Read! Read! Read!
Mr. Joe Adams
Director of Finance Since
2004
Born: San
Antonio, Texas
Raised: Dallas, Texas and Berkeley, CA
Quotable
Quotes:
"If we encounter a man of rare
intellect, we should ask him what books he reads." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Why read?
“You
either read the source material for yourself or you let someone else read it
for you and tell us what they think it all means. It is important to be able to read with a
critical eye and be able to interpret information for yourself.” - Joe
Adams
My favorite library
The Berkeley Public Library ― all of them! (There are six branch libraries in Berkeley.)
What I read on a
regular basis
Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Business Week, San
Francisco Chronicle
My favorite book(s)
The Rising Sun: The
Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 by John Toland
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
Shogun by
James Clavell
His Excellency:George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Did you know?
Scientific
American is the oldest continuously-published magazine in the United States, begun in August 1845. Its early years focused primarily on the U.S.
Patent Office, citing new inventions such as perpetual motion machines, an 1849
device for bouying vessels devised by Abraham Lincoln, and the “universal
joint” which now finds a place in nearly every automobile manufactured. Harper’s Magazine is the second oldest, founded in 1850 in
New York City as a general interest magazine about literature, politics,
culture, finance, and the arts. Harper’s
web site offers subscribers online looks at editions of the magazine dating
back to the first in 1850. 
The library is in the “Zigzag Moderne” style and was built on land belonging to Francis Kittredge Shattuck (1824-1898), one of Berkeley’s founders. The nearby Shattuck Hotel (1910) occupies the site of Shattuck’s former estate. In 1914, with an added annex, the hotel was the largest structure in any Bay area city. Shattuck came to California to seek gold. In 1853 he bought land in what would become Berkeley, and moved there in 1868, becoming its civic leader for a quarter century. Berkeley became a city in April 1878.
Mr. Michael Henning
Faculty Member Since 1993
Teacher of Mathematics
Saint Mary’s Dad
Born: Oakland, CA
Raised: Oakland and Orinda, CA
Quotable
Quotes:
“It is of great consequence that you
should teach more by example than by words.” Saint
John Baptist
de La Salle. De La Salle
(1651-1719), founder of the De La Salle Christian Brothers and the Church’s
Patron of All Teachers of Youth, was himself a prolific author. His wide scope of writings include the
Brothers’ Rule, meditations on teaching, a book on civility and decorum,
catechisms, prayer books, school textbooks, a handbook for teachers and
administrators, song-texts, and more.
Why read?
“I’m
not a fast reader. I like to look at the
words and hear the words as I read. An author’s
use of language is often very different from mine. If I can’t get the tone and cadence, I won’t
know what’s really being said; I’ll miss the real beauty. And…I’m not just reading to get to the end.”
– Michael Henning
My favorite library
Alameda’s new
main branch and any Border’s Bookstore, where food is close by if I get hungry.
What I read on a
regular basis
Aperture photography magazine, National Geographic
My favorite book(s)
All the Pretty Horses by
Cormac McCarthy
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (all five in the
trilogy) by Douglas Adams
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier (author of Cold Mountain)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Did you know?
Among the oldest publishing
houses in the United States is John Wiley
& Sons, Inc. Wiley has been a significant player in the publishing industry
since it was founded in New York City t
wo
centuries ago in 1807, when Thomas
Jefferson was president. Cambridge
University Press in Cambridge, England
is the oldest printing and publishing house in
the world. Founded on a royal charter granted to the University by Henry
VIII in 1534, it has been operating continuously as a printer and publisher
since the first Press book was printed in 1584. One far younger but very familiar publishing house is Penguin, founded in 1935 and still one
of the most recognizable brands in the world. The popular Penguin paperbacks were the brainchild of Sir
Allen Lane, looking for something to read on the
train to London, but discovering
only popular magazines and reprints of Victorian novels. Lane decided that good quality contemporary
fiction should be made available at an attractive price and sold not just in
traditional bookshops, but also in railway stations, tobacconists and chain
stores. Today, Penguin’s central office
is in London, with offices in
fifteen countries, including the U.S.
