Letters to Charlotte Brontë, the writer. Not the raccoon

The Missoulian publishes a nice article about the national Letters about Literature high-school program where

the letters are “a way for students to express themselves,” Anderson said. “The idea is for them to react personally and emotionally to the work that they've read,” to explain how a book changed their views of the world and of themselves

Anderson is director of the Montana Center for the Book which, with the Montana Committee for the Humanities, sponsors the program here in the state. At the national level, Letters About Literature is coordinated by the Library of Congress, with help from Target stores in delivering prizes.

But the nicest part, for BrontëBlog readers comes now:

Anderson sees the Letters About Literature program as “a wonderful prism into what kids are reading, and what they're responding to.”
In the five years Montana has been participating in Letters About Literature, they've been responding to J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame, to Montana writer Ben Mikaelsen, to Dr. Seuss and to outdoor-adventure writer Gary Paulsen.
But they've also responded to the likes of Charlotte Bronte, who, were she still living, would have received a letter this spring from Kalispell's McKenzie Javorka, a letter that earned her second place among Montana's seventh- and eighth-graders.
Her parents were going through a rough patch when McKenzie found Bronte, she wrote, and her big sister was heading off to college.“I found myself alone, anxious and unhappy.”
Then along came “Jane Eyre,” and “as I finally closed the (book) and turned out my light, I felt an emotion I had thought was lost to me forever: peacefulness.”

Isn't it beautiful? Jane Eyre is still able to appeal to many people... or even to animals. Raccoons in special. Oh, well.

Categories: Charlotte_Brontë, Jane_Eyre, In_the_News