Very fond memories of my "Encyclodpedia Brown" days. Mr Meneguzzi(*), my grade 4 teacher, used to read us a mystery every Friday afternoon. I can still picture him in the rocking chair in the far corner of the portable classroom, with us gathered round at his feet. Of course, these were the days when schools were jammed packed and there weren't enough classrooms to fit all the kids. I was very sad to discover that St. Veronica's actually closed down. Anythow, he would go over the clues with us as we tried to solve the mysteries ourselves. This brought out the sleuth in me and, as a result, today I'm a huge fan of thrillers - Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, James Patterson, Robert Wilson & Lee Child, just to mention a few.
(*) Better known as the Jolly Green Giant to us all. Certainly one of my favourite teachers! When we were still in grade 3, the 4th graders used to get a kick out of telling us tall tales about Mr Meneguzzi because he was huge, thus the giant! They'd tell us evil stories of how he swallowed little kids alive. When we became 4th graders ourselves we were all shaking in our pants first day of school, dreading to meet the Giant. However, we soon came to discover that Mr Meneguzzi was nothing less than a giant teddy-bear. Had him again in grade 5 & that was a year to remember! Later, as we moved up in the world (on to grade 6), he would get his former students to help him out as classroom aides. It was really neat. We'd give up recess to write up sums on the board for him or help mark spelling tests. As a teacher, he has certainly been a source of inspiration for me.
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