One of the questions people ask me the most often is: "what sorts of books or authors inspired me when I was a kid". While I can remember the books, I generally never paid much attention to who wrote them. This is just kind of my personality. I can’t even remember who sings my favorite songs most of the time, but I can sing all the words.
The Animorphs series comes to mind right off the bat. I loved those books, as I’ve always been drawn to Sci-Fi/Fantasy. I remember my dad and I would read Goosebumps before bed in the evenings. We would take turns reading outloud. And I would get so frustrated when we couldn’t read the next chapter because I had to go to bed.
I think that I was drawn to books because my kindergarten teacher told my parents that I would struggle with reading and writing. Not sure how she was able to determine that at such a young age. Anyway, HA! How do you like me now? I believe that it is our mentors telling us we can’t do something that really drives us to achieve what we never thought possible.
I fear for kids these days. They do so much reading and writing on their mobile devices, but can’t pick up a book and read it. I hope that more parents will read with their kids. I know that if I have kids they will be playing the piano and reading!