Summer ReadingWhen We Were Young: Children's Book Authors & Illustrators Share Memories of Reading For many children and adults, summer is synonymous with reading. We asked our authors and illustrators to share their memories of summer reading, and received responses that reflect a wide range of experiences, some humorous, some solemn, and all deeply affecting. Enjoy. 
(from left to right: Christine Taylor-Butler, Nicole Tadgell, Robert McGuire, Jesse Joshua Watson, Mark Weston, Shadra Strickland, and Tony Medina) What were some of your favorite books as a child? Christine Taylor-Butler: I learned to read courtesy of Dr. Seuss, especially The Cat in the Hat. Later, I read every book in the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Perhaps I identified with the author. We had little in common—she was rural, I was urban. She was the youngest sister, I was the oldest. Perhaps the connection is that we both felt like misfits trying to make a place for ourselves in the world. I tried reading the original French editions of the Babar the Elephant books by Jean de Brunhoff. I was learning the language in school and struggling with the concepts, so I used the pictures in the series to strengthen my understanding of the words on the pages. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle was another favorite. I read it in the fourth grade. The idea of visiting a fourth dimension and the science behind it was fascinating. That may explain why I am now a science fiction fan. Yes—I am a Trekkie! Nicole Tadgell: When I was little, I loved Big Sister, Little Sister by Charlotte Zolotow, What's in the Dark? by Carl Memling, and Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer. I loved the detailed illustrations, the colors, and the sense of place. When I was a little older, I enjoyed books like Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series, and books about wilderness, like Big Ben. In my teens, I loved the fantasy worlds of Anne McCaffery, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Dragonlance series, and the Elfquest graphic novels. Robert McGuire: My favorite book as a child was, without a doubt, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle. When I was a kid I just loved everything about knights, chivalry, and tales from the Middle Ages. I would read, and read again, anything from Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges to Castle by David Macaulay. But, Pyle's stuff was the best. It took me to a different world, a world that I think pretty much defined my imagination. Those gorgeous black and white illustrations were burned into my mind and the images have been there ever since. Thinking about those knighthood fantasies, or about making suits of armor out of cardboard and jousting my brother, sounds like fun even today. That fantasy world was all mine, but the books were what helped me create it. And it all started with Pyle's King Arthur. When my mom took me to the library and said “go find a book,” my hand landed on a shiny silver cover with a brilliant coat of arms. Jesse Joshua Watson: To Kill a Mockingbird, Cry Freedom, and I really loved The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, and the Taran Wanderer series by Lloyd Alexander. Mark Weston: My favorite books as a child were biographies—presidents, inventors, and especially baseball players. There are more than forty biographies of ball players that I can remember reading. One passage I still remember from The Jackie Robinson Story recounted how Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers who was bringing Robinson to the major leagues, recited a dozen different insults for black that Robinson was going to hear from fans and from the opposing players. "Do you want to know if I'm man enough to fight?" Robinson asked. "I want to know if you’re man enough not to!" Rickey replied. Shadra Strickland: One of my favorite books as a kid was this awesome book about a little boy and his imaginary purple striped zebra whom he blamed whenever he got into trouble. For the life of me I can’t remember the name of the book. The illustrations were stylish and funky, and I remember one hilarious point in the story where the boy and the zebra were in "jail" under the kitchen table. . . . Maybe I’m making that part up. It was a cool book nonetheless. Tony Medina: This is a bit complicated, because I was one of those unfortunate kids who did not grow up with books in the house. The only person I ever saw reading was my grandmother and she’d read her Bible and cheap paperback novels. I didn’t even have children’s books. The only time I saw a children’s book was at school when we went to the library as a class. I developed a love of reading when I was around fifteen years old. I had to write a make-up book report that I had neglected to do because I didn’t have the patience or attention span for reading (all I wanted to do was watch TV and go outside and play). My teacher, Mr. De Los Reyes, gave me one last chance to do the report and handed me a list of books to choose from. I took the list to the library and chose a title that intrigued me for some reason, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. I wanted to know what an "Algernon" was, so I looked up the book according to the librarian's instructions and was surprised to find it in the contemporary fiction section. I took the book home that Friday night and could not put it down. Did you enjoy reading as a child? If so, what about reading gave you pleasure? Christine Taylor Butler: I had an insatiable craving for books. I loved reading about other countries. I wanted to travel the world, but money was tight and it didn’t seem likely I’d achieve that dream. So I "traveled" using books and National Geographic, and imagined myself in those places. The photographs captivated me. My parents purchased a set of encyclopedias, and I was in heaven each time a new volume arrived. My ultimate guilty pleasure was reading Alfred Hitchcock anthologies and any other mystery, science fiction, or horror story I could find. My friends spent their allowances on candy and toys. I spent my allowance on paperback books. I spent the change on puzzle magazines. I wasn’t good at sports, but I was the supernerd of word searches, cryptograms, crosswords, and math puzzles. All of it gave my mind a workout and made me a stronger reader. Nicole Tadgell: I loved reading, and I loved books. At first, it was the quiet intimacy and rare "time with Mommy" that I enjoyed. Soon, though, being in another world—the world of the book—became a wonderful pastime. Jesse Joshua Watson: I really enjoyed reading when I was young. I relished that mind