I must admit I’ve never been much of a reader. I grew up sitting in front of a TV when I wasn’t outside playing manhunt, stickball, stoop-ball, and drinking water from the garden hose! Saturday mornings were all about cartoons and shows like Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, HR Pufnstuf <–ok I LITERALLY just got that – Puffin Stuff! and the BUGALOOS to name a few.
As far as books, I have 3 distinct memories… the first is “A Child’s Garden Of Verses” by Robert Lewis Stevenson. My mom used to wake us up reciting “Time to Rise” in a creepy voice when we didn’t want to get up… (A birdie with a yellow bill, Hopped upon my window sill, Cocked his shining eye and said: “Ain’t you ‘shamed, you sleepy-head!”)
The second is “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” by E. L. Konigsburg. It’s about a sister and brother who run away and hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It had all the elements that kicked-off my interest in mystery fiction mixed with real world… my Dan Brown training wheels so to speak!
The third, well I am a girl so “Are you There God, It’s Me Margaret” by Judy Blume (and several of her others) had a deep impact during those awkward adolescent years. These are also books that were passed around from girl to girl in paper bags so the boys wouldn’t see.
To do my small part and contribute culturally, I have sent the full Dr. Seuss library to my nieces and nephews (and other kids) to cover books, the full Muppet Show series on DVD to cover TV, and I have also been known to recite “Time To Rise” here and there… although my creep factor pales in comparison to the original master!
What was your favorite book as a kid? Any that still influence you today?
