Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 11-16-2020

Dear Reader,

November giveaways continue at the book club. This week you could win items from Ink & Willow, a new gift line from Waterbrook Press. Ten lucky book club winners will receive a copy of To Read or Not to Read: A Literary Journal for the Book Lover's Soul by Ink & Willow.

Those same ten winners will also each receive a second prize, randomly selected from the list of Ink & Willow's gift ideas and stocking stuffers, such as Choose Joy, an adult coloring book or 52 Weeks of Gratitude, a thankfulness journal.

Special thanks to Ink & Willow for the giveaways they're providing this week to book club readers. To see the giveaway items and to enter the giveaway, click here.

Congratulations to November's Chocolate Chip Cookie winners: Stacy L., Laurel Public Library; Judith L., Leavitt Area High School and Dena B.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Cancer Journals, by Audre Lorde, with a foreword by Tracy K. Smith. I have a copy to share with you, so start reading and enter today.

Dear Reader Column 11-13-2020

Dear Reader,

In the upcoming weeks I'll be featuring some Honorable Mention entries from this year's Write a DearReader Contest. People put their heart and soul into their writing, and I like to share as many great entries as I can.

Congratulations to every single person who took the challenge and entered this year's writing contest. Thank you for opening your hearts and sharing your stories. It was a privilege to read them. -- Suzanne Beecher

Whose Turn Is It to Tap the Pump?

Everyone has a secret that only they know. It could be as simple as fibbing to your parent as a child saying "I didn't eat the last cookie," but you know you did. Or a dark, gut wrenching secret, which you could never share with anyone. I tend to think we all have those.

My father never wanted to marry my mother Loretta. He really wanted to marry her sister, but she wouldn't give him the time of day, so he just settled for my mother. Oh, another secret: my mother was pregnant with his child!

I'm from a family of eight. Eight dysfunctional siblings, who really didn't realize that we were until we left home. Navigating the world around us was difficult, but we did it.

My father decided to leave Chicago for the country. He bought a tiny unheated cottage with some electricity, a hand pump in the kitchen and an outhouse. He put down the money, then he told my mother. He couldn't stay in Chicago anymore, as he was wanted for an outstanding DUI. My mother also had her fill living in her in-laws' basement, with six children under the age of thirteen. Two more children came later in the "love shack" after eight years.

After five years of the hand pump continually breaking and the outhouse being pretty damn cold in the winter, my father's parents took pity on us and bought a used pump that would supply water so we could have an actual toilet and a faucet in the kitchen.

However, the real fun was the Russian roulette game of "Whose turn is it to tap the pump?" Once a day, at any time, the pump would hum and stick and not shut off. One of us six, not the little ones, would straddle the outside basement step and door {we were way ahead of any yoga stretch} and take the bamboo fishing pole, {our summer meal planner}, and hit the pump at the right angle and spot to stop it from running and not burn out. Here was the challenge, you had to balance perfectly because the floor always had water on it from a crack in the foundation and the wires that hung down from the floor above were live and you could be electrocuted. The incredible thing is we all survived!

Let's be honest here. All of us shared this and so many, many secrets, but we never spoke of the pump tapping or for that matter, other more serious things. And yes, believe me when I say more serious.

My two younger siblings never had the opportunity to play our pump game, but I know they had their taste of other fun things. Us six got out of that house ASAP. They were years behind us. It wasn't all bad for them. They were the lucky two. My brother secured a wall heater and they had the luxury of standing in front of it in their winter coats while watching the Ed Sullivan show on Sunday nights. Oh how they were spoiled!

I could go on about the secrets we all keep. It would serve no purpose. The amazing thing is that all of us became strong and determined. We worked and studied hard, became successful and happy. There are more secrets in those chapters of our life, but that's for another time.

I am the keeper of the bamboo fishing pole. I look at it sometimes and just have to laugh because I never told anyone, but wait...now you know one of my secrets.

Linda Ann Falster
Honorable Mention, 2020 Write a DearReader Contest

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

* There's still time to enter this week's giveaways:

It's Chocolate Chip Cookie time at the book club. Every month I bake for readers. Enter the November Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway and see photos of October's cookie winners, click here.

Today is the last day to enter this week's special two-book giveaway: a copy of Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends From Scratch Cookbook and a copy of The Blended Quilt. To enter, click here. 

