Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Three Cups of Tea ~ One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time

As much fiction as I have read in recent years, nonfiction will always be my true love. It started with those little orange and blue biographies that I carted home from the library by the armful when I was in grade school. (Thank heavens our public library had shelves of them!) My favorites of that time were biographies of Lotta Crabtree, Louisa May Alcott, and Jane Addams. (I never was as interested in the famous men as much as the famous women!) And I still love biographies, which is probably part of the reason this book can be added to my favorites. It is a biography of an ordinary man who did/does extraordinary things.

K brought me the nonfiction Three Cups of Tea from NCTE (National Conference for Teachers of English) this fall. I haven't even finished it yet, and I know that I won't forget Greg Mortenson and his work in Pakistan. It joins the fictional Kite Runner as one of those books that gives me a little better understanding of what is going on in other parts of our world. I have begun to believe that history could be better taught through literature than through lecture. And yes, I would love to be the one to teach that class! (My sophomores will tell you that, on a small scale, I already do: the Roman Empire through Julius Caesar, the history of the early 1900's through Our Town, and Civil Rights through To Kill A Mockingbird.) Now if I could just convince the school board to let me teach Current Events through literature. Kite Runner and Three Cups of Tea would head that course list. Other suggestions out there??? Feel free to send them my way.

I sometimes start to read a book and realize that I have already read it. Some books are that forgettable. (And it really ticks me off--especially when I have carted it home from the library before I discover it!) Three Cups of Tea will not be one of those books. My guess is that anyone who reads this book will not soon forget it. Add it to your list of must reads!

3 comments:

A said...

I'll have to add this to my "To Read" list! If I were ever a different kind of teacher, I'd want to be an English Teacher... maybe someday. :) Literature Does teach So much.

Reya Mellicker said...

K State? Are you in Kansas? I grew up in Kansas City, still one of my favorite cities.

Like you, non-fiction is my fav. There's so much to learn!

And too I can create plenty of drama in "real" life, so I don't need to read fiction. Something grabs me every now and then - like the Harry Potter series. I was totally addicted.

Mrs. E said...

Reya,
Yes, I am a Kansas girl with daughters and a husband tied to KSU. I look at your photography and your posts and can't help thinking I would like to meet you. We think a lot alike...I should have known you were a Midwesterner!