of Candy Experiments leads a workshop with stirring, squashing and sinking candy. Become a candy scientist! Dates & Locations

Of course, there's several more you can find at the Summer of Learning page on the KCLS site!

For children who participate in the Summer of Learning, there is quite the prize.  Go on to the Summer of Learning page to see the details! 

- James

Jeannine Hall Gailey: Redmond’s Poet Laureate Reads

Join Redmond's Poet Laureate, Jeannine Hall Gailey, for a reading from from her first book, Becoming the Villainess, a celebration of geek culture in poetry, with poems in the voices of comic book and fairy tale characters. After the reading, Jeannine will host a Q&A and discussion about the book. The talk is at the Redmond Library on Wednesday, February 20th at 7pm. Refreshments provided.

Other Books
Gailey’s other more recent notable book of poetry, She Returns to the Floating World, deals with feminine transformations in the personae of characters from Japanese folk tales, anime, and manga. Gailey's work addresses feminist issues of power in mythology and comic book cultures, turning fairy tale stepmothers into empathetic characters, and holding up a mirror to contemporary American culture's images of powerful women.

Here’s an excerpt from the book:

    I’m sorry I didn’t turn out
    like you expected
    sorry the last sight you’ll see is
    the flash of silver in the sky and that
    is it
    a flurry of leaves and dust…
    I wanted to be sturdy I wanted more I wanted you
    but instead I have the transitive the shift the loss
    the goodbye
    farewell goodnight…

Gailey’s third book, Unexplained Fevers, will be published by New Binary Press in 2013. For more about her, visit her blog, Jeannine Blogs.

Lorin Catudio
Redmond Library Board, Emeritus

Literary Lions Gala on March 23, 2013

Best-selling and award-winning author Dennis Lehane will be the keynote author for this year’s King County Library System Foundation 20th Anniversary Literary Lions Gala. Three of his novels – Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island – have been adapted into award-winning films and his new book, Live by Night, was just released and has garnered rave reviews.

One of the more interesting items available at the Gala are the Author Salons. Tickets to the Salons are sold for a fixed price and in limited quantities, so you have the opportunity, in a private home or intimate venue, to delve into the authors’ experience over conversation and food!

The event will be held at the Bellevue Hyatt on March 23, 2013 at 6 p.m. Nancy Pearl, librarian and book reviewer, will emcee the event and thirty popular Northwest authors will also be featured.

The KCLS Foundation funds programs that reach out and encourage residents of all ages to enjoy reading and learning. In 2012, more than 200,000 children, youth and adults benefitted from the Foundation-supported programs.

The Redmond Friends Need You!

Did you know that KCLS enjoys support from 38 Friends of the Library and 15 Library Advisory Board groups? The Friends of the Library Groups provided a combined total of more than $300,158 to support programs, materials, art and other library initiatives in 2011. The Friends of the Redmond Library are seeking volunteers to provide help with the on-going book sale within the Redmond Library. Duties includes pricing books and weeding the book sale shelves. The time commitment is 1-2 hours a week on any day of the volunteer’s choosing, with the preference that the volunteer can work regularly on the same day of the week.

The Friends’ mission is to promote and celebrate cultural literacy in Redmond; to support the Redmond Library and its staff; and to support the King County Library System and its mission. As a result of funding from Friends of the Redmond Library, activities that have been added to library programming include, but are not limited, to:

• Children’s story times in Hindi, Chinese, French, and Russian
• Teen coffee house/poetry night
• Licensing for public performances of films & DVDs 
• Opera preview lectures
• Library orientations for Rose Hill and Einstein elementary students and parents

If this sounds like the perfect opportunity for you, please contact Jean Marston at jmmarston@hotmail.com or (425) 883-0455.

There’s Gold on Your Bookshelves!

While doing my spring cleaning, I came across a thin book that I’d forgotten about. I quickly read the book and was fascinated by the first-hand account of the Klondike Gold Rush. The book, The Immigrant in 1887, is the autobiography of Swedish immigrant John W. Nordstrom, the founder of the Nordstrom retail empire.

In 1887, Nordstrom, only 16 years of age, left his family’s farm in Sweden and headed to America to find his fortune. Arriving in America with $5 to his name, he worked his way across the country taking jobs on railways and in mines, lumber camps and shipyards, eventually arriving in Seattle, Washington in 1896.

While working at a sawmill he read an 1897 newspaper account of the discovery of gold in the Klondike and headed to Alaska to make his fortune. He invested in a gold claim and was one of the lucky ones — he returned to Seattle with a modest fortune of $13,000. From then on, he focused on the less demanding business of retailing.

Klondike Gold Rush
The news of gold in the Klondike triggered a stampede of would-be prospectors to the gold creeks. Some 100,000 people attempted to find their fortunes — few did. Seattle and San Francisco were the most common departure points for reaching the gold fields by sea. Nordstrom recounts his Alaska cruise:

The steamship company was selling first- and second-class tickets on this boat. A reporter from the Post-Intelligencer boarded the ship not long before it was to sail and inquired what the difference was between first- and second-class passage. He was told that as far as anyone could see, the only difference was that the first-class passengers slept with the horses and the second-class passengers slept with the mules. Since we had second-class passage, we slept with the mules.

