Debut Author Interviews

What is your earliest book memory?

• Joni Sensel on...Book Memory
• Paula Chase on...Book Memory
• A.C.E. Bauer on...Book Memory
• S.A. Harazin on...Book Memory
• Tiffany Trent on...Book Memory
• Ruth McNally Barshaw on...Book Memory
• Sarah Aronson on...Book Memory
• Heather Tomlinson on...Book Memory
• Judy Gregerson on...Book Memory
• Carrie Jones on...Book Memory
• Sarah Beth Durst on...Book Memory
• Julie Bowe on...Book Memory
• Rose Kent on...Book Memory
• Eric Luper on...Book Memory
• Jeannine Garsee on...Book Memory
• Laura Bowers on...Book Memory
• Jo Knowles on...Book Memory
• Ann Dee Ellis on...Book Memory
• Kelly Bingham on...Book Memory
• Rebecca Stead on...Book Memory
• Rosemary Clement-Moore on...Book Memory

What is your earliest book memory?

Sitting at our dining room table when I was four years old with a Dr. Seuss book club book called SNOW! My mom had read it aloud, probaby for the umpteenth time, and then risen to take care of some housework. Flipping back through the pages myself, I suddenly realized how those alphabet lettters S-N-O-W connected to the spoken word “snow” and the white stuff.

I have no specific memories of being read to prior to that day, although I know it most certainly happened, but I definitely remember the moment I learned to read.

What is your earliest book memory?

I remember sitting on a couch at home reading aloud from a book, whose title I can’t recall. My parents were busy getting ready, as we were on our way out. I was in my own little world, lost in the words I was either making up or had memorized. I wasn’t actually reading, merely mocking what I’d heard read to me. I was probably about four or five.

Books have always been a huge part of entertainment. Whether or not it started with that day, I can’t say. But that day stands out to me. So, I’ll call that my first.

What is your earliest book memory?

My earliest book memory is sitting with my father and my older brother on one of our beds at bedtime, and my father reading either A FLY WENT BY by Mike McClintock or THE BIKE LESSON by Stan and Jan Berenstain. He read those books to us so often, that I cannot remember which I heard first. When my oldest daughter was two, I picked up the very battered A FLY WENT BY in my parents’ home, and as I turned to the first page, my father began to recite the words from across the room: “I sat by the lake. I looked at the sky, And as I looked, A fly went by.” He had the broadest smile…

What is your earliest book memory?

I was sitting at my desk at school. I don’t remember what grade I was in. The teacher was reading aloud from a Dick and Jane book. She said, “See Dick run. See Jane run.” Or something like that. I spaced out. I woke up in time to take a test on Dick and Jane. I did badly.

The main reason I remember this is because there was a new girl in our class that day. She was fourteen years old and we were much younger. She did as badly on the test as I did. I felt sorry for her.

Our class would go to the library every two weeks. This girl would check out a book called “The Cat that Went to College” over and over again. I always wondered why. I thought she was the most interesting and nicest person I had ever met.

What is your earliest book memory?

This is hard, because I have so many great early book memories. My mother and aunt were obsessed with getting good books in my hands. My mother read me such greats as Uncle Wiggily and all the Thornton W. Burgess Mother West Wind stories. From my aunt, I got a red leather-bound set of Andersen’s and Grimm’s fairytales, illustrated with old ink drawings. Those books had this wonderful, musty parchment smell, as well as that crinkly parchment feel. Whenever I think about any of those tales—“The Little Mermaid” or “Faithful John”—I still see those illustrations and feel the paper in my hands.

What is your earliest book memory?

At about age 3 or 4 I had a neat picture book I loved, and one of the illustrations showed a little girl looking at a book. Drawn on the page of that little book was a little girl looking at a book. Drawn on the page of *that* little book was a little girl looking at a book.
This fascinated me. A drawing into infinity!
I was similarly fascinated when I discovered, at a later age, that if you line up two mirrors across from each other you can look into a mirror into infinity.

The first proof I have of early childhood attachment to books is a photo of me, asleep in a chair with a big picture book in my lap. I’m about 2 in the photo. It’s on my website. http://ruthexpress.com

What is your earliest book memory?

As a kid, I was not a big reader.

My first favorite novel was Harriet the Spy. I could identify….

I actually started a spy journal of my own.

What is your earliest book memory?

Earliest is hard, because books were always around the house, like food and stuffed animals and music and my little sister. But I do have specific memories of the first time I picked up some books that became favorites: Little Women (a copy printed in 1910 that I found at my great-aunt’s house in Long Beach); The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Laguna Beach, CA library); Beauty (Franklin, NH library).

Also, I remember books I had to read really fast, before we left, or the books did: at my cousins’ house (the Tintin stories, and that series of historical “We were there… at the Alamo / with Florence Nightingale / on the Oregon Trail” adventures, which we’d read in the fort in their basement, or the back of my aunt’s station wagon, with their golden retriever panting over the seat), or at the Girl Scout summer camp (“I can only check out 2 Nancy Drew mysteries per day? What kind of library is this, anyway?”)

What is your earliest book memory?

Two books stand out to me. My third grade teacher read a chapter of Charlotte’s Web every week and I remember sitting at my desk and taking in every word as if they were the most precious commodities on earth. I was captured, enthralled and sold on the idea that one day I would write stories like that. When I was ten, I found a book in the public library by Carl Sandburg on Abraham Lincoln. I remember that the librarian picked it out for me and I enjoyed it more than any book I’d read in a very long time.

