Tears and reflections!!

 Ever cried over a fictional character? I did. Stayed up all night mourning someone who never existed. But maybe stories are meant to do that—shake us, stir us, and help us see the world through different eyes.

 I was reading a fiction by one of my favorite authors, it started out on a good note, then some tragic events and then when things seemed to be getting better tragedy struck again. It left me feeling so sad, shaken, unsettled, I stayed up all night crying for that 19-year-old fictional character who had a very promising career and life ahead of him…. The mom inside of me just couldn’t rest.

I know he wasn’t real. And yet, my heart ached as though I had lost someone I knew. Teenagers like him exist in the real world, and tragedies like this—accidental overdose, a life cut short—happen every day. He wasn’t even a drug user. It was just one bad moment, one terrible mistake, one bad decision….

 I mostly read fiction—spy novels or murder mysteries are my usual comfort zone. But when my children were in middle and high school, I often found myself reading their summer reading assignments. I didn’t grow up here, so I missed out on many American literary classics and some of the books were newly published, and none were the kind I would have picked on my own; so I had a go at them. To be frank, many were among some of the darkest and saddest stories I’ve ever read.

 Take The Glass Castle, for instance - alcoholic, abusive dad, children are neglected, they are scouring for food in the trash, and it’s based on a true story.

Poisonwood bible - same thing, children/ wife is abused by a white missionary father who is so obsessed with baptizing children in a crocodile-infested river in Africa  that he completely neglects and abuses his own family.

I wonder who even comes up with this list? What do they want to accomplish? What is the message? One High schooler once told me that they want them to read these kinds of books to know what life is really like out there, since they live in America and they are so privileged but all the families in these books are American. If the goal is empathy and awareness, shouldn’t they also be reading about school shootings, racial injustice, or the Black Lives Matter movement, things that are part of the American landscape? Where are those stories?

But to be fair, not all their assignments were dark or disturbing. A few were indeed true gems.

To Kill a Mockingbird  for eg—  a timeless classic. Written more than 50 years ago, and yet the themes of racial injustice, inequality, and moral courage still echo in today’s world. Everyone should read this book.

The other Wes Moore -  written by one of the Wes Moore. It’s a powerful comparison  of 2 African American boys named Wes Moore who grew up only couple of blocks from each other on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland and how circumstances and sheer willpower dictated where they ended up, one in Prison, one in the White House as a staff member. Not too long ago, I saw the author's face on the billboard - Wes Moore, Governor of Maryland. I was beaming with pride. A real-life character from a school reading list who didn’t die.

Another good read was Extremely loud,incredibly close.

It's about a journey of a 10 year old boy who is grieving and trying to find answers, a closure, his dad died on 9/11 in one of the towers.Emotional roller coaster. Grief works in different ways with different people....I would say read it, at least those who are going through tough times. 

My daughter once asked me to read Yes No Maybe So.  I did read it because when they were toddlers, I used to read them a picture book by the same title  and I had read it so many times that I started ending all my questions with “yes, no, or maybe so?”

 My daughter also asked me to read “I am Malala.” It was not part of a school assignment she happened to read it when she was in middle school and spent many sleepless nights over it. That one stayed with both of us.

So maybe the message isn’t all doom and gloom. Maybe the goal is to open our children's eyes, minds, show them the many realities of the world — the darkness, the harshness, and the light. While our children need to see the world’s struggles, stories that challenge them , open their hearts, and show them the world’s harsh truths,. They also need stories of resilience, progress, and possibilities y, stories of strength, joy, and perseverance. And so do we.

I guess I will just stick to reading  my favorite books by my favorite author, Dan Brown chasing a clue somewhere in Paris, Rome or in Washington DC. without emotional turmoil ,where the chaos is intellectual and the losses don’t feel so personal.

What about you? Have you ever cried over a fictional character? What stayed with you the most? Do you remember a book that changed the way you saw the world—or yourself?If you could rewrite the school reading list, what stories would you add?

Including book blogs from the past ICYM them. 

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