What type of book do you like?

In "A Thomas Jefferson Education" Mr. DeMille quotes Daniel Taylor’s The Healing Power of Stories in which Mr. Taylor categorizes books in 4 different categories. They are 1) Bent; 2) Broken 3) Whole and 4) Healing As you are involved with your student, it helps to be able to determine which type of story you are reading. Each type has a different purpose and will influence how the book is understood. Following, you will find taken from Dr. DeMille's book the defination of the four types of stories. See if you can tell them apart next time you sit down with a good read. Bent stories are those that make evil good and encourage the vilest of reactions and emotions. Pornography is one example. Broken stories are those where evil is evil and good is good, but evil wins. Books like The Lord of the Flies or Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle are examples of Broken stories. Because Broken stories can be very disturbing, they can often serve to motivate people to get involved in fixing what is broken, changing the wrongs addressed in the books. Whole stories are those where good is good and evil is evil, and good wins in the end. Most classics and wholesome literature fall into this category. Little Women and Robin Hood are two examples of many. Healing stories are those which are either Broken or Whole where the reader is emotionally drawn in and changed significantly for the better by reading it. Charlotte’s Web could be considered a Healing story. As we read about what happens to Charlotte and Wilbur, we are saddened, and yet by the end of the story we’ve grown as we’ve seen their relationship and personalities grow. Can you tell which catergory your favorite book falls into? CCB