Maps to Anywhere

     When i first began to open the book Maps to Anywhere I though I wasn't going to enjoy the essays at all. Usually essays are boring for me to read, but with this book I found myself actually enjoying many of the essays I read. They were more like short stories to me instead of the typical high school essays I am use to reading. This made them funner for me to read and I in the end was happy I did read them.
     One of the non fiction essays that I really enjoyed reading was called by any other name. This story started out by a couple of kids making a prank call to someone that the chose from random. The story then begins to veer in a way that I did not expect. It begins to talk about how the had chosen the person they were going to call not by random, but instead by his name. Bernard then goes on to talk about his brother and sisters names and how his name was not as normal as the others. He could never find cool key chains with his names on it and his mom would always call his name last when calling the kids in because he felt she couldn't remember it. It then goes on to explain how he and his one of his brothers came up with the name for their kids. This essay to me actually made me think about my own name and what it means. You're name is something you are known by. It is with you for life. It is very important. This essay made you think about all of this.
     Another essay I enjoyed reading was called How to Draw. This essay starts by almost teaching you about art and the different types of art. Most people would find when someone was teaching about art the would need visual example, but I found this essay to be so well written that I didn't need a visual. This essay then turned into how the author began to draw. You also got to get a look into his family and got to know his personal life and why he began to draw.
     The Hurricane Ride was another essay I enjoyed to read. It was written with enough detail to make you feel like you where there. At the same time though it was straight to the point and didn't wander off into a different parallel. I think I liked this story because I could relate to it. It took me back to when I was a younger kid and would go to the fair with my family. Every fair had a ride like the Hurricane Ride and it brought back many memories of the fun times I had on it. This essay was fun to read because it had me take a stole back down memory lane.