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Cancer Journals, by Audre Lorde, with a foreword by Tracy K. Smith. I have a copy to share with you, so start reading and enter today.

Dear Reader Column 11-12-2020

Dear Reader,

Are you ready to dunk and munch? It's Chocolate Chip Cookie time at the book club. Every month I bake for readers. Enter the November Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway and see photos of October's cookie winners. If you've never entered, you should. You're missing some mighty tasty cookies, baked by me and delivered right to your front door. Click here.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Reading your stories is the best part of my job. What a pleasure.

From my inbox:

"Suzanne, what an excellent selection for the [1st Place] winner this year. Reading it immediately made me think of my wife, Becky, and several animal rescues that she's initiated. Though we haven't tried to care for an abandoned or isolated baby bird to the extent that Virginia did, we have been temporary caretakers.

On one vacation to Kansas City, as we were preparing to leave for the return drive to Lincoln, Nebraska (four hours), we came across an abandoned baby bird under a shrub near our hotel's front entrance. It was a weekend and the local bird rescue organization wasn't available. The hotel staff took a 'live and let die' attitude, but somehow we scrounged an empty shoebox and a soft hotel towel to cushion the bald, squawking, bird-like thing. Stops at roadside convenience stores to find something--anything--we could feed the little critter were only marginally successful. Back home, "Quincy" (as my wife named him) shook and squawked all night. We managed to connect with our own bird rescue organization the next morning, who said "Bring it over" to one of their caretaker's homes. We delivered Quincy to a charming older woman who had bird cages lining her garage and backyard, mostly filled with abandoned or injured birds. She couldn't immediately identify Quincy's breed. But over the course of the next few weeks, we visited several times, as Quincy eventually revealed himself to be...a common pigeon! None-the-less, he turned into an attractive bird (pardon a proud adoptive parent's pride), who was released into the caretaker's neighborhood when he was old enough. Whenever we drive through that neighborhood, we wonder about his fate, and whether any of the hundreds of pigeons in that area are his descendants.

Thanks for bringing up a very positive memory!

Scott C./ Lincoln, NE

P. S. Thanks also for selecting me as the winner of the bag of bubble gum giveaway a few weeks ago. I'm waiting for an opportunity to stuff as much of it in my mouth as I can, to make a giant bubble and snap a pic of it! Apparently, I've got to be somewhat cautious, as I'm now a Type 2 diabetic and apparently bubble gum isn't necessarily a good thing for me. But I'll still do the experiment!

(Suzanne replies:) Not to worry about sending us a photo of you blowing a huge bubble. Simply hold up the bag of bubble gum. Readers would love to see your smiling face.)

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise this title deserves your attention:

(Fiction) VIXEN by Rebecca Zanetti

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Cancer Journals, by Audre Lorde, with a foreword by Tracy K. Smith. I have a copy to share with you, so start reading and enter today.

Enter this week's special two-book giveaway: a copy of Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends From Scratch Cookbook and a copy of The Blended Quilt. To enter, click here.

Dear Reader Column 11-11-2020

Dear Reader,

Please welcome today's guest author, Merrill Markoe.

About the Author info:
Merrill began her writing career in television in the 1980s. She was the original head writer for the "David Letterman" show and received five Emmys for her work. After leaving the show in the late 80's, Merrill received a Writer's Guild Award for her work as a writer/performer on HBO's "Not Necessarily the News." She then worked as a columnist for various magazines, and a humorous on-camera correspondent for local news.

In Feb 2020 Merrill was the recipient of The Paddy Chayevsky Laurel Award from The Writers Guild West for her work in television. In 2019 she co-authored on Audible original, with Megan Koester "The Indignities of Being a Woman." Merrill has published 11 books, and In October 2020, she released her first graphic novel: We Saw Scenery.

Please welcome Merrill Markoe to the book club. She is graciously giving away 5 copies of We Saw Scenery to lucky book club winners. Email [email protected]

Since childhood I have been an orthodox disciple of The Religion of Super Human Wellness. I became a vegetarian in the sixth grade, refusing to eat anything which would have caused me to emit the sound 'AWWW'. This simple but effective system served me well until I realized I'd begun to say AWWW at the sight of miniature potatoes and carrots.

By high school, I was frequenting health food stores, pouring over books with unsettling titles like The Mucusless Diet, whose cover was memorably adorned with a black and white photograph of the author, glowering behind his meticulously waxed handlebar mustache and goatee. I obediently followed his edicts, purchasing wheat germ and apple cider vinegar, trying not to imagine his facial hair before he got his mucus problem under control.

