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The Insecure Writer's Support Group
Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog.
The co-hosts for the June 4 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melisa Maygrove, and Jean Davis
June 4 question - What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?
My earliest childhood memories regarding books were the several of the Little Golden Book series that my parents bought me early on. My favorites were The Little Engine that Could, The Gingerbread Man, and Little Black Sambo. I'm not sure how many of the books in the series I had, but I can recall looking at those books often as a young child. I don't know how much literary impact those books had on me, but they did give me a certain sense of pride of book ownership and having my own home library.
When I was about 8 years, the pastor at the church we were attending at the time gave me my first Bible, a book which I still have to this day although it is very well worn with the cover coming off. I gave this a lot of use throughout the years and like many people I'd say that this is the book that has had the most influence over me and a book that continues to influence me.
Two more huge influences on me were the Webster's Dictionary and the grocery store bought set of Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia. Through the years I spent hours perusing the dictionary and the encyclopedia set just for the fun and curiosity. This probably made a huge contribution to my good grades through my school years. Kids today who no longer use these resources are missing out on a wealth of information in my opinion. And I question the veracity of some of the online resources.
I read a lot when I was a kid--especially after I entered my teens and began getting regular deliveries from various book clubs. I can't say any one particular writer impacted me greatly when I was a kid. However, after I started college I discovered some of the great Southern writers like William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. This school of writers from the American South have impacted me most as far as literature goes.
What were some of your biggest writing influences?
That's amazing you still have that Bible!
ReplyDeleteWe had Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia! I loved them. Long story, but when we cleaned out my mom's place, they had to be thrown out. Shame, I remember a photo of an anaconda where the snake's body was thicker than a man's. Can't find that picture anywhere now.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother had a few of those Golden Book and we loved going over to her house where we could read them, or perhaps have them read to us. We had a set of Encyclopedia Britannica dating from the late 1950's. I wrote a lot of reports using those reference books, unaware that a fair bit of the information needed updating.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the dictionary and the encyclopedias. My parents would say whenever we had a question to go look it up. Of course, kids can still look it up today, but looking up something under one letter would usually lead to learning about other things with that letter. The Bible has been a huge influence on me, even though I don't have the one I got when I was eight.
ReplyDeleteWe never had Little Black Sambo, but we did have Little Brown Koko.... it was creepy even then.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Little Golden Books! We had at least a dozen, including Sambo, Three Little Kittens, and an enduring favorite of mine - Thumbelina :-) It's amazing to think they used to sell for .25 cents at the grocery store. If encyclopedias were still around I'd still be reading them today ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy grandma bought me an illustrated Bible for kids when I was very little. The pictures and the stories were so beautiful! I also loved The Little Engine that Could and pretty much every Dr. Seuss book ever!
ReplyDeleteIt may say something about me that my favorite kids' books were an awful "Howdy Doody" book, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel (still love that one), and the rather odd, but excellent, Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat. Not sure that last one is available anymore.
ReplyDeleteI checked out so many Little Golden Books from the library! I was also a nerdy kid who read the dictionary, though I was usually looking up all the words my parents wouldn't let me say :-)
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