Featured Writers: The Writers Who Started Me
Those beginning books that inspired, fed, and moved my youthful soul.
Today’s Audio—
⏳ My apologies for no audio with this post; sometimes time just gets away.⏳
A small portion of books from my youth collection—
*not the whole lot…this post would be ALL PICTURES!
Recognize any of these titles?
Do you still have those books from your childhood?
Even if you don’t, I am sure you can remember those that took you to another place, felt your same feelings or introduced you to new ones, had you on the edge of your seat or taking a big sigh as you read that l-a-s-t paragraph, gave rise to your laughter or fell your tears, and had you wishing that the story wouldn’t end.
Books! Oh, those books written through the hearts and minds of authors you would likely never meet, yet you knew them, through their characters and through the words they so carefully chose to craft their narratives. You met them through every emotion, every lesson, every impactful or mundane event they shared, and they would forever be seen as dear friends every time you heard their name and remembered their stories.
Books. Books are extraordinary treasures that deliver to us everything incredible about being human.
Today, I pay homage to authors and their books: those who had impact and inspired me, those which I will keep on a shelf to revisit should there be need, and all of those, I will share with the next young heart and mind who needs the door opened to a story and an introduction to an author they have yet to meet.
There is something magical about sharing friends.
Hello all and sundry,
Welcome to a little discussion about inspiring writers in this Featured Writers post. Thank you for stopping in! Let’s grab a drink, some snacks, and find a good seat so we can chat it up about those special writers who have influenced us. I’ll share quite a few. This is in NO WAY an all-inclusive list; we don’t have months to look at them all. Mainly, these are those who immediately stand out for me, when I think of writers who inspired, fed, and moved my youthful soul.
—Book banners may go crazy over the impact of works on youth, the writer’s influence, but every book I ever read made me a BETTER HUMAN! I will forever be an advocate for BOOKS, for the writers who write them, and for everyone’s accessibility to them.—
In my elementary days, I was all about every book that had a horse in it! To be honest—I still have a draw to those. I had a few absolute favorites:
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Having Black Beauty as narrator may have been a contributing factor to me wanting to be a horse, often on all fours or in galloping gate and constant whinny. Ah, the young imagination!
Misty of Chincoteague, Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion, and Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry. These three in particular, also made into movies, really had me dreaming of a pony or horse of my very own.
Gypsy from Nowhere and other’s in the Gypsy series of mysteries by Sharon Wagner. Not sure how conscious of it I was then, but Sharon grew up in Montana, as did I! I not only loved horses, but was fully intrigued by a good mystery.
The Blind Colt and Stolen Pony by Glen Rounds. I loved these stories and later became aware that Glen had traveled to Montana from South Dakota in near identical style as our Grandma Inez. Grandma, not a baby, but around age 5, was not in a covered wagon, but in a very old car much like the one the Clampetts of The Beverly Hillbillies drove in on. She would tell how the kids road while sitting on the running boards as they bumped along dirt roads from South Dakota all the way to Havre, Montana. Funny, how we can connect with someone for one thing, then discover how the connection is actually a bit deeper.
I have shelves of horse books which, while reading with our grandkids, take me back to the days when I was their age and dreaming of horses. 🏇🏼 Nothing like this sharing!
During the same time and when a smidge older, around junior high, I was reading anything and everything our little school library and the weekly Bookmobile had. Do y’all remember the Bookmobile?! Some of us did live in remote or underserved and underfunded areas and that Bookmobile was the WORLD on wheels. I know I could hardly wait until it parked outside of our school on a Friday afternoon and we got to get on that bus! I’d come off of it arms loaded!
My favorites, then, were:
The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Any guesses to the character with whom I most identified? Yes, Laura was like looking in the mirror.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. How about this one? Who do you suppose? Yep, was, still is, Jo. A twin in many aspects! I’ll let you figure out the most applicable.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. and EVERY book by Judy Blume. All I will say is, “Thank God for JUDY BLUME!”
Wrinkle in Time and A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L’Engle. Loved the diving into imagination with Wrinkle in Time. A Ring of Endless Light? Well, dolphins!
