Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.
Today’s Topic: Ten Things Books Have Made Us Want To Learn More About
These books sent us on a researching rampage!
Ricki
1. Immigration
Inspired after reading The Secret Side of Empty by Maria E. Andreu
After reading this book, I realized how much I didn’t know about undocumented immigrants and their struggles. Since then, I’ve read a few other books and scoured the internet to read more about policy.
2. Lesser Known Stories from WWII
Inspired by Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys and Hidden Like Anne Frank by Marcel Prins and Peter Steehuis
These two books made me aware that there are common war stories, and I have begun to actively seek out other stories that may have been just as common but not popularized in literature.
3. Disability’s Portrayal in Society and Literature
Inspired by: Wonder by R. J. Palacio
While I read this book several years ago (when it came out), I still think that it was the turning point that I began to research disability more often. It opened my eyes to a world I was not aware enough of, and for that, I am very grateful.
4. Cultural Literacy (and why I don’t advocate for this theory)
Inspired by: Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E. D. Hirsch, Jr.
I respect the passion and the position that Hirsch has, but after reading this book, I decided it was not a philosophy for me (see the post linked above for more about this). I like how he made me think critically and research this topic further. It was interesting to learn more about why scholars support it.
5. Better Ways to Teach for Social Action
Inspired by: Black Ants and Buddhists by Mary Cowhey
In her book, Cowhey critiques the typical ways that teachers think they are moving their students toward social action. She says it is not enough to do a recycling program. At first, I thought this was critical (and I still feel that a recycling program is helpful!). Then, I began to consider—How can we do more than this?
Kellee
I focused on nonfiction texts that I had read that caused me to jump on Google as soon as I was done reading them (or even while reading them!).
1. The Mary Celeste
Inspired by Unsolved Mysteries in History: The Mary Celeste by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple
I am overall fascinated with unsolved mysteries. I am a person that likes to get answers, so an unsolved mystery is so baffling to me that I must go learn everything about it. And in addition, this is a mystery from history that is still not solved. Although there are four books in the series (Salem, Roanoke, and the Wolf Girls), this was the one that really got me reading. If you don’t know about the Mary Celeste mystery, grab this book and then get Googling!
2. Synesthesia
Inspired by The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock and The Girl Who Heard Colors by Marie Harris
I am a fan of Kandinsky’s work, but I had not known where his style or change in art movement came from, so I was very interested in learning about it; however, I didn’t know that synesthesia would be the answer! What a fascinating neurological phenomenon! After sharing how interested I was in it, a friend recommended Harris’s book, and I love how she shows the reader about the phenomena.
3. Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Inspired by Plastics Ahoy! by Patricia Newman
I try to live a Green lifestyle, and environmental issues is one of my top three issues when I am looking at politics, but I had not realized how bad the pollution had gotten. This book put that in perspective, and I found myself looking to talk to everyone about this.
4. The Family Romanov
Inspired by The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming
I remember when the movie “Anastasia” came out, I became a bit obsessed with the story of the missing princess, so when Fleming wrote The Family Romanov, I knew I was going to have to read it. First, I must say that “Anastasia” was way off of the true story (I rewatched it after reading the book), but there are still mysteries and horrors revolving the Romanov family. During and after reading, I found myself reading more information about events mentioned in Fleming’s book and looking for photographs of places, people, and events.
5. Civil Rights Movement
Inspired by many amazing books about the Civil Rights Movement
Reading about this tumultuous and important time in history helps me understand the story, history, and plight of my fellow Americans. I am always interested in learning more about this part of history because I believe it will help us in our modern situations.
What have you inspired to learn more about?
Thanks for telling about the books that made you both start learning more. I tend to do further research often, but one book recently made me look further into Boston’s segregation laws, finding that they had more liberal ones long before others. That was The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial – Goodman & Lewis.
Between Shades of Grey has definitely made me want to find lesser known war stories too!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/26/top-ten-tuesday-67/