"At first I thought that this would be some lame, boring book that I wouldn't understand but it actually made a lot of sense. This book actually had some impact on me." Quote (April, 1996) from a high school student's review of Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

[One of Dan Conrad's students inspired him to offer a theme for your contribution to Reading. Try it out, even if your prose is only a few lines long.] Dan wrote:

"This student got me thinking: 'When was the first time
I ever might have said that? What was the first book that
"actually had some impact on me?" Not necessarily the most
impact, but the first time it dawned on me that a book could or
did have an impact?' For me, that book was a biography of
Jackie Robinson I read for English class in high school.
I'm not sure it was that great a book, but it opened my eyes,
if just a crack, for the very first time, to issues of racial
prejudice and discrimination. It changed something, very
fundamentally, about how I looked at the world, and
myselfãand it was the first time a book did that.

"So, I got thinking it would be interesting to hear from
others who recall such an epiphany as recorded by
the girl in her review. Some time you might put out
such a call and see if others recall their first experience
of a book having an impact on them."

Here's the call, readers of Reading. Write and tell this little bit of the world, "What was the first book that had an impact on you? And why or how?" Your thoughts can be as short and simple as Dan's model or longer and more philosophical or expository. I always print what fits. You can also read my response to Dan's suggestion.

Send me e-mail (Ken@SideTrack.org), which I don't have to re-type or send me paper mail at 925 Ivanhoe Drive, Northfield, MN 55057.