(opened 1939, New York). The Association of American Publishers
reported in May 2007 that U.S.
book publishers had estimated net sales of $24.2 billion in 2006.
Mr. John ForteSaint Mary’s Class of 1981
Faculty member since 1989
Teacher of Science
Science Department Chair
Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Raised: Berkeley, California
My Favorite Library
The Pinole Main Library
What I Read on a Regular Basis
Newspapers
National Geographic
My Favorite Book(s)
Green Eggs & Ham by Dr. Seuss
The Lorax by
Dr. Seuss
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Moneyball by
Michael Lewis
Did you know?
“Dr. Seuss” was born Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991) and was
a native of Springfi
eld, Massachusetts. His father was a brewmaster, park ranger, and owned a zoo in Niagara
Falls, New York. Geisel lived three
blocks from a library in his youth. In 1954, Life
magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children, which concluded that
children were not learning to read because their books were boring.
Accordingly, Seuss’s publisher made up a list of 400 words he felt were
important and asked Dr. Seuss to cut the list to 250 words and write a book
using only those words. Nine months later, Seuss, using 220 of the words given
to him, completed The Cat in the Hat. This book was a tour
de force—it retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the
imaginative power of Seuss's earlier works, but because of its simplified
vocabulary could be read by beginning readers.
John Michael Vlach
Saint Mary’s High Class of
1966
Professor, American Studies, Anthropology
Director, Folklife Program
Director, Graduate Studies for American
Studies Dept.
George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Why read?
“Among the virtues of reading is
that the process allows you to go at your own chosen pace. Plus you can flip
back to check on something you didn't quite understand the first time. And you
can pause to think about something that strikes you as weird, amazing, or
exciting without interrupting the whole process. You can stand outside of the
events or circumstances being described for a bit and then jump back into the
flow that the author has set for you. The Ipod, the tv, the video, the radio,
don't let you be in charge of your progress in an equivalent way. A book is
like a car you can drive at any pace and stop wherever you choose. And when you
are in charge of your "journey," the recollections of the trip are
likely to be long lasting.” - JMV
My favorite library
The Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C. “It happens to be my neighborhood library, just a few blocks
from my house. It’s got books (25
million give or take a few), photographs, maps, motion pictures, recorded
sounds (tapes, cd’s, disks), and manuscripts. The reading room is one of the most beautiful rooms in the world. Go to www.americaslibrary.gov and check it
out.” - JMV
My favorite book(s)
At the moment, my favorite is
by one of my teachers; a study of the great singers and storytellers living in
a small Catholic village in Protestant Northern Ireland:
The Stars of Ballymenone by Henry Glassie
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
In Small Things Forgotten by James Deetz
And one of my own books, Charleston Blacksmith: The Work of Philip Simmons by John
Michael Vlach
Did you know?
Renowned
poet and author Maya Angelou is the grandmother of Saint Mary’s alumnus, Colin
Murphy-Johnson, Class of 1994. Dr.
Angelou gave an eloquent address to the Classes of 1994 and 1944 at the
graduation breakfast in June 1994. Famed
author Terry McMillan is a Saint Mary’s Alumni Mom who spent a lot of time on
the school track. Son Solomon Welch, Class
of 2002, had a record-setting track and field career at Peralta
Park and went on to do the same at
Stanford.
For more than thirty years, John Michael Vlach has concentrated his scholarship on aspects of the African Diaspora by conducting field research in Africa (Ghana, Nigeria), the Caribbean (Haiti, Jamaica), and across the southern regions of the United States. His work has been called one of the most important contributions to the study of African-American folklore and the first thorough study of material folk culture that any folklore researcher has completed on African-American folk culture. Mr. Vlach recently donated eight of his titles to the Saint Mary’s High library. Among them is By the Work of Their Hands: Studies in Afro-American Folk Life (1991).
Mr. Joseph Palladino
Faculty Member Since 2004
Teacher of Religion
Basketball Coach
Quotable
Quotes:
"I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind
of library." - Jorge Luis Borges
My favorite library
University of San
Francisco Library
What I read on a
regular basis
New York Times, Newsweek, local newspapers
My favorite book(s)
Non-Violent
Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
Picnic Lightning – Poems by Billy Collins
Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen (A must-read for those interested in Catholic spirituality. – JP)
War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges
Did you know?
