The Book That Made Me
English Teachers talk about their bookish influences. Because books matter.
The Fabulous Ms Louie:
Mine is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. I’ve read this book almost every year since I was seven years old (I borrowed it out from my primary school library because I liked the cover!). The Phantom Tollbooth is a whimsical and funny story about a boy called Milo and a watchdog called Tock. This book made me grateful to have an education, taught me the importance of seeing things from other people’s points of view, encouraged me to be open to new ideas, and made me feel brave to do what is right. I can still pinpoint parts of my values and personality that stem straight from this wonderful adventure story.
The Inimitable Ms Pollifroni and the Excellent Ms Jacobs share a vision of greatness:
Ms Pollifroni:
I studied Margaret Atwood’s Cat's Eye in year 12 and it opened me up to the long-term impact of toxic friendships, feminist ideas and how art can collide with literature. Its beauty made me want to pick up a pen and sculpture phrases like Atwood did in her poetic yet sarcastic tone.
Ms Jacobs:
Cat's Eye takes me straight back to my childhood and teenage years. Sharply written, keenly observant and devastating, I love the way this book examines identity construction, ageing and the ways that events of the past shape our present.
The Wonderful Ms Newbold:
It was And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave. Saw a Polyglot theatre company version of it in Year 11, then read the book, then bought 'Let Love In', dyed my hair black, bought some black boots and opaque stocking, eyeliner and just started hanging out with the kids in the art room a lot more. A pivotal point in adolescence.
The Miraculous Ms Young:
Doctor Zhivago. Rollicking landscapes, social upheaval, humanity caught in the cataclysm of change.
The Quite Pleasant Ms Costelloe:
Wuthering Heights. That is the book for me. Exhilarating writing, dodgy sexual politics, stories within stories within stories, strange and wonderful characters, dizzying passions. I know that it is entirely predictable for a Literature Teacher to love this novel, but it’s everything to me. Everything.
The Astonishing Mr Rollarson:
When I read George Orwell’s 1984, I also read First They Killed My Father, which really put the spotlight on the idea that George Orwell might be onto something. To make my torture resonate on an even deeper level, I travelled to Cambodia in that same summer, to visit the infamous secondary school that was transformed into the most unimaginable site of torture and execution – Security Prison S21 (now known to the world as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum). Of course, these texts spoke to me of the darker impulses that humans are capable of. They reinforced in me how sacrosanct human rights are; how control over information can lead to tyranny; and how it is that someone can physically and mentally break down under a totalitarian regime.
The Magnetic Ms Mizner:
Epic frontier narratives gave me a place to escape when I was young. I must have spent years lost in science-fiction novels and the mythology of the Western frontier. Larry McMurty’s Lonesome Dove still has a place in my heart.
The Outrageous Mr Foster:
The book that made me was Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas.
The combination of lyrical voice, working-class lives, and playful language woke me up to a world beyond storytelling.
I read the text at seventeen and was mesmerised by the rhythms of the language and the detailed narrative from multiple perspectives. It was the first text that showed me some of the powerful possibilities of fiction. The poetic paean to small-town life has stayed with me ever since and continues to reveal more at the umpteenth time of reading.
The Dynamic Mr Brown:
It's somewhat clichè, but the book that made me was Jack Kerouac's On The Road. I read it in my early 20s when a lot was changing in my life and it just kind of fit. It meant a lot to me at the time and really shaped my perspective as I began my adult life. Funnily enough, I read it again last year and had a very different reaction to the book. Still, it is the novel that had the most profound impact on me."
The Lovely Ms Newton Brown:
J D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, I've always enjoyed the idea of a people shooting hat!
Puberty Blues also made an impact … in the way it is written by two young women, it recognises the needs of women and the sexism prevailing in society. At the time is was seen as outrageous and I remember we were all sharing copies amongst ourselves hungry to hear what Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette have to say.
The Delightful Mr Arnott:
Deadly, Unna? by Phillip Gwynne - I was a reluctant reader when I was a teenager, and this book (using footy as a hook) opened my eyes to how footy is both a bridge and a vehicle for racism between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
And the Majestic Ms Carroll:
The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín.
It’s good. Very good. The pared back prose of a master. A beautiful exploration of sibling love and the memories of loss that never fade.
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