【推荐1】Have you ever had one of those days when all you wanted to do was read an emotionally powerful story that would cause you to tears? Most of us tend to be attracted by stories that reach us on multiple levels, including sadness. There are plenty of books that make you cry (and sometimes laugh) and that you can really sink your teeth into. Here are four of them.

This realistic and moving description of life in Afghanistan accounts for the people who were badly affected by the Taliban. You’ll cry as you get to know the familial relationships and cruelty involved, but you’ll also get a sense of hope as you quickly read through this appealing novel.

Let’s put it this way: Death itself is the narrator. The story is about a young girl named Liesel who has to live with foster parents during World War II. On the way to her new home, her brother dies, setting the gloomy tone for the story. There is hope, however, when Liesel discovers her love for reading and makes a relationship with a young Jewish man she helps hide from the Nazis.

This is probably the most likely book on the list to make you cry, as it records the experiences of teens who are dying from cancer and living their last days in love. Their lifestyle is tragic and disturbing at the same time, as we watch their health worsen. The real tragedy is the love story between the main characters, who know that their romance is fruitless.

Easily one of the saddest stories of abuse in recent decades, A Child Called It is based on the true story of Dave Pelzer, a boy from California who suffered at the hands of his cruel family. The tears will come from both sadness and the inspiration tied to Dave’s fight for survival in an environment where he is believed worthless.

【推荐2】It is generally accepted these days that reading a book will help you relieve stress. And it may actually make you a more thoughtful person as you learn to connect with the various characters. But there’s more. A new study discovered that reading more than 3.5 hours per week actually increased a person’s lifespan(寿命) by 23 percent-about 12 years for the people involved in the study.

The study was led by a group of researchers at Yale University. It looked at 3,635 people, both men and women but all older than 50.The researchers divided them into three categories: those who didn’t read books; those who read up to 3.5 hours a week; those who read more than 3.5 hours a week.

After the researchers adjusted for factors like education, health and income, the data showed that, on average, those who read about 3.5 hours a week were 17 percent less likely to die.

In addition, the study examined people who read newspapers and magazines and found that they were 11 percent less likely to die than non­readers, but only if they spent more than seven hours reading each week. That may be due to the different forms of these items. When people read newspapers or magazines, they tend to skim the material rather than read it fully. AvniBavishi, the study’s leader, said, “We believe people need to know, learn and understand more things when they are reading books, because they’re longer and there are more characters, more plots to follow, and more connections to make.”

From all of this, the authors concluded that, as with a healthy diet and exercise, books appear to promote a “significant survival advantage”.

Clearly, there is a need for more study. We’re certain that book lovers all around the world will be glad to provide the data needed to make further conclusions.

【推荐3】One day when I was 12, my mother gave me an order: I was to walk to the public library, and borrow at least one book for the summer. This was one more weapon for her to defeat my strange problem—inability to read.

In the library, I found my way into the “Children’s Room.” I sat down on the floor and pulled a few books off the shelf at random. The cover of a book caught my eye. It presented a picture of a beagle. I had recently had a beagle, the first and only animal companion I ever had as a child. He was my secret sharer, but one morning, he was gone, given away to some one who had the space and the money to care for him. I never forgot my beagle.

There on the book’s cover was a beagle which looked identical (相同的) to my dog. I ran my fingers over the picture of the dog on the cover. My eyes ran across the title, Amos, the Beagle with a Plan. Unknowingly, I had read the title. Without opening the book, I borrowed it from the library for the summer.

Under the shade of a bush, I started to read about Amos. I read very, very slowly with difficulty. Though pages were turned slowly, I got the main idea of the story about a dog who, like mine, had been separated from his family and who finally found his way back home. The dog was my dog, and I was the little boy in the book. At the end of the story, my mind continued the final scene of reunion, on and on, until my own lost dog and I were, in my mind, running together.

My mother’s call returned me to the real world. I suddenly realized something: I had read a book, and I had loved reading that book. Everyone knew I could not read. But I had read it. Books could be incredibly wonderful and I was going to read them.

I never told my mother about my “miraculous” (奇迹般的) experience that summer, but she saw a slow but remarkable improvement in my classroom performance during the next year. And years later, she was proud that her so n had read thousands of books, was awarded a PhD in literature, and authored his own books, articles, poetry and fiction. The power of the words was held.

【推荐3】This holiday weekend will be about more than Thanksgiving treats and extra days off from school for eighth-grader Shreya Nair. Shreya will also spend some of her time conducting an interview that will end up in the Library of Congress.

Shreya, 13, is participating in a StoryCorps initiative called The Great Thanksgiving Listen. The project encourages students to interview family members and friends about their lives in an effort to keep the stories and voices of an older generation (一代人).

“It would be interesting to see her view on life and how it’s different from mine based on the circumstances she grew up in,” Shreya said about her interview.

StoryCorps’ aim is to use audio to preserve the stories of people of all ages and backgrounds. Students will be able to record their interviews using a new app and upload them to the StoryCorps Archive at the Library of Congress.

Shreya’s English teacher decided to get involved in spreading the word about the project, by assigning the interview as homework. Alison Matthews teaches Shreya at McCall Middle School in Winchester, Massachusetts. She incorporated (纳入) the StoryCorps interview assignment into a unit on the book, The Giver. Matthews describes the novel as a “story about this community where there’s one man — the giver — who holds all the memories of the community.”

“The StoryCorps project fit in so perfectly. The Library of Congress is the keeper of our memories. So I asked kids to think about the importance of memory in our society,” Matthews said.

Shreya said that her classmates like the assignment. “It’s an interview that will help us not only understand the book we’re reading right now, but help us later in life,” Shreya said. “One of the things I like about the project is that you get to hear so many other people’s voices,” she added. “Sometimes in this world it feels like our opinion is the only one, but when you sit down and listen, it’s amazing what it can bring.”