How did you favorite books from childhood influence you?

[Mira]

I have a very special place in my heart for books I read when I was a kid. I think they literally helped form who I am as a person now.

I was wondering if folks wanted to share any books that really made a difference to them that they read as a kid, and how it made a difference.

The books that comes to mind for me right now are a Wrinkle in Time and the Prydain Chronicles. A Wrinkle in Time had a outcast, ugly duckling, smart person as a heroine. That helped me feel better about myself. And the Prydain Chronicles was the kind of epic heroic tale that made me want to tread the path of idealism and make the world a better place.

This might be a bit personal....but does anyone else feel like sharing what books influenced them and how?

[Sommer Leigh]

I think this is a wonderful topic.

A Wrinkle in Time was a book that shaped me as well. I read a lot of books, particularly teen horror, but none of them were really, I don't know, "Good." I knew they were entertaining even then but that they lacked some smart quality I couldn't define. Then there was A Wrinkle in Time. It was full of adventures and complex characters. Characters like me. But it was also smart. Tragic and dark. Terrible and wonderful. To this day when I think of writing great adventures I think first of A Wrinkle in Time and how it made me feel when I read it. (Ditto for the Narnia series, but honestly A Wrinkle in Time is closer to my heart)

I was very, very young when I read this particular book, and I remember it scared me very badly the first time. But I checked it out at the library almost compulsively from then on. I think it propelled me into reading paranormal and horror as a teenager. Now I'm an adult writing teen paranormal/horror and I still think of this book as having a strange hold on the Scary Center of my brain. The book was called Talypo by Joanna C. Galdone.

On a similar subject, I devoured the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books. I'm starting to sense a pattern as to why I write what I write now!

There were lots of other books that touched me in some way too, The Polar Express and its beautiful, beautiful artwork (to this day I think more books should have artwork in them). Where the Red Fern Grows was the first novel to make me cry at the end (In class no less). All of Shel Silverstein's books deeply influenced my imagination. I started writing a book of poems because of him when I was in elementary school, with drawings, that I thought were hysterical. They mostly made fun of boys in my class, teachers, and my parents. My parents, by the way, thought they were a lot less hysterical than I did.

[steve]

I've based my life on Mr. Toad from THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS.

There's no better way to live.

[sierramcconnell]

I don't think it was just one book that influenced me. I always just wondered why everyone who wrote was so old when they got published. (30 and above being old, at the time.)

Now I know.

XD

I just knew I always wanted to be like them. And live in a colony where the writer people lived so we could have fancy parties and talk about stories and then retire to our homes at night to write.

Boy was I a fruitcake.

[Mira]

Steve, you are so funny. You crack me up.

Sommer - thanks for saying you like the topic. I was alittle nervous about it. I bet A Wrinkle In Time is very important for alot of girls who are more thoughtful and sensitive. The Murray family made a big impression on me too - they made it seem like it was normal to read and think about things - to be intelligent.. I admire that you liked scary books, though. I was way too impressionable! Still am.

Sierra - if you ever find a writer's community like that, let me know. Wouldn't that be wonderful? :)

[thrintone]

I read the Little House on the Prairie series every summer for years. I would just melt into Laura's world, which made me fall in love with reading. It was my first taste of adventure and lead to my first taste of romance. I loved those books.