Even after 29 years of teaching English in secondary-level public schools, I have to admit that all the reading I’ve had to do leads me back to one book, Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. I mean, in just one of the courses I had to take while studying for my master’s degree I had to read 80 books in three months. Now, that’s a lot of reading and I truly burned out on reading – but I still enjoy reading this book by Rawls. So much so, that I am bringing the idea of a “memory book” project, based on reading this book and recording childhood memories that it might evoke, to residents in an independent living facility. I hope and pray it will bring them the beauty of fond memories that it has brought me.

But, by the way, my favorite book remains the Bible – the only roadmap I trust through this life.