Childhood Authors Who Still Inspire Us Today
To be a writer means you are likely a lifelong reader, and to be a lifelong reader, it must have begun during childhood. I can still remember bedtime stories as a child. My parents instilled a love of reading in me from a time before I even knew how to read myself. Whether The Rainbow Fish, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, The Giving Tree, or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I look back fondly at the hours of bedtime reading that was done in my household. Even more than reading and books, it was the act of storytelling that I remember loving so much. Sometimes, my parents didn’t even need to pull out a book, it was instead “just tell me a story” and so they did, as creatively, imaginatively, and in as fun a way as they could.
This love for stories, books, and reading only grew as I aged. The first book I can remember actually being able to read on my own was Harry and the Lady Next Door, a quirky story about a dog and his love-hate relationship with the lady next door, who was an opera singer and “she sang high and loud.” Upon mastering the skill and art of reading, I found it hard to stop. I remember going to the grocery store with my mom, always a book in hand, and sitting on the edge of the bottom shelves to read even just a sentence or two more while she browsed for what she needed. I would mark my spot when she ushered me to the next aisle, and quickly take another seat and read some more, and so it continued all the way until the checkout line. Childhood authors are who planted that first seed, and who still inspire us today in many ways, particularly as we grow into our voices as writers.
Books of Comedy
When I think back to some of my earlier days of reading, I distinctly remember reading books like Amelia Bedelia, by Peggy Parish, or the Junie B. Jones series, by Barbara Park. Amelia Bedelia, perhaps best known for her literal approach to instructions and life in general provided plenty of laughs growing up over her misconstrued takes on “drawing the drapes,” “pitching the tent,” “dusting the furniture,” and plenty of other examples. As writers, stories like Amelia Bedelia teach us how to use literary devices like literal and figurative language and craft a whole narrative around it. Similarly, I can remember reading nearly every book that made up the Junie B. Jones series. The use of tone and humor in the series by Barbara Park was something even my mom enjoyed and laughed along to as well. In her work, Park truly teaches us as writers how to develop a character suited for the target age and demographic you’re looking to reach. As a five and six year old girl, I loved Junie B. Her antics were amusing, her problems were relatable, and she was a character that was true in her voice, her narration, and her tone through and through.
Books of History
A second love I have had throughout my entire life is that of history. I love learning about times past and the implications they have for us today. Carrying that into works of fiction is what has created a whole genre based on it. For example, books like The Magic Tree House series, by Mary Pope Osborne, combined these two arenas for me in a way that opened up new worlds. If you’re unfamiliar with this historical-fantasy series, it centers around siblings, Jack and Annie, who travel back in time via a magical treehouse, to solve mysteries and help their friends throughout history. The stories span across the ages, the first book being Dinosaurs Before Dark, and take Jack and Annie to Ancient Greece for the first Olympic Games, to the sinking of the Titanic, and to Elizabethan England, where they meet Wiliam Shakespeare. The Magic Treehouse series deploys techniques of realism, fantasy, and historical truths to shape its narratives. For any writer who fancies the historical-fiction genre, these childhood favorites may very well have been your first introduction to the space. A book I read when I was a bit older, perhaps fourth grade, was the one I unmistakably remember finishing and realizing that this is what I wanted to do - it made me want to be a writer. Number The Stars, by Lois Lowery is a poignant and powerful tale of friendship that takes place in Denmark during World War Two. It is based upon real life events in which fiction is interwoven. If you haven’t read this book, as a writer and aspiring author, I would highly encourage you to. It teaches the craft of storytelling in its rawest and most honest form. It beautifully depicts imagery, conflict, and resolution, and it will stick with you throughout your career. I would argue that for all of us, we have a book from childhood that was the book - the one that made us want to be writers. Those are the books that will impact us forever and they are the tales from childhood that will shape us as writers well into adulthood.
Books of Realism
Similar to historical-fiction, there are novels I read as a child that offered a beautiful look into realism; ones that spoke right to me and my life, the current state of the world, and did it through the lense of a child - someone who looked like me, thought like me, spoke like me, and made it okay to be that age in a world that looked the way it did. So many of the works by Judy Blume, offered that first, realistic look at the life of an adolescent, pre-teen girl. Blume deals with many defining topics that make up the day-to-day existence of 13-ish year old girls, including first periods, dysfunctional families and divorce, friendship drama, boys and dating, loss, happiness, and more. What’s so remarkable about Blume’s novels is that they were written well before I was born. Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret?, perhaps one of Blume’s most notable and popular works, was published in 1970 and read by generations of women before me. But the message and questions presented in the book hold fast and true over the decades. The ability to tell lasting and profound generational truths is what makes Blume such an impactful writer, and something that today’s writers can still glean from her.
Books of Fantasy
I know for me personally, a kid growing up in the suburbs of Ohio, fantastical worlds painted beyond the sprawl of my own were an absolute haven of escape. Though not everyone may like Harry Potter, or agree with recent sentiments of J.K. Rowling for that matter, the landscape she painted with her fantasy series is both monetarily and nostalgically loved by so many, and for good reason. This was another childhood writer who inspired me to become one myself, and I’m sure that attitude is shared by thousands. Rowling truly harnessed the greatest gift we have as writers, using her imagination to craft a narrative that will live on for decades, if not centuries. She is arguably one of the finest in the field at storytelling, narration, suspense, and the compelling finalization of a long-game series. Before her, came another great fantasy writer named C.S. Lewis. Similar to Rowling, Lewis crafted the landscape of Narnia that has enchanted young minds for generations. Using one of the best examples of personification in fiction as well as crossovers between Christian-allegory, Greek and Roman mythology, and British and Irish folklore, Lewis’ works tell the story of four siblings and the alternate universe they discover. Within this universe they find talking animals, wicked witches, and literary themes of love, good versus evil, and the power of family, bravery, and sacrifice that touch all of us as readers and writers, whether in this world of that of Narnia.
Writers from our past are the reason we are the readers and writers we are today, and that should never be overlooked in our journeys. The authors we read as children, shaped our minds, our imaginations, and instilled in us a deep level of inspiration. When we feel stuck in our own novels and stories, it may be worth a look back at some of the authors we loved growing up. Why did we love them? What were their stories really about? How did they craft a compelling narrative? What can we take away from them now to utilize in our own writing? These questions and the answers our beloved childhood authors have already given to us are some of the best tools we can wield as future writers, and we owe a great deal to these authors still today.