The University of San
Francisco was established as the City’s first
i
institution of higher education by the Jesuit Fathers in October 1855. Known
first as
In 1914, USF’s St. Ignatius Church (above) was dedicated at “Lone Mountain” which, from 1854 to about 1920 was the site of one of San Francisco’s several pioneer cemeteries. During the 1910s, City ordinances were passed to remove the cemeteries that were taking up too much valuable land and to relocate them to San Mateo County, primarily the city of Colma. Today, only two cemeteries remain within the city of San Francisco, at Mission Dolores, 16th and Dolores Streets (right) and San Francisco National Cemetery at the Presidio. Mission Dolores was founded in 1776 and its cemetery is the final resting place of some 5,000 Ohlone, Miwok, and other First Californians. It was featured in the Hitchcock classic film thriller “Vertigo” which has a wealth of gorgeous San Francisco area scenery.
Robert San Souci
Class of 1964
Author and Illustrator
Born San Francisco, CA;
Raised Berkeley, CA
In his career, Robert
has collaborated on a number of titles with his illustrator brother, Dan, Class
of 1966.
Robert worked on the Peraltan yearbook at Saint Mary’s.
Learn more at www.rsansouci.com
Why read?
“As an author with nearly 100 published books for readers of
all ages, my career has always been deeply involved with books and reading. I
grew up in a family where books were treasured and reading was an everyday
necessity. I loved to be read to -- and, when I learned to read for myself, I
immersed myself in books of all kinds: folktales, fairy tales, adventure,
history, ghost stories -- anything I could get my hands on. I decided very
early on that my love of books and the writing process were combining to urge
me to become a writer myself. I could not imagine a more gratifying personal
achievement -- nor a more wonderful thing to give to the world -- than to
create my own books: books that (I always hope) will provide excitement,
laughter, insight, and inspiration in varying degrees. I am constantly on the
lookout for new, worthwhile books to provide me everything from pure escapism
to profound thinking on a variety of subjects. As a writer, I learn continually
from reading good books how to improve my own writing and clarify my thinking
and experience creative efforts that sweep me back to the dawn of time or
parts of the world I have never visited or to the outer limits of another
author's imagination. Reading has
been a gift for all of my life. I can't imagine a world without books. I hope
you share my enthusiasm.” - Robert San Souci
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch (Set in Puget Sound)
A Northern Light by
Jennifer Connelly (A true murder mystery meets a girl's coming of age)
Rash by Pete
Hautman (Fictional commentary on safety, prisons, and civil liberties)
Zazoo by Richard
Mosher (A girl's grandfather's secrets from the war are revealed)
A Brief Chapter in My Impossible
Life by Dana (Adopted families and a girl discovering her Jewish
heritage)
Summer of Kings by
Han Nolan (A deeply moving portrait of love set during the Civil
Rights era)
Uglies by Scott
Westerfelt (Set in a future where teenage plastic surgery is compulsory)
Saving Francesca by
Melina Marchetta (An Australian teenage
girl struggles to fit into her new school, which has recently gone co-ed, while
her brilliant mother battles depression.)
Dunk by David Lubar
(A troubled teen boy finds a way to use
humor to help his best
friend cope with illness--his friend survives, don't
worry!)
13 Little Blue Envelopes
by Maureen Johnson (A 17 year old girl's
summer trip through Europe connects her to her deceased aunt, who wrote her 13
letters before her death.)
Twilight by
Stephenie Meyer (Edward is the
best thing since Mr. Darcy – the hero of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice)
Into the Wild by
Jon Krakauer (A summer reading pick that the kids actually like!)
Did you know?
Robert San Souci wrote the
film story for Disney’s Mulan!
Mr. Brian Thomas
Faculty Member Since 1999
School Librarian (beginning
June 2007)
Teacher of English
Quotable Quotes: “Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.” - Lady Bird Johnson
Why Read?