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. I remember watching the series Roots in ‘77; I was eight and the sickening reality of what man can do to man hit my growing empathy hard. I was in 4th or 5th grade when I read this one. I already knew a lot about the history of Native Americans, growing up in Montana with many Tribes near by, and later, living on the Flathead Reservation, exposure was lived, so the atrocious actions of man was not a real shock to me. Yet, after Roots, and knowing about the racism I saw toward local Tribal members, I wanted to know the stories of the South, particularly from a perspective other than white. This was a good book for that.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Here is another book in which I identified with a character. Scout reminded me of myself at her age: curious about the workings of the world, particularly people, preferring to be a tomboy, and one who was empathetic toward those whom the community often viewed as less than. This book was also inspiration for naming a very independent, inquisitive, and tomboy-tough cat of mine, Scout.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I read this book over and over. There were those relatable experiences and the learning about a life I would never experience. It brought out ALL the feelings. In high school and beyond, Maya Angelou’s poetry would give me permission to write my own. Not surprising, we had a very wise kitty we named, Maya. She was our Scout’s sister.
Outsiders; Rumble Fish; That Was Then/This is Now; Tex by S. E. Hinton. Most would think the draw to her work was through the Hollywood Hotties who played her characters during the 80s, but for me I had already had her books in hand! Read all of these long before seeing them on screen. I have always done this when there is a film adaptation as I need my imagination and own mind-film making to go there, first. I will admit, though, those 80s teen heartthrobs brought a little extra to her work!
Flowers in the Attic, and all of the others by V. C. Andrews. What can I say. I was a V. C. Andrews addict. In every one of her books, I was not alone.
Works by women writers were not my only reads! I was, still am, a tomboy in so many ways. Here are a sampling of those:
Island of Blue Dolphins and Black Pearl, by Scott O’Dell. The first was read because of my draw to dolphins, Native stories, and having been based on a real story. Also, there was a connection felt with the main character, a girl named Karana who had been living alone on an island for years. That connect was a soulful one. With Black Pearl, I chose to read it because I so enjoyed the first, but then, the story’s family and community conflicts were ironically relatable.
The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London. Well, dogs! I also was drawn to the wilderness and felt a connection to our Canadian neighbors.
The Hatchet series, Dogsong, and Woodsong by Gary Paulsen. The Hatchet series attachment was also due to the wilderness theme and the interest in survival, if out in it, should one have to—survive. The other two? Well, DOGS!
Gentle Ben and Year of the Black Pony by Walt Morey. The first, to satiate my interest in bears and, again, wilderness living. We lived in Montana, bear country, and we never missed an episode of Grizzly Adams on Sunday nights! The other book? Well, ponies!
Christine, The Dead Zone, Carrie, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and more by Stephen King. At 13, I became a bit obsessed with the subject of fear and how to deal with fears, so Stephen King walked me through quite a few of those! Gratefully, God walked me through the rest!
Well, my goodness, did I have a nice jog down this memory lane of writers who started me and who continue to deeply inspire my love for words, books, and a good story! I do love nostalgia! I love more, though, that these writers, their works, and the impact they had on me will never go away, but the beneficial influence will continue to grow and bloom, feed and fill, and move and motivate my heart and soul.
How about you? What were your favorite reads of youth? Which author(s) felt like your friend within the pages of their stories? Would love to hear about them! Do let let me know in the comments.
As always, it means so much that you dropped by! Thank you! Love Y’ALL!
I’ll see you in the next post!
Many blessings and MUCH LOVE,
~Wendy💜
Oh, another ‘right-on-time’ gift, this one from my dearest friend, Robyn. It sure fit today’s Featured Writers post! ✍🏼📚🥰
I had soooo many horse and pony books! I was obsessed with horses. Until chronic illness dragged me from the saddle of my beautiful Dominic, my dressage horse, five years ago (with a few desperate attempts to try again since) I rode all my life. I had all The Black Stallion series that I read in French, and still have a few copies. When I visited my grandmother in England I would spend hours in the local bookshop, browsing, reading, checking my change to see how many I could afford! I remember Charlotte’s Web of course. And wasn’t there one called Seventeenth Summer? Much later of course! I read Ballet Shoes, and I lived all the Famous Five books. So many memories. Thank you, Wendy 🙏❤️
Such a great list of books!!! I remember the waiting list at the school library for Judy Blum’s book, felt like forever when I finally got to check it out ❤️📕