Breakfast on Mars (Stern & Wolfe, ed)

Breakfast on Mars And 37 Other Delectable Essays, Edited by Rebecca Stern & Brad Wolfe (2013)

The cover states "Essays like you've never seen before -- Funny! Smart! Inspiring! And Best of All written by YOUR Favorite Authors"

The last part is overblown in that not only are they not my favorite authors, I don't think I've ever heard of any of them, let alone read any. That said, soe of them were funny and smart. Inspiring? Maybe about my writing, but not about the subject matter.

I picked up this book in a box at a school I was working at in the fall. The idea of the collection is that students tend to be bored with essay writing, and there isn't a lot of inspiring essays out there that are relatable for students. So this book is intended for teachers to use with students, so that the students will respond. Each essay, whether personal, persuasive, or information, is based on a response to a different writing prompt. And each should be fun to read.

Some of them were fun. Some were just odd, but that was okay. But a few seemed like standard essays, and a couple seemed like they'd been written before they even saw the prompt.

The overall affect was like catching up on an eclectic bunch of TED Talk podcasts, with topics all over the place. I enjoy some of those, while I listen to others on double speed, or skip through them entirely.

And while the personal stories were interesting, the introduction promised breakfast on Mars, showering with spiders, and humans needing tales. That's what I wanted to read. "It's on Like Donkey Kong" was a nice bonus. (That phrase is so well-established in my circles that we can parody it into something else). Likewise the comparison of Princess Leia and Queen Amidala. So of the other entries, I've already forgotten, even when I like back at the table of contents page.

I did like reading the prompt at the top of each essay, and I toyed with repeating them either here or on my (private) writing blog, but do I really want to type up 39 prompts? One-handed, while holding the book open with the other? Probably not.

For anyone who stumbled upon my personal reading blog, if this sounds interesting, check it out.

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