“Electromagnetic
radiation having a wavelength between 700 nanometers to roughly 400 nanometers
enters your eye. Your brain connects
that sensation to patterns it has seen in early memories that we call letters
and words. These letters and words are
connected in our brains to sounds that are even older memories that are connected
to concrete objects like ‘book’ and abstract ideas like ‘read.’ But why do this? You've already answered the question if
you've come this far.” - Brian Thomas
My favorite library
My
favorite library of all time and the one in which I always find myself is
Borges’ Library of Babel, but since it is whole in the absolute sense, I'll
tell you my favorite partial library: The Lafayette Library and Learning
Center, a library still being
built.
My favorite book(s)
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor
Dostoevsky
Human All Too Human by Friedrich
Nietzsche
Beloved by Toni Morrison
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
What I read on a
regular basis
“Words,
Words, Words,” Wikipedia, and Nietzsche’s “Schopenhauer as Educator” at least
once a year.
What I’m reading
now
Anything I can find on Library and Information Science to
help me in my new position as School Librarian.
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy by
Douglas Adams
Shooter by Walter Dean Myers
Is This All There Is? by Annie Moore
Did you know?
Johann Gutenberg, of the German city of Mainz,
is acknowledged as the first to perfect a metal moveable type printing in Europe.
Gutenberg was a goldsmith who knew the same techniques of cutting punches for
making coins from moulds as the Koreans adapted to their system. Over a ten
year period from approximately 1435 to 1450 he developed hardware and
techniques for casting letters from matrices using a device called the hand
mould. Gutenburg's key invention, the hand mould, was the first practica
l means
of making cheap copies of letterpunches in the vast quantities needed to print
a single book. It was the essential piece of hardware that made the
moveable type printing process viable and profitable, and far more practical than producing handwritten manuscripts done by copyists. The impact of printing is considered comparable to the development of writing and the invention of the alphabet or the internet as far as its effects on society, with the ability to disseminate written information more effectively. Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful and profitable. Because the printing process ensured that the same information fell on the same pages, page numbering, tables of contents, and indices became common. The process of reading was also changed, gradually changing over several centuries from oral readings to silent, private reading. The wider availability of printed materials also led to a drastic rise in the adult literacy rate throughout Europe. In 1999, the A&E network named Gutenberg the most influential person of the millennium for his development of the printing press. Pictured: Gutenberg Printing Press
Brother V. Kenneth, FSC
Faculty member since 1999.
Teacher of Religion
Director of the Brothers’
Community
Principal Emeritus
Born: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Quotable Quotes: “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” - Mortimer Adler, Co-founder, Great Books of the Western World and the Great Books Foundation
Why read?
“Please
refer to Clare McCormick’s statement about reading. I could not have stated it any better than
she.” - Brother Kenneth
My Favorite Library
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main Branch
What I read on a regular basis
Catholic Digest, Reader’s
Digest, National Review, Variety,
National Catholic Register, Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
My favorite book(s)
Swanson on Swanson by Gloria Swanson
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
Griffith by Lillian Gish
Sunshine and Shadow by Mary Pickford
Living in a Great Big Way by Kate Smith (at right)
Did you know?
“Forty years ago, I worked in
the now-defunct School’s Department of Carnegie Library’s main branch in Pittsburgh. My job was to
go through old grammar scho
ol readers and textbooks to see which ones should be
rebound and which ones should be discarded. I ran across so many wonderful old books like the Beatrix Potter series and the Dick
and Jane readers! An incredible
world was revealed with each turn of the page, and the clock on the wall ceased
to exist!” - Brother Kenneth
Playbill is a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers, printed for stage productions and available by home delivery subscription. Playbill articles change monthly to reflect new shows and artists performing in plays, musicals or special attractions, and contain a cast list, cast photos, cast biographies, song lists, performers, and a list of scenes in the featured play. Opening Night Playbills are specially marked and are valuable collectors’ items. Playbill was first printed in 1884 in New York City for one single theatre on 21st Street. Today, circulation is nearly four million, comparable to magazines such as Time, and is published for every Broadway show, many off-Broadway shows, and various productions around the country.
Mr. Peter Imperial
Saint Mary’s Principal since
2005
Born: San
Francisco, California
What I read on a regular basis
San Francisco Chronicle,
Atlantic Monthly, Education Week
My favorite book(s)
The Civil War
by Shelby Foote
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
Catch-22 by
Joseph Heller
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Did you know?
