From: Cammie L. Backus <clbackus>
Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 16:48:23 -0400

I adored two series as a child: the Little House books and the Chronicles of Narnia.

Since I grew up in a family with very few formal household rules, I adopted the standards of behavior in the Little House books when I was a child. Obviously, some of them didn't fit my modern life, but others worked well in helping me to be polite and respectful. When I developed an interest in time travel fantasy, I used to imagine that Laura (and sometimes others in her family) had traveled forward in time and that I had the task of explaining modern life to her...I recall that I had the worst trouble getting Ma and Caroline to agree to wear modern clothing, but that Laura loved wearing pants!

The Chronicles of Narnia began my lifelong enjoyment of British literature and fantasy, and I loved the idea of a hidden world just slightly outside our own. As the child of scientists who were quasi-atheist, I remember thinking to myself that I could believe in God if Christianity were like Narnia, before I ever knew that CS Lewis had written the Chronicles as allegory.

A couple years ago when I was book-cleaning, I ran across another title that must have had an amazing impact on my life. While I have been known to purchase a duplicate of a book I already own, this is the only book that I have inadvertently purchased FIVE copies of: The House With a Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs. I loved his combination of humor and horror, with misfit characters who aren't afraid to carve out their own path in life.

So many fond book memories.... Cammie
Received on Tue 23 May 2006 03:48:23 PM CDT