12 May 30 • 2019 jn What if the unimaginable happened and you had to rid yourself of all your books except one. Which one book would you keep? Here’ s what some Metro Detroiters said (and note how many could not choose only one and how many would keep something from their child- hood). “My father’ s machzor with all his notes to lead the services. It’ s treasure for me. It has notes like “read responsively” and “all stand.” I use it every year; I don’ t care about not having the same one as the rest of the congregation.” — Naomi Levine, Farmington Hills “The Giving Tree, best children’ s book ever.” — Polly Carpenter, Southfield “ All children’ s books: The Giving Tree, Love you Forever … Also, The Blessing of the Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogel.” — Lisa Mark Lis, Farmington Farms Winnie the Pooh — Micki Grossman, West Bloomfield “Before You Were Born. It makes me cry every time I read it. It was one of the first PJ Library books.” — Lisa Soble Siegmann, Bloomfield Hills “My three-volume cloth-bound set of Lord of the Rings. I bought the set (used) in 1970 and carried it with me on a road trip that summer. Each book includes a pull-out folded map. I read the books twice and I’ ll probably read them again.” — Cary Gersh, Bloomfield HIlls “When I downsized, my partner “convinced” me to give away 70 percent of my books. It was an agonizing experience. I have about 300 left. I couldn’ t possibly choose one; I would give up the partner first!” — Ian Zitron, Lathrup Village “The books from my childhood, like The Secret Garden, Little Women, Cherry Ames, etc. — a reasonable collection.” — Sharon Schumer Schwartz, Bloomfield Hills “I would keep one of my Nancy Drew origi- nal books — any of the titles. This series was the one that shaped my taste in reading. It took me out of my rather narrow world into situations which I would never otherwise encounter. Mysteries are to this day my favor- ite genre.” — Phyllis Weeks, West Bloomfield And Naomi Harel of Rochester, N.Y., wouldn’ t choose one book. Instead, she’ d keep her library card. ■ If You Could Only Have One Book … “My siddur. I enjoy the feel of it, the wear of the pages as the years go by, the turning of the pages, and I hold it against my face sometimes to help me focus myself/concentrate and to hear myself better as I say the words.” — YOSEF SHERMAN, FORMERLY OF OAK PARK, NOW LIVING OUTSIDE OF JERUSALEM ” jews d in the lation, although he has no data to prove it. That could be because Jews have a much higher level of education than the general population, he said. Or vice versa. Researchers have found a high correla- tion between the number of books in a home and aca- demic achievement. Mariah Evans of the University of Nevada-Reno studied adults in 42 nations and found that books in the home correlated to improved test scores. The boost is most pronounced in families with little education and low-status occupations, but it was seen in poor and wealthy nations alike and across both socialist and capital- ist economies. Perhaps Jews achieved more educationally because we were “people of the books. ” And where are we getting these books? The demise of megastore Borders and the near-demise of its erstwhile rival, Barnes & Noble, attest to huge growth in online book sales (that’ s how retail giant Amazon got its start) and also to the increase in audio books and electronic books. But the number of independent bookstores has been increasing since 2009. Cary Loren, co-owner of the well-respected Book Beat in Oak Park, has had to use some creative approaches to stay afloat, including selling at libraries, schools and com- munity centers and holding in-store book-related events. Book Beat specializes in children’ s books and books on fine art; many customers are educators, artists or those buying for children and grandchildren. Loren says they are well-educated people who often ask for suggestions of books to read and give as gifts. Loren supports efforts to encourage parents to read to their children. “If a child sees you reading, it will send a positive message and instill a lifetime of reading and learning, ” he said. JCC BOOK FAIR/BOOKSTOCK Jewish Detroit can boast of two annual book-related mega-events, the Jewish Community Center’ s Jewish Book Fair in November and Bookstock in April. Jewish book fairs are now held across the country, and Detroit’ s Jewish Books Fair is the granddaddy of them all. Detroit’ s first Jewish Book Fair, in 1951, COURTESY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER MICHELLE AGIN SHERMAN Patrons at the JCC Book Fair browse Jewish books for sale. continued on page 14 continued from page 10