By college I was such a devotee of all things organic that when offered a choice between a delicious sugary dessert and a sad plate of marinated tofu, I would choose the tofu one hundred percent of the time. When Nautilus equipment arrived in the 80's, I joined a gym to add definition to muscle groups I would never see. In the 90's I did power yoga seven days a week.

As the years marched on, the internet made my religion easier to practice. I became a vegan and a day rarely passed where I didn't succumb to a slide show of eight (or twelve or thirty) important superfoods to add to my meals. Resolutely, I charged past quinoa, onward to amaranth and kamut. Anti-oxidants? Unsure what my grudge was against oxidants, nevertheless I fought them valiantly.

I was definitely on the fast track to immortality when I had to go to the emergency room. Two days later I had to get my gallbladder removed.

In the hospital, the surgeon said to me "What have you been eating...besides a lot of hot dogs and pizza?" I stared at him, my jaw hanging open.

Then I ordered a big plate of chocolate fudge cake for dinner my first night after surgery. Sure, there were sauteed vegetables on the menu, but they had their chance and, they blew it.

When I got home, I was so disillusioned I had every intention of switching over to junk food. But it turns out good habits are as hard to break as bad ones.

So I'm stuck eating "healthy" tho I'm no longer sure how 'healthy' it really is.

My current thinking is this: Be flexible. We're only here for a short while. Eat more cookies, less kamut. No more suffering through rubbery tasteless health food candy bars if a 'poisonous' but delicious one is available.

-- Merrill Markoe

Merrill is graciously giving away 5 copies of We Saw Scenery to lucky book club winners. Email [email protected]

Need a good laugh? We've posted two of Merrill's comics on our Facebook page: "5 Things I Learned During Quarantine" and "How to Meditate."

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

* There's still time to enter this week's special two-book giveaway: a copy of Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends From Scratch Cookbook and a copy of The Blended Quilt. To enter, click here. 

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Cancer Journals, by Audre Lorde, with a foreword by Tracy K. Smith. I have a copy to share with you, so start reading and enter today.

Dear Reader Column 11-10-2020

Dear Reader,

"It's better to give than to receive," and I agree. But having said that, I promise, you're gonna be extremely happy if you're on the receiving end of one of my giveaways this week. I have two book contests, feel free to enter both. And don't miss this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie giveaway.

Today you can sample a new Penguin Classics The Cancer Journals, by Audre Lorde, with a foreword by Tracy K. Smith. Click here to start reading The Cancer Journals and to enter the drawing for a copy of the book.

There's still time to enter this week's special two-book giveaway: a copy of Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends From Scratch Cookbook and a copy of The Blended Quilt. To enter click here. 

Are you hungry? Are you ready to dunk and munch? It's Chocolate Chip Cookie time at the book club. Every month I bake for readers. Enter the November Chocolate Chip Cookie giveaway and see photos of October's cookie winners. If you've never entered, you should. You're missing some mighty tasty cookies, baked by me and delivered right to your front door. Enter here.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader Column 11-09-2020

Dear Reader,

There'll be plenty of chances to win special giveaways this month at the book club.

This week's first giveaway is just in time for the holidays and it's a personal favorite of mine, Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends From Scratch Cookbook. Recipes from Amish and Mennonite cooks who celebrate the value of skipping the factory-made shortcuts and cooking from scratch instead. Over 270 recipes are organized into traditional categories from main dishes and sides, to desserts and snacks, along with kitchen tips and stories about growing up in an Amish kitchen.

Five lucky winners will receive Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends From Scratch Cookbook and a copy of her brand new novel, The Blended Quilt written with her daughter-in-law, Jean Brunstetter.

To find out more about both books and to enter the drawing, click here.

Book club readers enjoyed the top three winning entries in this year's Write a DearReader Contest as much as I did.

From my inbox:.

"Dear Suzanne, I have just read the 3rd place winner's entry [Chassidy Coon]. Boy, it was powerful. I literally got goosebumps when I read it. I want to thank you for sharing, and thank Chassidy for sharing that lesson." -- Brenda G.

"I so enjoyed Erin Manning's [2nd place] story. What a wonderful way to add joy to two lives!" -- Teresa N.

