reading rainbow

Come on, you know you watched the Reading Rainbow when you were little. And, now that I've mentioned it, the little jingle is stuck in your head, & remain there for the rest of the day. I guess that's what sparked reading for me--part of the song for the song says, "Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high. Just take a look, it's in a book . . ."

I, unlike many of my college & high school friends, am still in school. No, I did not flunk a course, I chose to take a distance course from Maranatha to remain on schedule with my degree. The class: American Masterpieces. Rather than spend well over an hour writing a little about my favorite works so far, I'll resign to the method of Reading Rainbow by just suggesting that you choose some to read for yourself.

Some of the works I would suggest reading are:

• Ambrose Bierce: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge This man has talent! This is one I would highly encourage each of you to read. Bierce skillfully writes a story that you can see taking place as you read. I would tell you more, but that would ruin his talented ending . . .
• Anne Bradstreet: To My Dear Children
• Kate Chopin: Desiree's Baby--ending marked by cruel irony
• Emily Dickenson: her poems have a morbid tone, but they speak to the heart
• Benjamin Franklin: The Way to Wealth--I love Ben Franklin's wit
• Nathaniel Hawthorne: Like Poe, his works are timeless. My two favorites are The Birth-Mark & The Scarlett Letter
• W. D. Howells: Editha--military service means something special to me. Howells has the talent of capturing the differing views of civillians when young men enlist into the military.
• Washington Irving: Rip Van Winkle--Irving captures time with his lazy man, Rip Van Winkle
• Edgar Allen Poe: The Raven--I LOVE Poe's work. The Raven is my favorite poem of his, but I love most of his works.

My favorite work of the summer is the piece of science fiction that I chose for my literary analysis paper: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury excellently crafts metaphors throughout his work. Metaphors of fire & mirrors. The futuristic world that Bradbury creates is believable and the consequences of his illiterate society are plausable. I suppose the theme that drew me to Fahrenheit 451 is the same theme that Reading Rainbow sought to engrain in me as a child: knowledge is power.

The excerpts that I have read this summer have been a rainbow of different writing styles. I'm so glad that I enrolled in my summer course. American literature has a colorful array of writing styles, themes, & characters. I can't wait to find more works to add to my already colorful reading rainbow.

Go ahead, pick up a book and read. After all, knowledge is power.