The People I Want to Thank for Making a Reader of Me

Image:  The Conversation

My contribution to Banned Book Week is a thank-you letter to some of the people who are responsible for my book habit.

Just this morning we were discussing where I would put any more books.  That was timely since my last book acquisition just arrived in the mail a few minutes ago.

I don't know when I first started buying books but I can recall the excitement in elementary school when the Scholastic book sale rolled around.  Who could ask for more?

I guess the first person I should thank is my mother who taught me how to read when I was four years old.  Alice and Jerry and Mrs. Tiggy Winkle.  She had been a teacher so it was a natural thing for her to teach me how to read.

Image:  Getty Images

The next person was surely my maternal grandmother, Ida Mae Murrell Tatum.  She had been an English and Latin teacher and basketball coach and owned the first private library in a dedicated room I had seen.  I ended up with a lot of her books, including the Harvard Classics which I have since passed on to my son (to gain storage room).  She always encouraged reading and always asked me what I was reading.  I remember she told my father she was going to give me a book that had become controversial in Alabama where they lived.  He said he trusted her judgment.  She gave me her copy of To Kill a Mockingbird when I was 12.

My first cousin, Billie Anne Crouch Tucker saw that at about age 13 or 14, I was beginning to develop more mature attitudes and introduced me to Catcher in the Rye and other fiction popular in the 1960s.  She also encouraged me to read and convinced me that I should be reading more grown-up books.

The next direct influence I recall is Mr. William McCreary, my eighth-grade science teacher who introduced me to what I called "smartass" books at the time which contained more mature and complex themes.  Two books he recommended were Catch 22 and The Conversion of Chaplain Cohen.  He also refused to take work from me that had been lazily completed but he always gave me a chance to do it again and turn in what he called "Orr-level work."

My ninth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Roberts taught me grammar.  I mean she taught it.  By tenth grade, I proved that because of her, I was done with Warriners. I prevailed, I might add.  Never made less than 100% on a grammar test the next year.  Thank you, Mrs. Roberts!

Since I was an English major in college, my professors were certainly an encouragement to read!  Sometimes too much.  It interfered with my music, the only thing I really cared about in college.

Fortunately, I ended up in the education business where reading was always valued.

My next direct influence is my incredible wife, Kathy, who has a book in her hand and another one close by 24 hours a day.  Unlike me, she can read while watching a television show, a movie, or a football game.  While I never documented this, I would wager that she could read a book while changing a diaper.  She reads three times as fast as I do and has read more than anyone else in my extended family except for one who will come up shortly.

Many teachers whom I have met in my career have provided inspiration, but none more than Mr. Angelo Resciniti, who has enriched the lives of many, many students at East Bay, Armwood, and Strawberry Crest High Schools.  Mr. R was without reservation, the best teacher I have yet known.  His influence on thousands of readers and young scholars cannot be overstated.

Finally, I want to thank my son, Bo, William Bourassa Orr (WO VI), who is currently my research partner, editor, and the source for many of the ideas that I eventually study and write about.  He has taught me much more about scholarship than any other person and I will always be grateful to him and to all of those who saw that I needed a little kick to get started.

My most sincere thanks to each of them.