Books and Childhood, continued

Since I really enjoyed the last blog assignment to talk about books that changed our lives, I thought I would say more about the topic of childhood and books.

As soon as I could read, I was enamoured with books. Fiction was my favorite, but if someone's real life had an engaging story to it, I was into that as well (Anne Frank and Helen Keller come to mind here). I liked to feel like I really understood the characters and was with them during their adventures, and I aspired to create fun characters and situations for myself when I wrote.

I didn't grow up with parents who read. My dad liked Isaac Asimov and had some of his novels on his bookshelf, but I don't recall ever really observing my parents reading. In fact, I would go so far as to say that my mom is an anti-reader, and says that she doesn't have time to sit around and "do nothing". I thought about that recently, and I asked her why she never got into reading as a child, and I discovered something interesting and sad. I knew that as a child, my mom spent five years in Doernbecher's Children's Hospital with a chronic kidney condition, and her parents visited her on the weekends. But my mom said that she doesn't remember there being very many books around the ward when she was there. That would have been during the late 1950's or early 1960's. That seems terribly sad to me. I had other questions, too, that I couldn't bring myself to ask, especially the question about why didn't her parents bring her some books, or read them to her when they came to visit?

I worked as a nanny for four and a half years, and I read to the kids every day I was there. I chose funny and interesting picture books and middle grade novels, and fell in love with those books myself. I loved the reactions the kids had, and the discussions it sparked. I read to them at dinner every night, which we all looked forward to. It was such a gratifying exchange between us, and I am sad that my mother missed out on that in her own childhood. For myself, I still feel a strong connection with my childhood when I read and write. It may be the reason I am drawn to children's books. I'm right there with Whitney when she talks about her love of YA literature, and that's why I want to be involved in some capacity with creating/publishing/editing books for kids. It still feels like home to me.