Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Top Ten Inspirational Characters



My Top Ten Inspirational Characters are
all real beings who
I discovered in books.


Wangari Maathai
who started a program for replanting trees in Kenya


Wilma Rudolph
who became an amazing runner despite being born premature and suffering from illness

Sammy Lee
who became a champion diver though he was not allowed to
use the public swimming pool as a child because he was Asian-American

Dewey the Cat
who brought comfort to a town suffering from a deep recession

Louis Zamperini
who survived days on a rubber raft and a Japanese POW camp

Cesar Chavez
who fought for justice for migrant workers

Martin Luther King, Jr.
who sought Christian peace for an angry world

Dr. Paul Farmer
who treated the poorest of the poor

Greg Mortensen
who built schools for girls in Afghanistan

The Maasai Tribe in Kenya
who sent 14 of their most prized possessions to America
after hearing about the fall of the Twin Towers in NYC


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

21 comments:

  1. Awesome list! It wouldn't have occurred to me to pick real people. I think I'll steal that idea and add one or two to my list, hope that's ok.

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  2. Good for you for going the non-fiction route! Very inspirational!

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  3. Nice take on the theme! My list is here: http://sharingsoda.blogspot.com/2011/01/top-ten-tuesday-my-brand-new-nook.html

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  4. My list are all real beings, too, and we share Greg Mortensen.
    Nice list!

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  5. I love that you chose real people who you discovered in books. I have two real people on my list. I haven't discovered anyone else yet. I'll have to look up the books you've mentioned and become educated on these people/cat.

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  6. Interesting choices-I love the direction you went with this TTT. There are a couple of books up there that I would like to read myself-I've heard 3 cups of tea is fantastic. Thanks for sharing your list!

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  7. here's mine http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2011/01/top-ten-tuesday-most-inspirational.html

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  8. I included someone 'real' on my list too! I love that you did all inspirational real people.

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  9. I keep hearing how good Three Cups Of Tea is. I really should read it.

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  10. Great list! I added a bunch to my Goodreads to-read list!

    I couldn't get into Three Cups of Tea, no matter how much I wanted to...I gave it up.

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  11. I love this list. I didn't know that about Wilma Rudolph. She is even more awesome than I thought.

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  12. I like this approach! Truth can be more inspirational than fiction, anyway. :)

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  13. I love what you did with your list! Dewey the cat is priceless :)

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  14. Amazing list! It actually never occurred to me to look for those in 'real life' so caught up was I in thinking of literature. There's some people on this list that I really want to investigate further.

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  15. Oh man, thwark. That is the sound of me hitting my head because I forgot to put Paul Farmer on my list. I am probably more inspired by him than by anyone I've ever read about.

    -Anne
    My Head is Full of Books

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  16. I ended up with quite a few real people myself: Zeitoun, Marjane Satrapi and Azar Nafisi.

    Check out my list at: http://hawthornescarlet.blogspot.com/2011/01/top-ten-tuesday-inspiring-characters.html

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  17. I love that you took your list in a direction that I didn't consider. Great choices!

    Reading Lark's Top 10

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  18. Great list as always Debbie, you always put your own fascinating spin on the topics. I haven't heard of most of the books, except for Dewey- which I've been meaning to read for ages. I hope to get around to it some day. I remember seeing a profile on Sammy Lee on tv during the last olympics.

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  19. Greg Mortenson makes me feel like a real slacker!

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  20. Great List! and thanx for stopping by my blog! :D

    Rabiah @ Confessions of a Readaholic

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  21. I loved Dewey!
    I'd add Nelson Mandela to the list.

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