Once in the Alaskan town of Skagway, prospectors faced the arduous challenge of bringing all their supplies up White Pass and down the Yukon River to the gold fields, a trip of about 500 miles over forbidding terrain.

To learn more, visit the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Site in downtown Seattle. Several exhibits highlight the gold rush era, and admission is free.

Modern Day Prospecting
If you’re interested in prospecting for gold in Washington state waters, visit the Department of Fish & Wildlife. There, you’ll find a link to a comprehensive publication that covers terminology, techniques, and allowable prospecting sites within the state: Gold and Fish: Rules for Mineral Prospecting and Placer Mining.

The Top Ten Best Selling Books of All Time

Wikipedia’s List of best-selling books contains estimates of  popular books sold over the last several centuries. The list is incomplete since accurate sales figures are difficult to find. Books such as Don Quixote, The Three Musketeers, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the individual Harry Potter books are the biggest omissions from the list.

Also missing from the list are religious books, such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible and the Qur'an. Most likely, religious books are the most-printed books, but it’s nearly impossible to find reliable sales figures for them. In addition, many of these books are given away free, instead of being sold.

Despite these omissions from Wikipedia’s lists, this list of the top ten best selling books of all time gives us insights into our cultural diversity and tastes.

10

Think and Grow Rich
Think and Grow Rich is a motivational personal development and self-help book inspired by a suggestion from Scottish-American businessman Andrew Carnegie. While the title implies that this book deals only with how to get rich, the author explains that the philosophy taught in the book can be used to help people succeed in all lines of work and to do or be almost anything they want. 

     Author: Napoleon Hill
     Published: 1937 
     Approximate sales: 70 million

9

The Da Vinci Code 
The Da Vinci Code is mystery-detective novel. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to Mary Magdalene.

     Author: Dan Brown
     Published: 2003
     Approximate sales: 80 million

8

She 
She is a first-person narrative that follows the journey of Horace Holly and his ward Leo Vincey to a lost kingdom in the African interior. There, they encounter a primitive race of natives and a mysterious white queen, Ayesha, who reigns as the all-powerful She, or She-who-must-be-obeyed. 

     Author: H. Rider Haggard
     Published: 1887
     Approximate sales: 83 million

7  

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children. The story begins in 1940 during World War II, when four siblings — Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie — are evacuated from London to escape the Blitz. While the four children are exploring their new living quarters, Lucy looks into a wardrobe and discovers a doorway to a magical world named Narnia. Eventually all four of the children enter Narnia and their adventures begin.

     Author: C. S. Lewis 
     Published: 1950 
     Approximate sales: 85 million

6  

And Then There Were None 
And Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel. In the novel, ten people, who have previously been complicit in the deaths of others but have escaped notice or punishment, are tricked into coming onto an island. Although the guests are the only people on the island, each is murdered one by one, in a manner paralleling the old nursery rhyme, Ten Little Indians.

     Author: Agatha Christie 
     Published: 1939 
     Approximate sales: 100 million

5  

Dream of the Red Chamber 
紅樓夢/红楼梦 Hong lou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber) is believed to be semi-autobiographical, mirroring the rise and decay of author Cao Xueqin's own family and, by extension, of the Qing Dynasty. The novel is remarkable not only for its huge cast of characters and psychological scope, but also for its precise and detailed observation of the life and social structures typical of 18th-century Chinese aristocracy.

     Author: Cao Xueqin
     Published: 1759
     Approximate sales: 100 million

4  

The Hobbit 
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, is a fantasy novel and children's book. Set in a time "Between the Dawn of Færie and the Dominion of Men", this novel  follows the quest of home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins, whose quest is to win a share of the treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug.

     Author: J. R. R. Tolkien 
     Published: 1937 
     Approximate sales: 100 million

3  

The Lord of the Rings 
The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel that is a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit. The title refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who had in an earlier age created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power as the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of Middle-earth.

     Author: J. R. R. Tolkien 
     Published: 1954 
     Approximate sales: 150 million

2  

The Little Prince 
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry first published Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) in 1943, only a year before his Lockheed P-38 vanished over the Mediterranean during a reconnaissance mission. More than a half century later, this fable of love and loneliness has lost none of its power. The narrator is a downed pilot in the Sahara Desert, frantically trying to repair his wrecked plane. His efforts are interrupted one day by the apparition of a little, well, prince, who asks him to draw a sheep. And so begins their dialogue, which stretches the narrator's imagination in all sorts of surprising, childlike directions.

     Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
     Published: 1943 
     Approximate sales: 200 million

1  

A Tale of Two Cities 
A Tale of Two Cities is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution. The novel also portrays many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period.

