Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

"He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask..."

"There are too many of us...There are billions of us and that's too many."

I can see why this book is considered a classic.  Ray Bradbury's language is nothing short of brilliant. It is mesmerizing, painting a masterpiece of a society we should fear becoming through complacency.   Fifty years ago, Ray Bradbury thought up a world where people craved instant gratification so much they abandoned anything that required real complex thought, including reading. If you are like me, you will find shadows of our society in this scary version of a world.

I adored this shocking ending, the passion for literature I clearly share with Bradbury, and the idea overall.  I can and will use this with preteens readers to emphasize the importance of thinking and reading.  This is an amazing story.  Read it with your book club and digest the deeper societal issues together, fight against the future Bradbury saw.

"...the books were on file behind their quiet eyes, the books were waiting..."

5 HUGE smiles for this amazing work-of-art.