What are your early memories of reading? Did you spend rich hours of your childhood engrossed in adventure stories? Were comic books more your style? What kinds of books did you gravitate to, outside of school?
Recently I browsed through the books I’ve kept from my young reading days. I notice a theme. Do you spot it?
I remember saving my allowance to buy this one — Lad of Sunnybank. At 10 years old, I thought the price was steep, but I wanted nothing more than to read about the collies of Sunnybank Farm. Look at them running so gracefully across the cover.
Animal stories still move me. Recent good reads include The Cruelest Miles and From Baghdad, with Love.
I did expand my reading repertoire to include the classics. Some of my favorites:
Along about high school, I developed an acute interest in war books. This is reflected today in many of my bookshelves, like this one:
We are living in a digital world, and books are now read on ereaders and iPads. What counts is not the mode of delivery; it’s the story. Lad of Sunnybank Farm may frolic in black and white words across a page or he may jump across the screen with a flick of the reader’s finger. Rather than debate about format, let’s encourage each other — and young readers we know — to keep on engaging in stories that transport and entertain. Stories that open up the world to us. Stories that show us who we are.
I’m an animal lover. War fascinates me. That’s who I am!
How about you? What kinds of stories resonate with you? How have your reading patterns changed through your life? Did you keep any treasured books from your childhood?
Linking up with Texture Tuesdays, using Kim Klassen’s texture “Simplicity.” Also linking up with Sweet Shot Tuesday and Leigh vs. Laundry.
