Before I announce the finalists, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who entered the contest.  This was a really tough choice and I was seriously tempted (especially early on when we only had a handful of contestants) to call everyone a finalist and let the voters make the tough choice.

It was so hard to choose, because all the valentines were so funny and unique.  In the end, what helped me decide was that element of surprise.  All the valentines I chose as finalists are ones where the pair is unexpected in some way.  A love letter from Dr. Jekyll to his evil alter-self.  A sweet valentine from a Tigger who just wants to be part of the family.  A letter of friendship from Dobby to the wizard who gave him his freedom.  And I couldn’t resist a haiku from Oedipus’ Mom to her son/husband/whatever he is.

Please vote for one of these fabulous finalists!

Patti Struble:  From Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde
Kemendraugh: From Tigger to Kanga
Dave Symonds: To Harry Potter, From Dobby the Free Elf 
Prof. Bragg: An Oedipal Ode (in haiku form)

The Voting Booth will be open momentarily (see the sidebar) and will stay open until 11:59pm EST on Friday, February 25.  (Any votes posted after that time will not be counted.)

We’re all mature human beings, so I’ll be using an honor system here.  This means only one vote per person, OK?  But definitely feel free to help spread the word and tell your friends to vote!  I will tally the votes and announce the winner next Saturday.

Good luck to all!

Recap of Finalists:

Patti Struble:  From Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde

You left the milk on the table,
I did not put it away.
I was not able.

You tossed the laundry,
Broke the vase.
You even jumped up
On my work-space.

Still, you brought me yet another gift.
Half-beaten man from over the rift.

Now the lab’s all a-twitter,
We, we’re not quitters.

His heart will go; lungs & brain too.
For these gifts, I give to you.

          * * * * *

Kemendraugh: From Tigger to Kanga

I don’t have a mama, and I’m not Roo.
But I sure love bouncing in on you!
You guys are my family. Like it or not.
And you’re the best family I ever did got.
I can’t write much, and I can’t spell more
That doesn’t matter, it’s you I adore
I want you to know you’re special today
Well, you’re special all days but this day especially special, okay?
So here’s a valentine’s ditty
Because you’re quite pretty
To Kanga (and Roo the little pest)
(I didn’t mean that I just needed it to rhyme.
(Poets say things like that all of the time)
Like I said, Kanga, and Roo the pest.
Poems is what Tiggers do best!

          * * * * *

Dave Symonds: To Harry Potter, From Dobby the Free Elf

To Harry Potter

Dobby is extremely fond
Of Harry and his waving wand.
And Dobby always gave support
As Harry fought Lord Voldemort

While at the Malfoy’s alma mater
He was freed by Harry Potter
Luscious Malfoy was in shock
When Dobby got that dirty sock

Although Dobby is a goner
Dobby feels it was an honor
Helping Harry to the end
As a free elf and his friend

Your friend
– Dobby the Free Elf

          * * * * *

Prof. Bragg: (an Oedipal ode in haiku form)

Love found after love
Grief and misery remain
Baby Man of mine 

I’m one of those people who utterly detests Valentine’s day.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a wonderful valentine in my life for going on ten years now, so it’s not out of bitterness that I dislike this holiday so much.  Mostly it’s because of logistics; this grotesque little holiday falls two days before my birthday.  Every year.  I also have serious issues with a holiday that encourages numerous affronts to the English language in the form of cheesy song lyrics, sappy monologues and bad poetry.

Someone needs to do something to improve the overall literary quality of Valentine’s day and I’ve come to the conclusion that the best way to accomplish this is by having a CONTEST!!!

What you need to do:  Write a valentine from one literary character to another and post it in the comments.  Easy right?  Here are a few more details:

• Contest is Open Until: Precisely 11:59pm EST on Feb. 16 at which time I will close comments on this post.
• Finalists:  Will be selected by moi, and will be announced on Saturday, Feb 19.  Once I announce the finalists, I’ll set up a poll so everyone can vote for the Grand Poobah of Valentine Literary Awesome.  I will post to let you know when the poll opens.
• Prize:  $15 Amazon.com Gift Card to the Grand Prize Winner!