As a young child, my mother read to me from Brer Rabbit and when my sister was old enough to read, we’d sit down and go through the book together and laugh like crazy about Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.

What is your earliest book memory?

I remember being in nursery school and just wanting to kill the teacher because she read THE CAT IN THE HAT so damn slowly.

I remember smashing my head down on my little pink carpet square that I had for nap/story time and just sobbing because I couldn’t take it any more.

She asked me what was wrong. I guess I somehow told her.

Then I got to go in a corner all by myself for story time and read whatever books I wanted.

Yay!

What is your earliest book memory?

Um, I don’t remember.

Seriously, I can’t think of a time when I didn’t love books so I don’t have a memory of starting to love books. I’m sure I loved PAT THE BUNNY and other classics. I also had this great book called MY ADVENTURES IN MOTHER GOOSE LAND — it was one of those books that you send away for and they personalize it to make you the protagonist. And I remember my mom reading me books like THE STORY OF FERDINAND and BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL and CORDUROY and BABAR THE KING… I could list dozens. I have lots of wonderful book memories but no idea which was earliest.

What is your earliest book memory?

Hop On Pop, by Dr. Seuss. My family loves to tell the story of how I would sit with it on my lap, long before I was old enough to read, and say the words from memory, turning the pages at all the right spots.

Also, I distinctly remember a book called The Teeny Tiny Woman which terrified me.

What is your earliest book memory?

Goodnight Moon. I loved it then — and still do.

What is your earliest book memory?

My earliest book memory is of a scratch and sniff book that I called “Max the Smell.” I’m not certain what the actual title of the book was, but I remember a bear and a lot of textured patches that didn’t really smell like anything.

Aside from that, my earliest book memory has to do with two picture books. They were “Artie the Smartie” and “Mr. Pine’s Mixed-Up Signs.” Artie was about a big fish in a small pond who goes out into the ocean so he can make a huge splash. He gets knocked around in the open waters and runs home. Great message, huh? Mr. Pine was about a sign maker who loses his glasses and screws up all the signs in town. Being that I wore glasses at an early age, my mother thought it important that I had this book.

Our kindergarten teacher told us we could each bring in a book or two and we would display them on the radiator for everyone in the class to share. Over a particularly rainy weekend, the roof of the school leaked and my two books got soaked. Only mine. Being that they were on the radiator, the heat proceeded to cook the books into two warped messes. I was offered profuse apologies by my teacher, but no replacements. She said the school didn’t have the money.

I kept the pathetic books because I liked them and it’s probably why I’m very meticulous about my books.

What is your earliest book memory?

“Little Ducky Takes a Bath.” It was the first book I learned how to read, although my grandmother insisted I had merely memorized the text. Later, I discovered “real” books in the second grade, and then there was no stopping me: I’d walk, at age 7, probably close to a mile to our neighborhood library, and then back again, lugging Laura Ingalls Wilder and Beverly Cleary…sometimes reading them along the way.

What is your earliest book memory?

I can’t recall many exact book titles, but I do remember how much I loved it when my father read to me. He has such a rich voice—and can sing like Elvis—so when he read a story, the text would come alive. My dad would change his tone for different characters, and sometimes, Mom would hang around my bedroom door to listen as well.

One book I can remember him reading is LITTLE BLACK, A PONY, by Walter Farley, and how I cried when the boy no longer rode poor Little Black because he was having too much fun with the bigger, more streamlined Big Red. Oh, the injustice! But fear not, Little Black proves his worth in the end by saving the boy.

What is your earliest book memory?

I remember sitting on my grandfather’s lap in his tiny living room looking at a giant Richard Scarry’s book that belonged to my brother. I don’t remember my grandfather’s voice but I remember Lowly Worm and his little boot and hat. I remember being worried about him for some reason. Did he lose his boot? Was he lost? I can’t remember. But I’m pretty sure it all turned out well in the end.

The first book I “read” on my own (I actually just memorized it), was The Bear’s Toothache, written and illustrated by David McPhail. I thought the O’s the bear made when he howled looked like spaghettio’s. The first book I really learned to read on my own was a Dick and Jane book. But that is far less exciting or impressive.

What is your earliest book memory?

My mom read to my sister and me every night. We’d climb into her king size waterbed and squish around until we got comfortable. She read a chapter a night to us and I remember begging her to keep going—and I really wasn’t just trying to put off bedtime … my mom made me cherish books, cherish the my imagination, cherish words.

What is your earliest book memory?

“Lamont, the Lonely Monster” is one of the earliest books I remember. It was about six inches by six inches, and had a series of lift the flaps, each one revealing something fascinating about Lamont. I also remember a scratch and sniff Christmas book my mom used to read to me….the scents were orange, peppermint, gingerbread, hot chocolate, and Christmas Tree….I loved that.

What is your earliest book memory?

I have a very impressionistic memory of a two-page picture-book spread — some sort of animal and a lot of colored dots. I also used to pore over the books “The Red Balloon,” which was always sad to me, and “Dandelion”, which was happier. The first “real book” I remember reading for myself was “Bread and Jam for Frances”. I still love that one, especially the part where Frances lays out her excellent lunch at the end. I could read that over and over.

What is your earliest book memory?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading. I know my favorite early books were “Green Eggs and Ham” and “Madeline.” I can remember that Sam I Am sort of freaked me out, because he was so relentless, and I know that every time I read it, I got so scared for Madeline when she had to go to the hospital to have her appendix out. I guess early on I was already getting very emotionally invested in books.