Gifts!
First of all, thank you! We've now given over $175 to the children in Haiti who are suffering from severe hunger. (Actually, we've given more than that, but some of you have been cagey about amounts. :) )
Thank you so much for your generosity and empathy. Thank you. From the heart.
Second of all, if you're giving gifts this holiday season, consider giving books. As you may know, the publishing industry, like most industries worldwide, has been hit hard by the economic downturn, and there have been layoffs galore. If you're a literature lover, give publishing a little boost with your gift budget this year. Books are relatively inexpensive, and they can convey a real message from the heart.
For my nephew Indigo, who's three now, I just got a copy of We Are All Born Free, a children's book that illustrates the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights (which had its 60th birthday yesterday!) with beautiful paintings by different artists.
I wish someone had read me the Declaration when I was three: there's a lot of stuff I would have known not to put up with! (I actually didn't learn about the Declaration--or Eleanor Roosevelt's pivotal role in it--until I was teaching college. Can you believe it? That's a crime right there.)
If there are any fourteen-year-old girls in your life with a taste for gritty, funny reading material, let me recommend Gary Soto's Accidental Love, a novel that Amara, my Little Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, completely loved. For this year's holidays, I got her Soto's short story collection Facts of Life and Sherman Alexie's hilarious (and National-Book-Award-winning) novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
For myself, I got a bargain-sale copy of Toni Morrison's new novel A Mercy (which I zoomed through--more on that later) and the disturbing, important new volume Torture and Democracy, which I'm saving for après-grading. Not exactly festive fare, I guess, but it's what I wanted--and I didn't think either book would happen to show up in my stocking, so I did it myself.
Most of us are on tightened budgets this year; I know in our family, most of the adults have agreed not to exchange gifts and just get stuff for the kids instead, to lighten things for everyone. Maybe you're coming up with ways to save money, too.
But with the gifts we do give, we can support the writers we love. Happy holiday shopping!
Thank you so much for your generosity and empathy. Thank you. From the heart.
Second of all, if you're giving gifts this holiday season, consider giving books. As you may know, the publishing industry, like most industries worldwide, has been hit hard by the economic downturn, and there have been layoffs galore. If you're a literature lover, give publishing a little boost with your gift budget this year. Books are relatively inexpensive, and they can convey a real message from the heart.
For my nephew Indigo, who's three now, I just got a copy of We Are All Born Free, a children's book that illustrates the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights (which had its 60th birthday yesterday!) with beautiful paintings by different artists.
I wish someone had read me the Declaration when I was three: there's a lot of stuff I would have known not to put up with! (I actually didn't learn about the Declaration--or Eleanor Roosevelt's pivotal role in it--until I was teaching college. Can you believe it? That's a crime right there.)
If there are any fourteen-year-old girls in your life with a taste for gritty, funny reading material, let me recommend Gary Soto's Accidental Love, a novel that Amara, my Little Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, completely loved. For this year's holidays, I got her Soto's short story collection Facts of Life and Sherman Alexie's hilarious (and National-Book-Award-winning) novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
For myself, I got a bargain-sale copy of Toni Morrison's new novel A Mercy (which I zoomed through--more on that later) and the disturbing, important new volume Torture and Democracy, which I'm saving for après-grading. Not exactly festive fare, I guess, but it's what I wanted--and I didn't think either book would happen to show up in my stocking, so I did it myself.
Most of us are on tightened budgets this year; I know in our family, most of the adults have agreed not to exchange gifts and just get stuff for the kids instead, to lighten things for everyone. Maybe you're coming up with ways to save money, too.
But with the gifts we do give, we can support the writers we love. Happy holiday shopping!
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