• Use characters from children’s literature or teen literature.
• Pair two unlikely valentines in such a way that it goes from bizarre to deliciously ridiculous!
• Make me laugh so hard I snort milk out of my nose.
• Make me sob so much I think my heart might break.
• (But really, I like laughing better than sobbing.  Just FYI.)

Ready… Set… Write!

There’s a lot of research out there on reading and how people learn to read.  Scientists use fancy terms like “sub-lexical” and “phonemic awareness” to talk about how readers give meaning to and make sense of the little black squiggles on a page.  Essentially the research boils down to this:

Scientists use their big scientific words to explain the whole “learning to read” part, but what happens when readers get to the “reading to learn” stage?  Is that all there is?  Is that as good as it gets?

I don’t think so.

The way I see it, there are lots of different ways you can “read to learn” and it all depends on what you want to get out of the thing you’re reading.  Here’s my take on the stages of reading that happen once you’re “reading to learn.”

The Collector:  This reader collects clues and information from the text.  She reads with a pen in one hand and a highlighter in the other.  She underlines a lot.  She makes careful notes in the margin and copious outlines.  For her, language is a means to an end; it is simply a way for a book to convey valuable information.  Boring textbooks tend to bring out the Collector-Reader in many of us, mostly because underlining helps keep us awake.

The Interpreter:  This reader is constantly asking “what does it mean?”  He wants to know exactly what the author was trying to say with each phrase, each sentence.  This quest becomes all the more urgent if the author is no longer alive and therefore cannot be asked directly.  The interpreter believes in the infallibility of literature: that if Shakespeare put a comma in that precise spot he must have done it on purpose and therefore it has to mean something.  Just as Freud believed there are no accidents in life and all actions stem from a deeper meaning, the Interpreter-Reader is certain that there are no accidents in literature and if the author wrote it that way, then there has to be a reason.

The Revolutionary:  This reader doesn’t worry about what it all means, because to her it doesn’t matter.  Meaning is relative.  Instead, when she reads something, she wonders “how did the author do that?”  What’s the author’s agenda and what slight-of-hand tricks is he using to pull it off?  Writers are almost always in this category because they know that when authors write something, they’re just trying to get a reaction or response from the reader.  Writers know this because they do it all the time themselves.

The Revolutionary realizes that by putting words on a page, the author is trying to shape the reader’s interpretation of those words.  Whenever an author chooses one word over another and puts that word down on the page, he is making a decision that will shape or manipulate the reader’s response.  The moment a reader recognizes that this is happening, he or she can decide whether or not they will allow themselves to be manipulated.  It’s just like realizing that televised news broadcasts are not objective, but have specific agendas; once you recognize that, you can see past it and look for the actual information.

More importantly, though, writers know that when look under the hood to figure out how a piece of writing works, you’re not too far from learning to build an engine from scratch.  After all, the moment you ask: “how did the author do that?” you’re just a half-breath away from asking: “how can I do it?”  And that’s what writing’s all about.

This past December, a new hashtag took twitter by storm.  The concept is simple, people just state the reason why they read and add #whyiread, all in 140 characters or fewer.  Check it out!  It can be quite inspiring.

As for why I read, there are almost too many reasons to list.  Here are the most important ones:

1)  Words are delicious.  No matter what mood you’re in, there’s always something you can read that suits perfectly.  In the mood for something dark and decadent?  Try a Gothic romance.  Or what about a light, fluffy souffle made of humor essays?  Yum.  Oh and guess what?  No calories!

2)  Hours of entertainment.  A paperback costs about as much as a movie ticket (at least that’s the case in NYC), yet a book can give me many more hours of entertainment than I can get at a movie.  And if you like the movie and want to see it again, you have to buy another ticket.  Not so with a book.

3)  Travel the world from the comfort of your couch.  You start with airfare and hotel-stays.  Throw in all the hassles–airport security, the airline loses your luggage, your flight gets re-routed because of a snow storm–and before you know it, you need a vacation from your vacation.

4)  Let’s Pretend.  This is my favorite reason, by far.  When I read a book, I can be inside a character’s mind.  For a brief few hours, I’m transported to a different world and I become a different person.  I can try out different lives that I’d never be in real life.

What about you?  Why do you read?