So why is Mr. Imperial here on the Pacific
Coast an avid reader of the
Atlantic Monthly?
In the mid-nineteenth century, New England
intellectuals became preoccupied by something they called “the American idea.”
The United States
was less than a hundred years old, but its philosophers and poets were
convinced that the New World was already producing a new
kind of human being. Americans, they
believed, were more than just transplanted Europeans. They were a distinct
people, lacking in art galleries and opera houses but abounding in sheer
exuberance and creative thinking. A nation built on the premise of “life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness” needed a culture that was vast enough to
hold its visions and ideals. With this
lofty aim in mind, a circle of literary friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson (at right) as its lynchpin began meeting
on Saturday afternoons in the early 1850s. Sharing a table at Boston’s
Albion R
estaurant or Parker House Hotel, these literary luminaries read
original poetry, condemned slavery, and pondered new ways to enlighten the
masses. The Atlantic Monthly was
born during such a gathering in the spring of 1857, published as a new journal
of American politics, art and literature. The first issue featured poems by Emerson,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
John
Greenleaf Whittier, and James Russell
Lowell. It would be many years before the magazine expanded to
include writers from the western states, among them Mark Twain. Today, The Atlantic continues to
define and redefine the “American idea.” It celebrates 150 years in 2007. (Note: the tasty Parker House dinner roll originated at the Parker House
Hotel in Boston, named above.)
Mrs. Carla Harkness
Faculty Member Since 1995
Peraltan Yearbook Advisor
Quotable
Quotes:
“I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now only that place where the
books are kept.” - John Steinbeck
Why read?
“The importance of reading is
profound. Your vocabulary broadens, your
writing improves, your mind expands. Reading
opens the portals of imagination, adventure, philosophy, science, the arts, and
history. It is the foundation of
democracy and enlightenment.” – Carla
Harkness
My favorite library
As a child, I spent every Saturday afternoon in the San
Lorenzo public library, reading four or five books in addition to
my school assignments. My current
favorite is the North Berkeley branch library. I love its architecture, coziness, and access
to all the Berkeley Public Library resources.
What I read on a
regular basis
Health articles online from CDC, WebMD, JAMA
The New York Times, Newsweek, Money Magazine, Oprah Magazine
My favorite book(s)
Invisible Man by
Ralph Ellison – one of the greatest American novels
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (“You learn more every time you read
it!” -CH)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (“An American classic of social
justice.” -CH)
Any title in the Lucas
Davenport mystery series by John Sandford (“Great beach reads for mystery
fans!” -CH)
Did you
know?
American
Literature: America’s literary tradition
begins linked to the broader tradition of English literature. Some of the
earliest forms of American literature were pamphlets an
d writings extolling the
benefits of the colonies at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) to both a European and
colonist audience. Authors of “Colonial
Literature” included Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, Cotton Mather, and Thomas
Paine. Post-Revolutionary War literature
followed, then the uniquely American style of literature by authors such as
James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allen Poe (at right), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Herman Melville,
Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. Mark Twain’s regional masterpieces changed
the way Americans write their language: characters speak like real people and sound distinctively American,
using local dialects and regional accents.
Ms. Catherine Mahoney
Faculty member since 1996.
Teacher of French, English.
Advisor: Paradox, The Peraltan Newspaper
Born: Staten
Island, New York
Raised: Riverdale, The Bronx, right near
the Christian Brothers’ Manhattan College
Why read?
“Reading is the most important education there is. It teaches you to be more human because after
reading, you have been more humans.” – Catherine Mahoney
My Favorite Library
It’s in Southeastern France, near the Italian border, in the chateau I’ll move
into after I retire. It opens onto a
lovely, sunny garden.
What I read on a regular basis
The San Jose Sharks’ home
page! That’s it.
My favorite book(s)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13-3/4 by Sue Townsend
The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Douglas Adams
Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
Did you know?