journey. I mean, the letters would be all lined up in words and sentences but really soon they sort of drifted away and I was seeing images of the story dance in front of my eyes. I let myself get on a roll and crank through big books. I would often just skip guiltlessly by a word I didn't know the meaning of, assuming I'd figure it out from the context, or eventually learn it. I didn't let those words keep me from tackling big books. Shadra Strickland: For me the most pleasure from reading came when my friends and I swapped books. It was so great to get cool Nancy Drew mysteries, V.C. Andrews sagas, and Steven King horror stories that we traded among ourselves. As fourth and fifth graders, the exchanges made us all feel so grown up and worldly. Tony Medina: What gave me pleasure was being transported into different worlds through words and language, and being able to imagine the characters, places, and situations as if they were starring in my own personal TV shows. I enjoyed having my imagination actively involved in the creation of the story, interpreting it in my own way. I thought this was far better than television because the images were already provided for me. I also loved the intimacy of entering into a conversation with a narrator or character whose thoughts I was privy to. This allowed me to find a certain level of solace in my overcrowded apartment full of aunts and uncles and cousins and TVs playing in every room. With books I learned to sit and be still and travel to different places. This really helped enhance my interior world, the world of my own thoughts and ideas, a world of dreaming. Falling in love with books and reading made me want to be a writer. Who or what inspired your love of reading as a child? Christine Taylor-Butler: My parents were heavy believers in education. They filled the house with puzzles, games, and books. We visited the library every week until I was able to walk there by myself. I was a misfit kid: overweight, nerdy. Librarians were my best friends. They’re highly undervalued in society. They are often an urban child's first connection to the worlds a book can unlock. At the time, the Cleveland public library had a rule that children could only select books from the children's section. But I was reading above grade level. The local library allowed my mother to sign a waiver, which gave me access to the full collection when I was in elementary school. I remember how wonderful it was to pick mysteries and thrillers from the same sections my parents browsed. Letting me read ahead at my own pace and level of interest was key to my becoming a lifelong reader and independent learner. My daughters think I'm nuts, but you'll find their heads buried in books as well. Be still my heart! Nicole Tadgell: My mother and grandmother first, because they read to me or supplied me with books. Later, my father, because he had a great collection of fantasy and sci-fi books, and we could talk about them together and with my older sister, who also loved to read. Jesse Joshua Watson: Being read to by my folks as a kid directly led to my love of reading today. No question! My dad read to our family for as long as I can remember. Well into my teenage years. As a kid, I was really focused and passionate about whatever I was into, and reading was a way of feeding those interests and passions. Shadra Strickland: My mom was a teacher so I was always "playing school" with my friends and cousins. We gave each other imaginary homework assignments and I had a cousin in Kansas City to whom I would write letters every few weeks (she's a professional writer now). We talked about everything from school, family, and friends, to the latest books we were reading. Writing, reading, and drawing were always my world. Tony Medina: After I read Flowers for Algernon, I received an A+ on my book report. I was hooked and started reading more books on the list my teacher had given me, which included A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Those books led to other books. I became a bookworm. I always had a book in my hand or in my pocket. I read everything that John Steinbeck wrote, and what was written about him. I developed a love of J.D. Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. I started studying the writers I read, trying to teach myself how to be a writer. I loved reading so much, I wanted to have my own books. So I used what little money I would get for candies or allowance and instead of spending it on junk food, I'd buy paperbacks, which were relatively inexpensive. I began building my own personal library. Whenever I'd get depressed or lonely, I’d end up in a library or bookstore. Books became important friends to me. I developed a kinship with the writers I read. The more I read, the better my writing became. I really couldn't understand what my English teachers were talking about when it came to the rules of grammar and punctuation, but when I began reading James Baldwin's essays, I consciously began to study the way he structured and punctuated his sentences. These were some of the longest and most involved sentences I’d ever come across, and I was fascinated with how well he punctuated them. Beyond Mr. De Los Reyes's second chance assignment and the librarian at the Throgsneck Library who helped me understand the card catalogue, I think I was inspired to love reading by words, language, the dream world that fiction transported me into, and, like Langston Hughes, loneliness. Reading, which is a solitary activity, actually took away my loneliness and blues. And reading made me want to be a writer. That was the one thing that stuck with my ever-changing mind. Reading opened all types of doors for me—from understanding myself and others, to trying to figure out the world, to achieving my goals and living out my dreams. ♦ Author and Illustrator Related Links Written by Christine Taylor-Butler: Sacred Mountain: Everest Illustrated by Nicole Tadgell: No Mush Today  BookTalk on No Mush TodayIllustrated by Robert McGuire: The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby Illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson: Chess Rumble I and I Bob Marley  Video interview on Chess Rumble BookTalk on I and I Bob Marley Written by Mark Weston: Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars BookTalk on Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of CarsIllustrated by Shadra Strickland: Bird Written by Tony Medina: I and I Bob Marley DeShawn Days Christmas Makes Me Think Love to Langston BookTalk on I and I Bob Marley BookTalk on Christmas Makes Me Think More Summer Reading Memories
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