GUEST POST - CHILDHOOD READING

Childhood Reading

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Guest Post - Childhood Reading

I was completely obsessed with everything Dr. Seuss at a kid. Green Eggs

and Ham, Cat in the Hat, etc. Without giving away how ancient I am, my mom

has still held on to those well loved, tattered and milk stained books for the past

xxx years :) I fondly remember Green Eggs and Ham, and around the age of 8,

would frequently annoy my mother because I was on the hunt for an actual

green yolk! I would break open egg after egg, pouring it into a bowl desperately

trying to find that green yolk. And as for the ham? Well, since my mom didn’t

buy pork products, you can only imagine what I did with left-over cuts of meat,

hiding them and trying to find the point at which it would turn green! (Ick, yes

I know.) Finally, in her frustration, she took that book away for a while.

I moved on to One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish — which I loved, but

couldn’t get past how bizarre and un-fishlike they appeared to be! So that was a

short-lived love affair. Then my dad brought home Put Me in the Zoo, by

Robert Lopshire. Now, I’ll admit, until today, I forgot the name of that book —

I just remember completely falling in love with what I thought at the time was a

story about a bear, (it’s a leopard, actually) who had different colored spots and

could pass those spots on. It took me googling a few times and in different ways,

but I finally found it by typing in “Children’s book where animal has multicolored

polka dots.” Oh the memories came flooding back! Still to this day, if I

see anything with multi-colored spots - handbags, a Rubix Cube, clothing, etc.,

it brings me back to a summer morning, 8 years old, sitting on the floor next to

my bed, the sound of airplanes flying over while I transported myself into the

world of that leopard, hoping to be colored by him in turquoise spots.

Another favorite, which is also now a favorite of my 6 year old sons, is “Are

You My Mother?” by P.D. Eastman. Knowing that it is also my sons favorite

book at the moment (In addition to Skippy Jon Jones), gives me great pleasure

to relive my childhood memories with him all over again.

Childhood Reading

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It was during this time that I started creating my own characters and picture

books. I even had a name for my characters, “The Funnimals,” and my dad

stressed the importance of trademarking and copywriting. (Because, of course

that the first thing an 8 year knows how to do!) My dad had checked to see if it

was a trademarked name , and the name was was my own brilliant idea. I was

even brazen enough to want to send my book out to publishing houses,

convincing myself that I was destined for greatness at such a young age! In

fourth grade, we also had a project, to write and draw your own picture book

that other students could check out from the school library. I wrote a story

about the “Magical Pegacorn” my pegasus/unicorn hybrid. Imagine my

excitement, when I would check to see how many times it was checked out, it

was quite a lot!! That early love of reading and writing put me on the path to

where I am today. I’ve tried many occupations in between those early days and

now, but now I know that I’ve come full circle back to what I was always meant

to do.