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I started writing this speech on a recent Wednesday, and as I sat there staring mindlessly at the computer, trying to think about what to say (what new to say!), I decided to look on Amazon for the current ranking of The Giver.
Writers do this. It's like touching your child's forehead to feel its temperature, sniffing the bottle of milk to determine whether it is fresh, glancing up at the clouds before deciding to take an umbrella. Just a quick assessment of status,
The Giver, on Amazon, on this particular Wednesday, was ranked number 573,
You may not be aware of how astounding that is. Number 573 on Amazon is practically a bestseller. And yet this book was published fourteen years ago.
To put things into perspective, I checked the ranking of The Higher Power of Lucky, this year's Newbery winner. It was number 1,078, (Of course, it has that controversial scrotum in it).
I checked an all-time favorite, Holes, another Newbery book, a well-regarded film. It was number 20,373,
I checked Bridge to Terabithia. Newbery, Currently a very popular movie. Number 23,366,
And finally, knowing for certain that I could find something that would put The Giver into perspective, bring it down a peg, humble it, I looked up To Kill a Mockingbird. It was number 2,220,
Astounding,
I began to try to think about why The Giver has remained so popular, so meaningful to so many people, for so many years ... why this organization has chosen to honor it, and me. And I do have some thoughts about that.
But first I want to talk about what a pleasure it is to be here in the company of librarians.
One of my happiest childhood memories is of going frequently to the public library in the small college town where I lived. It seemed the grandest building in the town, though there were other impressive ones nearby; the buildings of the college itself and the law school. The bank where my grandfather's office was. But it was the library, the J, Herman Bosler Memorial Library, that had captured my heart and in which I spent so many solitary and supremely happy hours.
At home, while my sister played "school" with her dolls,...