What were some of the books that had an impact on you when you were growing up?


Ruth McNally Barshaw, ELLIE MCDOODLE, Bloomsbury, May 2007


Ramona the Pest, Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Henry and Beezus, etc., anything by Beverly Cleary – I fell in love with her characters and their worlds. I could totally relate.

The Key To The Treasure by Peggy Parish – this story absolutely enthralled me.

The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop, illus. by Kurt Wiese-- hilarious illustrations I adored.

I was a voracious reader.
In fourth grade my teacher read many classics aloud in class: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte's Web, James and the Giant Peach, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Harriet the Spy, and others.
What a wonderful teacher she was. She opened my world.

http://ruthexpress.com


Melissa Marr, WICKED LOVELY, HarperCollins US & UK 2007, INK EXCHANGE, HarperCollins, US & UK 2008

Oooh, I was just talking about this elsewhere with some urban fantasy authors!  Here's my list--

Childhood:
My grandmother had a shelf of books in "the spare room" at her house.  One of these was a 1907 text Draper's Self-Culture: Fairy Tales, Myths, and Legends.   I read and re-read that until I could  tell the stories in it.   My other fav reads were presents--Anderson's Fairy Tales (Grossett & Dunlap, 1974) and Aesop's Fables.  I'm still carrying these books with me as I move about the country.   Around 12, I started to read Shakespeare, the Odyssey, a collection of English Poetry (that I still have), and a bunch of other lit texts my uncle gave me.  He'd bring me boxes of books twice a year (he taught college so they were extra "review copies" or books he picked up at used bookstores or read and didn't want to keep).

Teen:
By 13-15, I read whatever I could get ahold of--myth, romance, fantasy, history, mystery.  I, umm, read dictionaries and the phonebook when I ran out of books.  Somewhere around 16/17, I discovered the Beat authors (I liked Keroauc & Ginsberg, not Burroughs), as well as Baudelaire, Rilke, Flaubert, Faulkner, Nietszche, & Plato.

www.melissa-marr.com

Kelly Bingham, SHARK GIRL, Candlewick Press, May 2007

All books impacted me in some way.  The act of reading was something that fed my soul, and I read quite a bit growing up.  I loved the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and must have reread each one a hundred times.  In short, I was always reading, and good or bad, I would lose myself in the story entirely.  I think the fascination with the very concept of writing something down that could take people to another world and another time is something most writers have in common--it's pretty rare to meet a writer that was not a reader at an early age. 

This is not to say a person cannot start writing at any age, no matter what their background, of course.  The world needs good stories, always.  

www.kellybingham.net


Sarah Aronson Head Case, (Roaring Brook Press, Coming Fall 2007)

As a kid, I watched TV.  I went to movies.  I loved the theater.  I was not a reader until I lived in England at age 16.

There I started reading Dickens, the Bronte sisters, and Thomas Hardy.  I was attracted to the darker tones of their work.  And the windy, dark climate around me fit my mood!  When I came home, I continued to read:  Catcher in the Rye, Lolita, and Anna Karenina were some of my favorites.  I'll admit, I loved Agatha Christie, too!  I didn't discover YA literature until I was an adult.  I spend a lot of time catching up!!

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