In May 1853, five Christian Brothers moved their small Canal
Street school to what was then known as Manhattanville,
a section of New York City at 131st
Street and Broadway. Between 1853 and 1863, the school grew
rapidly, adding college-level courses in 1859 and first using the name Manhattan
College in 1861. Its first formal college catalog in 1863* stated
its goals – to afford young people, especially those in need, the means of
acquiring the highest grade of education attained in the best American
universities or colleges. Former New
York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani is a 1965 graduate of Manhattan
College and of the Brothers’ high school
in The Bronx, founded in 1851. The Christian
Brothers began teaching in the United States
at Calvert Hall in Baltimore, Maryland
in 1854. *1863: Saint Mary’s College and high school are founded in San
Francisco.
Ms. Mahoney is a graduate of Sleepy Hollow High School in Sleepy Hollow, New York; it is one of
the “Public Schools of the Tarrytowns,” an area famous for the American classic
The Legend o
f Sleepy Hollow by
Washington Irving, and made even more popular by Johnny Depp’s recent film portrayal
of the story’s unlikely hero, Ichabod Crane. Ms. Mahoney claims to have painted hoofprints ― purportedly belonging to
the Headless Horseman ― at the front of the school as a spirit week prank in
her youth. “Hoofprints” is also the name
of the school newspaper, and the school’s sports teams are known as “The
Horsemen.” According to Ms. Mahoney, the
school never really had a mascot, because a horse and headless horseman were a
little too difficult to pull off!
Mr. Casey Filson
Faculty member since 1991.
Director of Bands (Emeritus)
School Counselor & Coach
Born: Richmond, California
Raised: West Contra Costa County
Quotable Quotes: “One sure window into a person's soul is his reading list.” - Mary B. W. Tabor, New York Times
Why read?
“Reading:
- Improves mental functions.
- Provides a chance to use one’s imagination.
- Improves attention deficit in me personally.” - Mr. Filson
My Favorite Library
New
York University Library
What I read on a regular basis
San Francisco Chronicle
My favorite book(s)
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
Autobiography of Jackie Robinson
Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Did you know?
The center of NYU is its Washington Square campus in the heart of Greenwich
Village. One of the city’s most creative and energetic
communities, the Village is a historic neighborhood that has attracted
generations of writers, musicians, artists, and intellectuals. Beyond the
Village, New York
City becomes an
extension of the University’s campus.
NYU Library,
Stanford White, Architect, 1894.
Mrs. Janet Hack
Faculty Member Since 1978
Director of College
Counseling
Born: Fort Collins, Colorado
“Army Brat” until
grade six, moving around the country.
Grades seven-on: Pleasant Hill, CA
Quotable
Quotes:
“A book is like a man - clever and dull, brave and
cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page
like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing
and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.” - John Steinbeck
My favorite library
Currently: Berkeley
Public Library North Branch. Long
ago: Pleasant Hill High School Library.
What I read on a
regular basis
San Francisco Chronicle, Chronicle of Higher Education,
Consumer Reports
My favorite book(s)
I have too many to name them all!
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
The Englishman’s Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe
Atonement by
Ian McEwan
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer
His life rooted in the earth and people of California’s Salinas Valley, author John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
achieved worldwide recognition for his keen
observations and powerful descriptions of the human condition. He championed
the forgotten and disenfranchised while affirming the strength of the human
spirit. His life was as rich and provocative as the Salinas Valley he immortalized in his writing. Steinbeck drew his
inspiration from this land and became known throughout the world, receiving the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Seventeen
of his more than three dozen works were made into films. His stories are very familiar to high school
students, and include The Red Pony,
Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, The Long Valley, The Grapes
of Wrath, Cannery Row, The Pearl, and East of Eden (1955 movie poster at left). Cannery Row in Monterey, California, now a popular tourist destination and home to the
famed Monterey Bay Aquarium, was for years the site of more than two dozen
sardine canning factories, and is the setting for Steinbeck’s novel Cannery Row. The National Steinbeck Center and museum is located in historic Old Town Salinas,
California.Ms. Maryann Ferris
Faculty Member Since 2006
Congratulations on your June 2007 wedding, Ms. Ferris!