"You certainly picked a beautiful and inspiring story to be the First Place Winner! Congratulations to the wonderful writer [Virginia Huml] and please thank her for sharing!!" -- Merle H.

I'll also be publishing some of this year's Honorable Mentions in the upcoming weeks.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

VIXEN (Fiction) by Rebecca Zanetti

Have you ever had a great plan that totally exploded on you? Me too. Tabi Rusko is a wild immortal alone in the world, who mates a human male to help him and because he intrigues her. However, Evan O'Connell as a human was dangerous, and as an immortal is downright deadly--and rather determined to take matters into his own, capable, very sexy hands. Tabi has definitely taken on more than she's expected, and I hope you enjoy her adventures!

Go to: AUTHORBUZZ click on VIXEN to read more and to email author Rebecca Zanetti, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 11-06-2020

Dear Reader,

Congratulations to Laura L., the winner of my Thanksgiving Honeycomb Turkey giveaway. All through the month of November I'll be offering special giveaways at the book club. Someone always wins and it might as well be you. So be sure and enter.

It's one of my family's traditional Thanksgiving recipes, Crock Pot Dressing, and it's become a classic recipe at the book clubs, too. Every year readers email asking for the recipe (some in a panic the night before Thanksgiving, because they've misplaced their copy), so now I always share it early in the month when folks are organizing their menus for the big dinner.

If you're looking to save oven space because all of your stuffing never quite fits inside the turkey, consider making my Crock Pot Dressing this year.

Crock Pot Dressing

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped celery
1/4 cup fresh parsley
2 cups mushrooms (if you use canned, drain them)
2 eggs beaten
3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups chicken broth, or enough to moisten well
13 cups dried bread, cubed
1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp marjoram, (optional)

Melt butter in the fry pan and saute onion and celery until soft. Mix with remaining ingredients and toss well. Pack in a large crock pot. Cover. Cook on high for 45 minutes, then turn to low and continue cooking for 6-8 hours.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

The perfect book for the kids in your life or the kid in you: GOBBLEDY: A NOVEL for 8-11 year olds by Lis Anna-Langston. For a chance to win a free copy, to talk with the author, and more, see KIDSBUZZ

Don't miss this opportunity from Penguin Random House! Enter for a chance to win their Fill Your Fall Bookshelves sweepstakes! One lucky winner will win a collection of 40 big fall books and audiobooks. To enter, click here.

Dear Reader Column 11-05-2020

Dear Reader,

"Congratulations, Virginia, you've won First Place in this year's Write a DearReader Contest!"

It's a kind of phone call I love to make. Book club reader, Virginia Huml was extremely surprised when I gave her the news! She said it was the first time in her life she'd ever entered any kind of contest. A retired middle school teacher, married 55 years, three sons and six grandchildren round out her family resume. Virginia said something I'd written in one of my columns made her remember this story from her own life. What an honor to be part of your inspiration, Virginia. Thanks so much for entering this year's contest. I absolutely loved your story.

Tearfully, my young son held up a small box he had carried home from school, saying, "Mom, we need to save them," a sentiment echoed by his brothers. Peering inside, I saw two smaller-than-my-thumb-bald blobs only recognizable as birds because of their teeny, tiny beaks. Though I thought it was hopeless, we nestled them in a basket lined with a soft towel and attempted, unsuccessfully, to feed them milk using an eye dropper.

Sadly, only one bird survived the night. After the boys went off to school, I called our vet who suggested I call Harvey Webster at the Natural History Museum. Cautioning me that the bird probably wouldn't live, Mr. Webster suggested feeding it canned dog food thinned with milk and served on a Popsicle stick gently pushed down the bird's throat. I was to call him again in two or three weeks, if the bird survived. Nervously, I tried a feeding and it worked! A few stickloads later, it was content. Throughout the day, whenever I came close to the basket, my bird baby opened his tiny beak wide for more food. After a few days, Birdie, as he was now known, developed a voice--soft cheeps at first when I came near, and then increasingly louder squawks accompanied by wing flapping until he was fed.

Time for another call to Mr. Webster. I learned that the squawking and flapping when I came near meant that Birdie thought I was his mom. Next step: teach him to find food on his own. The boys caught small bugs and let them crawl up the painted dining room wall. Birdie perched on my finger as I kept him eye level with each bug. After a few pecks and misses, he caught and ate an ant. A fast learner, he was soon eating his fill of wall bugs. Next, we moved outdoors where he sat on a tree branch and ate every bug that came close.

