The Book of Books by Jessica Allen is the companion book for the PBS series The Great American Read.  The book is packed with interesting facts about America’s favorite books and authors.

• James Patterson writes 365 days a year.
• James Baldwin fell in love with books as a child when he would roam libraries rather than risk being abused at home by his step-father.
• When Toni Morrison’s Beloved failed to win the National Book Award, more than 45 black writers and critics sent a letter of protest to The New York Times.  The novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, and Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
• John Kennedy Toole never got to see his book A Confederacy of Dunces published during his lifetime.  He committed suicide at the age of 31, and left his manuscript atop an armoire in his mother’s house.  He never knew that his book was one of the best loved books of the 20th century.
• S. E. Hinton was just 17 years-old when The Outsiders was published.
• Don Quixote is the oldest book on the list.  It was published in 1605.