Academic 411

eading
Attention: Need Good Books?
Does this sound like you?
I
remember before being accepted into the Duke
TIP program searching in the school library for
a good book, probing through dusty and new
books, but finding that none of them had a firstclass
plot. Then my teacher would come in and say,
“Just pick one off the shelf, all books are the same!”
But it isn’t true—not all books are created equal,
and it‘s not so trouble-free to find a good book.
There’s not a big sign that says “GOOD BOOKS
RIGHT; BAD BOOKS LEFT” in the library.
Fortunately, at the end of fourth grade, good news
came: I was accepted in the TIP program. Soon I
took advantage of joining the Book Club. There were
only two books on the list, The Mysterious Benedict
Society and The Lightning Thief. I clicked on The
Mysterious Benedict Society and saw a series
of questions that involved more than a yes or no
answer. The questions made me interested in the
book.
The very next day I went to the library, but this time
I didn’t take time to investigate every book I saw.
Instead I looked at the spine of the books until my
hands picked up The Mysterious Benedict Society.
As I read the book I continually returned to the Book
Club and the questions that made me draw my own
conclusions from the book. I was gloomed up when
I finally finished the book. I missed guessing who’s
who, the puzzle-like way of fitting different events
into a smooth motion, and most of all, the different
characters’ personalities.
“Perhaps no place in any
community is so totally
democratic as the town library.
The only entrance requirement
is interest.”
—Lady Bird Johnson, Former First Lady of the United States
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