One Saturday, we had a must-attend family wedding. What to do with Birdie? Take him to Grandpa and Grandma's house, of course. He spent that day perched on the steering wheel of Grandpa's riding mower eating whatever crawled his way, including some small worms Grandpa dug up as he and Grandma planted flowers.

Finally, Birdie's feathers came in and he was a beautiful blue jay! We put his basket outside on a picnic table and he began venturing out on his own--hops at first and then short flights. He spent his days flying from tree to tree in the backyard, always returning to his basket at dusk. We knew it was only a matter of time before he flew off for good.

Another call to Mr. Webster to ask if we could have Birdie banded so that we could identify him if he stuck around the yard. The large amount of paperwork required made that impossible, but Mr. Webster suggested painting Birdie's toenails with bright red nail polish making it easy to spot him. I did so, despite my sons' worries that the other birds would make fun of him.

The evening soon came when Birdie didn't return to his basket. We saw him the next day flying with a flock of blue jays that didn't seem to mind his little red feet. Several days passed before I saw him again sitting in a pine tree in the yard. I was able to get close to him, but he wouldn't perch on my finger. We didn't see him for months and then, one bright early winter day, there he was at the back yard bird feeder with his blue jay friends, his little red feet easily visible against the white snow.

I can't say I would be eager to do it again, but what an amazing experience to raise a wild bird and then set him free.

Virginia Huml
First Place Winner
Write a DearReader Contest 2020

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise this title deserves your attention:

(Thriller) MISTAKEN IDENTITY by Michael W. Sherer

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Don't miss this opportunity from Penguin Random House! Enter for a chance to win their Fill Your Fall Bookshelves sweepstakes! One lucky winner will win a collection of 40 big fall books and audiobooks. To enter, click here.

Dear Reader Column 11-04-2020

Dear Reader,

It was the very first time librarian Erin Manning had entered the annual Write a DearReader Contest, and it's a good thing she took the leap this year, because her story was awarded 2nd Place.

Erin was inspired to become a librarian because of Mrs. Rothgery, her grade school's librarian, who seemed to have the magic touch for recommending books to students. Watching Mrs. Rothgery every day, Erin said she thought to herself, 'I could do that for a job.' And so she did.

Congratulations Erin! I really enjoyed reading your story.

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest...
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

I like to sing, but I don't sing for other people, and certainly not in my saltiest pirate voice. I hear my grandpa's gentle chuckle over the phone.

Drink and the devil had done for the rest...
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

It's August 2020, and I'm sitting upstairs singing like a pirate to my grandpa. And I'm loving every minute of it. Of course, this wasn't where I saw myself this year. I had big plans. I was going to go on adventures. Go to museums, attend conventions, try new restaurants, and eat lots and lots of ice cream. But, since the pandemic began, I feel like I hardly leave my house.

The reading arrangement was my mom's idea. The library where I work was closed, so I had been stuck at home for about a month and a half. My grandpa's Independent Living facility was in lockdown. No one was allowed to come or go, and the library that had been sending him audiobooks had temporarily closed, too. He had been listening to the same story again and again. It was time for a change. And he had gotten a new book in the mail, but being legally blind, was not able to read it. So, I agreed to read it to him.

At this point, I should say that my grandpa and I did not have the strongest relationship. There was no bad blood, we just didn't talk much. So, I think we both approached this new arrangement with a bit of uncertainty. "You know," he said, before I even began to read, "If you want, you can just read the book and just tell me what each chapter was about when you're done."

"How about we try a chapter together and see how you feel after that?" I offered instead. I love to read out loud, and was too excited about this prospect to pass it up. By the time I had finished the first chapter, completely out of breath and desperate for a drink of water, we were both hooked. "That was great," he said, the surprise very apparent in his voice. "Will you call me again tomorrow?"

I had such big plans for this year. I was going to get my introvert butt outside and be social. Maybe join a book club. The Telephone Book Club has been a roaring success. We meet five times a week. Sometimes, more when I have time off. We started in May and have already completed 11 books. And we've read a little bit of everything...biography, true crime, mystery, adventure, pulps, and classics. The discussion is great, because we can talk about everything while it's still fresh in our minds.

