The following are 6 of my most memorable pieces of literature.


1. Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes
I think there are 80 pages in this book but they are the sweetest 80 you will ever read! One of the first books to make me cry, and it's a true story.

2. The Bailey School Kids series
This series of books is hilarious. Now, I think of it as bad romance novels for the 11 year old mind, filled with bad jokes for a time when everything is funny. Scintillating titles range from Warewolves Don't Go to Summer Camp, Zombie Don't Play Soccer & Leprechauns Don't Play Basketball. The truth is, however, what these books did was introduce me to the possibility that books weren't just for old people.

3. Beloved
I know most of you will think I'm crazy but I loved Beloved. This book is significant to me because I felt that Toni Morrison didn't just rely on the plot of the book to make her poignant points (woo hoo alliteration!) but rather so much of how she writes communicates her ideas not just what she writes. She compelled me to give her writing more attention!

4. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Unlike most biographies I have read, this one is fascinating. I seriously encourage people to read this! It brings up some serious questions about how to deal with discrimination as well as some information I was startled to discover was true. It sheds some light on a figure that is often and unfortunately just briefly mentioned in schools. I could basically rant about this for hours but in short Malcolm X challenges the pc notions of acquiring civil rights that have been largely accepted as the only way of looking at the issue.

5. The Tragedy of Othello
Shakespeare's only black character Othello suffers from seizures. I myself also have seizures. So I found the discussion in class about the literary purpose of having a character suffer from seizures to be really interesting.

6. Invisible Monsters
This book is crazy weird! Plus the cover is super fab!