i have a dedication on a book by an old teacher. he used to teach geography to a bunch of 14 year olds, so he had to be harsh sometimes to get us quiet enough

i have a dedication on a book by an old teacher. he used to teach geography to a bunch of 14 year olds, so he had to be harsh sometimes to get us quiet enough to learn. once, i was sitting by myself during his class and i was reading lord of the rings under the table (it was that HUGE edition that has the 3 books + appendix) -- i was so focused i didn't see him coming. he called my name, i looked up, he asked me what i was doing. i said reading a book, he scowled, and went back to the front of the class. months later, at the parents-teacher conference, he called my mom out in front of everybody. my mom thought he was going to say something bad, but in fact, he said he was proud to see a young student reading but that she should tell me that there are places to read those kind of books, and middle of class is not one of them. he also gave her a book so she could give it to me -- a book on genghis khan's empire. it had a dedication that said: "i dedicate this book so you can have nice moments and remember your teacher"[0] (shitty translation from ptbr, sorry). it was already a great gift -- i loved books -- but the dedication on the book made it so much more... special. since them, whenever i give books to people (and i still do frequently, books are one of my passions), i write something nice, mostly because i feel that it makes that specific book special to that person. [0] https://i.imgur.com/rK3y2wp.jpg https://i.imgur.com/rK3y2wp.jpg