From: Shutta Crum <shutta>
Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 20:27:27 -0400

A couple of really important books/authors come to mind:

1. MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN by Jean Craighead George--read when I was 12. Made me realize that almost all kids want to run away at some point in their lives (and live in a tree) . . . because, God knows, I couldn't be a natural child of this crazy family! Didn't we all feel like that when we were 12?

2. My uncle's collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs, which he loaned me--esp. the John Carter of Mars series. Made me love science fiction, so I could move on to Heinlein, Asimov, etc.

3. Mrs. Meabon's library of ALL 60+ of the Zane Gray books in red vellum with gold lettering. She loaned me just 2 at a time. Romantic American popularization of the West (which trod over anything, or anyone, in the way)--blech!--but still, I realized these books taught me how to make pictures in my mind.

4. My mother's secret stash of what I thought were "dirty" books (paperbacks with the covers ripped off). As a 7th-grader I snuck into her drawer and read and reread several of them, only later to discover I'd read: GONE WITH THE WIND, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, AFRICAN QUEEN, etc . . . . what a treasure!!! (And, though I wasn't a reluctant reader, I've often thought this might be a good way to get reluctant readers reading. HAH!)

5. And recently . . . in 1982? When Cynthia Rylant's book WHEN I WAS YOUNG IN THE MOUNTAINS came out . . . I thought, DANG! Someone's gone and written MY personal story . . . how dare she? (Now, SOOOOOOO glad she did!) This book changed my adult life--I realized that if I wanted to tell my stories, I better get my butt in gear . . . It was the impetus to get me writing children's books. (And a whole new career after my retirement from the library in 2004.)

6.--? Looking forward to the next one that will change my life! What joy.



Shutta Crum

(Bravest of the Brave, Knopf) www.shutta.com http://blog.shuttacrum.com
Received on Tue 23 May 2006 07:27:27 PM CDT