If I had a blank, I could blank!

If I had a       (school supply)     , I could         (verb)       .

How would you fill in those blanks?

That’s what A Gift for Teaching is challenging you to ask yourself during the 2011 PUSH campaign that’s going on this month. When given the right tools, a child’s potential is limitless.

I would fill in the blanks as:
If I had a      book      , I could       go on an adventure       !

When I was growing up, I loved books… and I still love books!
I love that books can take me to other worlds.
I love that books can let me experience things I’d never do in real life.
I love that books let me use my imagination.
I love that books inspire me to write.

Here are some books that meant a lot to me when I was a kid, in order of influence.

• Any of the Little Golden Books, like The Little Red Caboose
• Winnie the Pooh books
• Everything by Dr. Seuss
• Beverly Cleary books like Ralph S. Mouse, The Mouse and The Motorcycle  and all of the Hennry Huggins books
• Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain, on which Disney based The Black Cauldron
• C.S. Lewis  books (Narnia and his space trilogy)
• Anything by Stephen R. Lawhead
• John Steinbeck’s The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights 
• Everything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Those are just ones of the top of my head. There were so many more.

What books do you remember reading as a kid?

Of course, so many kids aren’t able to afford to buy books. They have to rely on public libraries and school libraries. And these days, school library funding is in trouble.

But you can help a child have access to books!

A Gift for Teaching offers a free store for teachers that has a corner devoted to books! Teachers can come to A Gift For Teaching and shop for free and take books for their classrooms and students.

Please consider donating the price of your favorite book to A Gift for Teaching. You can do that by going to my fundraising site at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/matthew-hoskins-1/agiftforteaching-matthoskins.

Right now, I’m almost halfway to my goal of $200. With AGFT’s stewardship, they can turn that $200 into $2000 worth of school supplies. Including books!

Thank you so much! And don’t forget to fill in the blanks in the comments below!