A group of seniors will be leaving a lasting legacy in the school’s library.
The seniors created a shelf in the library that stores the favorite books of Southfield High staff members.
The Teachers’ Favorite Bookshelf was a project designed by English teacher Diane Hofsess’s second hour students.
They wrote a survey and distributed it to every teacher to find out their favorite book of all times, the author and why they chose that book as their favorite.
The seniors also asked the teachers if they would be willing to donate their favorite book if the library doesn’t already own it, in order to complete the shelf. All but a few teachers responded to the survey and some have already donated a book to the shelf.
Math teacher Steve Sharp’s favorite book that he would like to be included on the shelf is the classic novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. English teacher Julea Ward’s favorite book is The Bible because “It is filled with wisdom, encouragement and beneficial instructions.”
Security guard Shelly Spinner said that her favorite book is My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult. English teacher Debbie Bowen chose the same book.
Several teachers chose To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. That was the favorite book of Testing Coordinator Gail Setter, English teacher Kara Shuell, science teacher Kimberly Wardell-Stone and music teacher Darryl Taylor.
Librarian Maureen Booth said this is the first time there has ever been a teacher shelf in the library. She said that she is “very excited for the new addition to the library. It is very intriguing for a librarian.”
Booth said she had a difficult time picking her own favorite for the new shelf. “There are way too many to choose from, but a book that I could not live without in high school is 1984, by George Orwell.”
“I hope people will respond to the students’ requests,” Booth said. “Hopefully people will contribute a book to the library if we don’t already own it, and I think it is going to be fun to see what teachers’ favorite books (and) authors are.”
Booth also reminds people that if they ever wants any good advice for a book to read, they can ask her or fellow librarian Pam Proctor.
Here is the list of staff members and their favorite books, as reported in the student survey:
Favorite Books of Southfield High Staffers
Ahket, Makini – The Destruction of Black Civilization, by Chancellor Williams
Arthur-Horatio, Valencia – Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Allen, Anita – Cause of Death, by Patricia Cornwell
Allen, Talbert – No response
Badanowski, Rachel – Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell
Bailey, Emily – East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
Bean, Vince – Uncle Sam’s Plantation, by Star Parker
Bergh, Sandra – The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson
Berry, Harold – The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
Bonnington, Craig – Harry Potter series, by J.K Rowling
Bonningtion, Patricia – The Green Mile, by Stephen King
Booth, Maureen – 1984, by George Orwell
Borowski, Ginny – Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Bowen, Debbie – The Tenth Circle, by Jodi Picoult
Brown, Robin – The Bible
Burden, Vernon – Letters to a Young Brother, by Hill Harper
Caggins, Aliyah – What Looks Like Crazy On an Ordinary Day, by Pearl Cleage
Chambers, Mona – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
Cok, Richard – Before the Mayflower, by L. Bennet , Jr.
Conley, Timothy – One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia
Corridore, Mary – No Ordinary Time, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Coston-Ellis – 47, by Walter Mosley
Crist, Richard – Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
Crum, Karla – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
Daniels, Denita – Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
Disner, Karen – Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom
Dunlap, Jacqueline – The Bible
Elliot, Deborah – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
Eschmann, Thomas – It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, by Lance Armstrong
Foote, Darcy – The Holy Bible
Glinz, Jamie – Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser
Green, Andrew – Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield
Green, Carol – The Rainmaker, by John Grisham
Grey, Lorise – Noughts and Crosses, by Malorie Blackman
Hamiltion, Nicholas- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Harris, Brenda- Become a Better You, by Joel Osteen
Hartley, Anna – The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri
Hickman, Tonya – The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein
Hicks, Beverly – Sarah Johnson’s Mount Vernon, by Scott E. Casper
Hobbs-Calhoun, Virna – The Prophet, by Kahil Gibran
Hofsess, Diane – Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt
Holliday, Thomas – Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Freedom, by Robert Kiyosaki
Horn, Michael – Bill Russell: A Biography by Murray R. Nelson
Horatio Valencia – Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
Howard, Rudy – A New Earth, by Eckart Tolle
Husdon, Betty – The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren
Hurley, Tom – No response
Jones, Milton – I’m Not the Lawyer Type, by John Madden
Jordan, Jessie – No response
Kilgore, Patrice – Holy Bible
Kreitman, Barbara – Night, by Elie Wiesel
Lake, Zerrick – Othello, by William Shakespeare
Lawhorn, Mildred – A Fortune Made His Sword, by Martha Reheat
Lewandowski, Hank – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Lewis, Sharon – By Reason of Insanity, by Sean Stevenson
MacFarland, Robert – The Stand, by Stephen King
Marko, Lydia – The Tender Bar, by J.R. Moehringer
Marks, Jay – Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Alex Haley
Martinez, Julie – The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
McBrien, Erin – The Children’s Book of Virtues, by William J. Bennett
McClorey, Jennifer – The Odyssey, by Homer
McDaniel, Alicia – No response
Meeks, Elizabeth – The Darkest Child, by Delores Phillips
Melton, Karen – any book by Diane McKinney Whetstone
Miller, Monique – We Were Always Free, by Ann L. Miller
Miller, Tom – The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
Minnick, Joseph – No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, by John Lydon
Moore, Maude – The All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook, by Susan Westmoreland
Moore Lisa – The Skin I’m In, by Sharon G. Flake
Murphy, Jeanette – The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Nelson, Faydra – Black Pearls: Daily Meditations, Affirmations, and Inspirations, by Eric V. Copage
Ogden, Michael – The Water Is Wide, by Pat Conroy
Pellerito, Fred – The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
Perryman, Brenda – The Godfather, by Mario Puzo
Peters, Tom- Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien
Proctor, Pam- The Source, by James Michener
Roth, Diane – Fantastic Voyage, by Isaac Asimov
Setter, Gail – To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Shackelford, Sandra – The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz
Sharp, Stephen- Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Shepard, Bruce- 1984, by George Orwell
Shelly Spinner- My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
Shirkey, John - The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
Shuell, Kara – To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Sledge, Walter- The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World, by W. Clean Skousen
Smith, Sharon – The Villa, by Nora Roberts
Solomons, Zelda – Shack, by William P. Young
Stewart, Darcel – The Thornbirds, by Colleen McCullough
Stoler, Robert – No response
Taber, Ernie- The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
Taylor, Darryl – To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Taylor, Daryl – Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama
Teasley, Gary – Forty Million Dollar Slave, by John Ruden
Teska, Jane – The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, by Emily Dickinson and Thomas H. Johnson
Topp, Jason- Julius Ceasar, by William Shakespeare
Trexler, Mark- The English Patient (1992), by Michael Ondaatje
Urban, Kenneth- The Shadow of Kilimanjaro; On Foot Across East Africa, by Rick Ridgeway
Voss, Gregory – No response
Voyles, Sheryl – No response
Ward, Julea – The Bible,
Wardell-Stone, Kim – To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Ware-Parker, Carla – Does not have a favorite
Wilcher, Crystal – Your Best Life Now, by Joel Osteen
White, Willie – No response
Williams, Bonita – The Holy Bible
Wilson, Harvey – Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki
Woodard, Erica – Kindred, by Octavia Butler
Yorke, Patricia – Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
This list was compiled as part of a senior project survey conducted by the Senior Composition and Literature students of Diane Hofsess, in April 2009.