My favorite library
Arcadia Public
Library, CA
What I read on a
regular basis
San Francisco Chronicle, New Yorker Magazine, Yoga Journal
My favorite book(s)
From childhood: Emily of New Moon series by Lucy Maud
Montgomery
Presently: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
God: Stories a collection by C. Michael
Curtis
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
The Alchemist by Paul Coehlo
I Am One of Your Forever by Fred Chappell
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Did you know?
Among highly-published women writers are two on Ms. Ferris’
reading list ― Edith Wharton and Lucy Maud Montgomery. Wharton (1862-1937) was born in New
York City and was a novelist, short story writer,
interior designer, and renowned landscape artist. She was well-acquainted with many of the
great literary and political figures of her time. In 1902, she designed and built “The Mount,”
her estate in Lenox, Massachusetts,
which exemplifies her design principles.
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) was Canadian, best-known for her delightful series of novels that began with Anne of Green Gables, set in the author’s own birthplace on Prince Edward Island. Like her stories’ heroine, Anne Shirley, Lucy was a teacher, and also wrote short stories and worked for Island newspapers. Anne of Green Gables was her first novel (1908). She had three sons, wrote twenty novels, seven in the Anne series, as well as numerous short stories and poems.
The summer 2007 movie Nancy Drew is based on a beloved
series of stories about a young amateur detective, first published in the
1930s. The pseudonym, Carolyn Keene, was
used as the author’s name, but the books were actually written by various
authors. The books have been in print
continuously since the 1930’s and were updated in the 1960’s. Over 200 million copies have been sold
worldwide and series sets are collectibles. The series has 175 titles, and Nancy Drew has been on the big screen
five times and in two television series, first in the 1970s and then in the
mid-1990’s. On occasion, Nancy Drew has joined
forces with her male sleuthing counterparts, The Hardy Boys, in print and on screen.
Ms. Fakhri Shafai
Saint Mary’s Science Faculty
Member since 2005.
Born: Altaloma, California
Raised: Foresthill, California
Quotable Quotes: “I go into my library and all history unrolls before me.” - Alexander Smith
My Favorite Library: The University Library at Cal Berkeley
What I read on a regular basis : Discover Magazine, “Fables” and “Y: The Last Man” Comic Series
My favorite book(s)
A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy
this summer:
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Did you know?
UC Berkeley holds some of the finest research collections in the
United States. Library holdings include over 10 million
print volumes. The Library’s collections
are the oldest on the West Coast and include more than 400 specialized
collections, recognized for their rare and unusual content, including
historic
Chinese monumental rubbings, thousands of photographs that document the history
of California, and the country’s
largest collection of Egyptian papyri. Of particular interest are the special
collections of The Bancroft Library,
incorporating unique collections of Western Americana,
the Mark Twain Papers, and the Regional Oral History Office. A walk through the UC Berkeley campus ―
especially the University (Doe) and Bancroft Libraries ― is a walk through
history. Spend some time this summer
visiting the educational gem so close to home. A $2.00 ride to the top of the 307-foot tall Campanile landmark clock tower built in 1914 is a must, for spectacular views of the Bay
Area and a rousing, sometimes deafening, carillon concert. Check out Hearst
Memorial Mining Building,
the Greek Theater, Memorial Stadium (home of the Golden Bears), and a full-sized T-Rex
skeleton in the Museum of Paleontology.
Mr. Daniel San
Souci
Saint Mary’s High
Class of 1966
Book Illustrator
www.danielsansouci.com
Born in San Francisco, raised in Berkeley.
Attended School
of the Madeleine and California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. During his career as an author and
illustrator, he has published nearly fifty children’s books, including thirteen
with his brother, Robert, Saint Mary’s Class of 1964.
Why read?
“Reading is the key to developing the
imagination. No matter what path you
take in life, the person who is creative and imaginative will always be the one
in demand. In an age filled with
computer games, cell phones, and videos, it is extremely important to set time
aside for reading. In my years at Saint
Mary’s, we were always encouraged to read and I will always be thankful for
this.” -Daniel San Souci
Titles I’d
recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Good Earth by
Pearl S. Buck
Martin Eden by
Jack London
My Life with
Chimpanzees by Jane Goodall
Lonesome Dove by
Larry McMurtry
Jack London: A
Biography by Daniel Dyer
The Tragedy of
Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
How the Irish
Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill
The Jungle by
Upton Sinclair
Did you
know?