     Author: Charles Dickens 
     Published: 1859 
     Approximate sales: 200 million

Library Night: Books, Stories, and Pizza

About 5 times during the school year, Rose Hill Elementary has a Library Night at the Redmond Library. The latest Library night was Tuesday, March 6th. This event is an opportunity to expose schoolchildren and their parents to the library and its resources. Best of all, every child gets to take home a book!

Typically, there are hundreds of books for children to choose from. The books are purchased in bulk from Scholastic Warehouse, usually with generous discounts. Ooooh, Soccer Mom from Outer Space — sounds like a good read!

Amy Silverman, a Rose Hill Elementary reading and math teacher, encourages a student to submit his name for the book drawing later in the evening. All students get to choose a book when their name is called.


The Library Night program always includes food. On this night pizza was on the menu. Janice Yuly, a volunteer, gives you a choice of pepperoni or cheese pizza. Dessert used to be cookies. Now it’s more nutritious, and fruit, such as grapes, is often served. Also, water is now served instead of soda.


The Library Night program also includes a read-aloud story. Here, Marilyn Bunday, a Rose Hill Elementary first-grade teacher, reads to a group of children and their parents. Tonight’s reading is from Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I watched in amazement as Marilyn read the words of the entire story upside down so that children could see the pictures right-side-up. She said it’s a skill she’s developed over the years.

Finally, it’s time for the book drawing. Florinda Davis, a Rose Hill Elementary reading and math teacher, calls out a name. Anxious students wait for their chance to pick the book they’ve eyed earlier in the evening. For many students, a book is a prized possession.

Sponsorship
The costs of the Rose Hill Elementary Library Night is underwritten by the Friends of the Redmond Library — this is the 8th year of sponsorship. One of the key goals of the Friends of the Redmond Library to promote and celebrate cultural literacy in Redmond. BTW, even though Rose Hill Elementary is in Kirkland, the school attendance boundary includes students who live in Redmond, making the Redmond Library their neighborhood library.

Thank you Friends of the Redmond Library!

A Wall of Words: Full Book Posters from Spineless Classics

What a great idea! The words of an entire book printed on a single sheet of paper…

Spineless Classics now has over 60 titles to choose from, including Beowulf, Peter Pan, and Pride and Prejudice. Each poster contains the complete text of the book, with the words arranged as decorative graphics. Surprisingly, the small-sized text, which uses a 4-point font, is legible.

The brainchild of Carl Pappenheim, the idea of book text as wall art came to him by accident one year when he was too broke to buy expensive Christmas gifts. Despite his poor finances, he wanted to give his mother a present that meant something. He collaborated with an architectural drawing company, and printed the text of her favorite novel on a poster.

And if reading the words on these posters isn’t enough of a challenge for you, there’s Spineless Classics new line of jigsaw puzzles. You guessed it — the puzzle image is the complete text of a book.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

The most famous children’s book writer of all time, Dr. Seuss, would have been 108 today. Theodor Seuss Geisel, who called himself Dr. Seuss, wrote over 40 children’s books during his life, which have sold more than 200-million copies. Some of his most famous books include The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Green Eggs and Ham, Oh The Places You Will Go!, and Horton Hears a Who!

In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on childhood illiteracy, which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. Accordingly, a director of Houghton Mifflin compiled a list of 348 words he felt were important for first-graders to recognize and asked Geisel to cut the list down to 250 words and write a book using only those words.

Nine months later, Geisel completed The Cat in the Hat, using 236 of the words given to him. It was imaginative with simple drawings and strong verse rhythms — but most of all, it could be read by beginning readers.

The Cat in the Hat and subsequent books written for young children achieved huge international success and they remain very popular today. In 2009, Green Eggs and Ham sold 540,366 copies, The Cat in the Hat sold 452,258 copies, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish sold 409,068 copies — outselling the majority of newly published children's books.

Green Eggs and Ham
Green Eggs and Ham, written by Dr. Seuss, contains a vocabulary of only 50 different words, which is far less than the more chatty The Cat in the Hat, which uses 236 words. Here’s a word cloud (created by using Wordle) based on all the words in the text of Green Eggs and Ham.

Read Across America Day 
Geisel's birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association.

 

Modern Language Association in Seattle

Oh, the MLA Handbook. How that brings me back to my college days! “Founded in 1883, the Modern Language Association of America provides opportunities for its members to share their scholarly findings and teaching experiences with colleagues and to discuss trends in the academy.”¹

Through the weekend, the Modern Language Association is hosting their 127th Annual Convention in Seattle.  Some of their sessions are open to the public, so consider joining sessions such as “Pinter in Seattle: A Creative Conversation with Frank Corrado and Harry Burton”, among other offerings.

Can’t make it in person? Follow the Annual Convention via Twitter. May your first full weekend in 2012 be full of interesting conversation!

1. Modern Language Association. “About the MLA.” mla.org. Modern Language Association, 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 6 Jan. 2012.