I know everyone says it…and I suppose that everyone means it….but I think I could do it. I would need a new computer, of course. This one allows too many typos to allow me to be truly productive.
That’s really not the point though. I really want to write a book. I have thought about it a great deal over the past eight months or so. What kind of book you ask?? Well, I know for sure I don’t want to write a book about something real. I don’t want to write a book that is like the “comprehensive guide of doggie squeek toys”. I loved a certain kind of books when I was about 12 or 13..things like The Babysitter’s Club, Nancy Drew and others….I think I have enough material in my imagination to create one of my own…but I am not so sure that a series is right for me…and I fear that books have changed a great deal since I was 12 or 13…I couldn’t get into Harry Potter…
…and it seems that, even 12 years after my own childhood…children have lost so much of the innocence that allowed me to be enthralled in a book where two orphan children are sent to live with their eccentric aunt on some barrier island and find that the old house she lives in is filled with more than just secrets…but ghosts of the past…and who is the mysterious boy she sees with the lantern every night at midnight in the old garden??
Well, there’s more to this “write a book desire”…but I feel it’s important to pay tribute to the books that made my childhood….I have to start with the obvious ones…there are ones I don’t know…and couldn’t begin to remember (which makes me sad). It is my hope that this list will allow me to remember some of the other important books I have since forgotten….
Nancy Drew (series)
Babysitter’s Club (series)
Anne of Green Gables & Anne of Avonly
The Secret Garden
Freckle Juice
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
Ramona
Mandie (series)
Books I Am Not Sure I Read But I Remember Anyway
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
A Wrinkle in Time
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Borrowers
Bridge to Terabithia
Sounds like you were influenced by some pretty good books. Did you ever read Island of the Blue Dolphins? That’s one that I remember really enjoying, but don’t remember why or exactly what it’s about (other than a girl on an island). And I agree with you that kids today would probably be harder to write for, but I’d enjoy reading any attempt you might make!
Yes! I do remember Island of the Blue Dolphins. I don’t remember much about it either, but I think I enjoyed it as well. It might have been required reading in 6th grade? That shall be added to my list. Thanks for the support! I will let you and Kate read my first draft
Have I ever told you that I am drawn to people who are amazing writers. I can’t wait to read what you write! For what it is worth, I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without Charlotte’s Web. That book taught me so much about friendship, family, life, and death. I still read it as an adult and I love it just as much as I did as a child.
I know what you mean about Charlotte’s Web. I, for one, never read it all the way through. I can’t read animal books are watch animal movies…yet I understand the impact of books.
Oddly, I remember some of the most influential books being the Mandie series. I recently read a review of the books, however, and realized that I never noticed how many adult themes were in these stories intended for children.
I realized after reading the critiques of the books, that the appeal of those books and others…Babysitter’s Club…Sweet Valley High….was that they appealed to the fantasy that older children have about being grown up…
I think that is kind of a universal theme of childhood…
I guess, all this to say…that it’s interesting to see how our perception of books change over time….