Freedom Writers and Dead Poets

I just watched Freedom Writers and Dead Poets Society. Both very good films about writing and ways of thinking. Both inspire to reach beyond what lies in our grasp cognitively, just as the introduction to the book Ways of Reading tries to get us to really think when we read these essays. I find the movies to be more compelling and inspiring, but then, they included a great smattering of quotes from several good writers, while I have not yet given the rest of the articles in Ways of Readings a taste yet...