Jack London, at
right, (as in the Square in Oakland) was born in San Francisco in 1876 and spent much of his youth on
the Oakland waterfront, educating himself at the
Oakland Public Library. 
He was a writer,
sailor, adventurer, gold prospector, and rancher in Sonoma County. He died in 1916 at age forty, having had over fifty of his books
published, including White Fang and Call of the Wild. He was the best-selling, highest-paid, and
most popular author of his time.
One of Mark
Twain’s most famous quotes (at least locally) is:
“The coldest
winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco!”
Daniel San Souci on drawing: Before World War II, Daniel’s father worked in New York City as graphic artist. He was very talented and thought it was important for his son to have a good foundation in drawing. “In the evenings after dinner, my father and I would clear the kitchen table, and sit down and draw together. He really enjoyed teaching me and encouraged me to draw every free moment I had,” says Daniel. He illustrated his first book in 1978
Mr.
Jeff Rogers
Born: San Jose, CA
Faculty
Member Since 1997 - Teacher of History, Cross Country & Track Coach
Quotable Quotes: "I find television very educating. Every time someone turns the set on, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx
Why
read?
“Reading allows you to imagine,
think, and get in touch with feelings and thoughts you otherwise would not
have. It’s also very relaxing!!” - Jeff
Rogers
My
favorite library
The
Oakland Public Library
What
I read on a regular basis
San
Francisco Chronicle, Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated
My
favorite book(s)
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Titles
I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Kite
Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The
Secret History by Donna Tartt
Catcher
in the Rye by J.D.
Salinger
Did
you know?
The Secret History is a 1992 novel by
Mississippi-born author Donna Tartt. Set
in Vermont, the story tells of a
murder within a small, close-knit group of classics students at a small, elite New England college. Her first novel,
it became a bestseller. A 75,000-book
order was made for the first printing, as opposed to the usual 10,000 copies
made for the initial print run of a debut novel. A passage of the novel was used as a sample
reading selection on the 
The first true mystery story is considered to be Murders in the Rue Morgue written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1841, followed by The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins in 1860. Some of the most popular crime novels were published in the 1930s and 1940s and are known as “American Noir.” Many were made into films that remain classics today. The massive popularity of inexpensive fiction magazines known as “pulp magazines” only increased the interest in mystery fiction. A 1941 example is shown at right.
Ms. Clare McCormick
Born: Oakland, California
Faculty
member since 2004 - Teacher
of Religion, English
and the Service
Learning Coordinator
Why read?
“Reading is one of the least
expensive, most rewarding addictions in life! It lets me escape into another world while expanding my own. I can read for pleasure and entertainment or
knowledge and information. Reading increases vocabulary and
writing skills, while enhancing focus and creativity. It burns more calories than watching TV, and
are NO commercials!” - Ms. McCormick
My Favorite Library
As
a child, the Glenview Library, Oakland.
Today,
the Alameda and Oakland Main Libraries.
What I read on a regular
basis
Professional
journals, The Oakland Tribune, The Catholic Voice
My favorite book(s)
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Any book written by John Grisham
Titles I’d recommend to
Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn by
Mark Twain
Black Boy or Native Son by Richard Wright
I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings by
Maya Angelou
How the Garcia Girls Lost
Their Accents
by Julia Alvarez
Did you know?
Harper Lee was
born in Monroeville, Alabama
in 1926, the youngest of four children. Her father was a newspaper editor, proprietor, lawyer, and a state
legislator. As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a
precocious reader, and enjoyed the friendship of her schoolmate and neighbor,
the young Truman Capote, on whom Mockingbird’s character,
Dill, was based. Her mother’s
name was Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. If you read To Kill a Mockingbird
this summer, you’ll know why that’s a note of interest. The book is based on many of her own life
experiences. Published July 11, 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was an
immediate bestseller and won Lee great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. It remains a bestseller today, with over
15 million copies in print, and has earned a secure place in the canon of American Literature. In 1999, it was voted “Best
Novel of the Century” in a poll conducted by the Library Journal.