Some days, after we read, he has stories to share with me, too. About his childhood or trips he's taken, famous people he's met, dating my grandma. He's lived such a full life, done so many amazing things. I love these moments, because now it's my turn to listen.

Ever since I was young, I wanted to be an actress. But, since I was a shy kid, I rarely auditioned for plays; and even when I did, I usually wasn't cast. Now, I perform five days a week. I've been Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Ellery Queen, The Shadow, and Fr. Brown. I've been Doc Savage, Hercule Poirot, and Frankie Yankovic. And now, I'm Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver; Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

This was supposed to be a summer of adventures. And I've been on more adventures than I can count. I've solved murders and sailed oceans, fought pirates, Russian revolutionaries and Chinese gangs. And although it was not what either of us had originally planned, I could not have asked for a better travelling companion.

Erin Manning
Second Place Winner
Write a DearReader Contest 2020

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

The perfect book for the kids in your life or the kid in you: GOBBLEDY: A NOVEL for 8-11 year olds by Lis Anna-Langston. For a chance to win a free copy, to talk with the author, and more, see KIDSBUZZ

Don't miss this opportunity from Penguin Random House! Enter for a chance to win their Fill Your Fall Bookshelves sweepstakes! One lucky winner will win a collection of 40 big fall books and audiobooks. To enter, click here.

Dear Reader Column 11-03-2020

Dear Reader,

Congratulations to Chassidy Coon, this year's 3rd Place winner in the Write a DearReader Contest!

A lab tech at Cornell University, Chassidy said she's never won anything before based on merit, so she was thrilled to hear the news when I called her. I'm always curious about the writing process for people who enter the contest, and when I asked Chassidy, she admitted, "I put it off until the very last minute." (I think writing under deadline pressure is a winning strategy for her.)

I'm so glad you entered the contest this year, Chassidy. I really enjoyed reading your story.

Isn't it a bit curious how some of the most important lessons we learned in school did not really have anything to do with the subject matter? One of the mantras I often tell myself (and have passed to my son as well), came from my High School Chemistry teacher: "Don't be too upset about your wrong answers. Those are usually the ones you learn the most from." In one of my Junior High classes, a teacher had a banner on her wall with the Plato quote "wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something." When I find myself wrapped up in meaningless conversation, I can picture that banner.

Arguably the most valuable lesson I learned came from my High School American Studies teacher. It was a sneaky lesson that did not appear to be one. He announced that he was going to give us an extra credit opportunity. He had a container of pennies that he would pass around. In secret, we would each take pennies to correspond to an extra grade that he would mark down in his book. If you took 4 pennies, you would get an A. Three pennies for a B, 2 for a C, and one penny for a D. There was just one small catch. There were only enough pennies for every student in the class to take two pennies each. Well, instantly my super competitive side went into overdrive. I convinced myself that I deserved to get an A. I studied hard, I usually got A's anyway, and I was obsessed about my overall GPA and graduating near the top of my class. I could not take a lower grade. And nobody was going to know about it, right? I NEEDED that A. So I took 4 pennies.

After all students had a chance to take the number they wanted, the teacher announced that there were still a few pennies left if anybody wanted more. Everyone laughed but nobody took him up on that offer. Next, he collected slips of paper that simply stated our name and the grade we chose. And then the true terror of what came next. This strange, experimental lesson would not be completely in secret. He kept our names anonymous, but he began to tally on the blackboard. One B, one C, B, a D (to which everyone laughed), C, C, B, A...

With that mention of A, everyone laughed and began to speculate on which student gave themself an A. I sat in panic during the rest of his tally that I would be the only selfish one to have selected an A. He continued. More C's, more B's, maybe another D or two. Not one more A.

I was so completely ashamed of myself and the greed that consumed me in that moment. I imagined that I would go back to the teacher at the end of the day and convince him to give me a D and upgrade another student's grade instead. However, I was too embarrassed to speak to him. But that lesson has stuck with me, and I have often considered that it was a lesson that only I am likely to have remembered, because it was one that I needed. That day I thought the lesson was solely about my greed. In the 20 plus years since then, I have realized it was about greed at the expense of others. It was about sharing the wealth. It was about looking out for your neighbors, your colleagues, your peers. When I think about that lesson today, I ask myself if I have taken too much; have I given enough?

Reader, I ask you to ask yourself: have you taken too many pennies today?

Chassidy Coon
Third Place Winner
Write a DearReader Contest 2020

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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