By: Marcia King-Gamble
www.lovemarcia.com
I don’t remember ever not being able to read. It was my mother,
a teacher, who told me I read at age three. The funny thing is she never
officially taught me. What she did do, was having no babysitter, and hers being
an easier, child-friendly island lifestyle, she’d take me to classes with her.
While she was teaching, I apparently was taking it all in. To this day, I am grateful for that early
indoctrination because even now I am seldom without a book. The print kind.
My dentist finds this particularly amusing. In a COVID
environment she was forced to remove all the magazines from her waiting room, but
she saved magazines in a special drawer for me, because she knows reading distracts
me from whatever procedure I’m being subjected to.
I digress. This month is all about favorite children’s books
and I'm not sure where to begin. Some of you may have heard this story before
but I will tell it anyway. I grew up on
a tiny British island with maybe three book stores, when a new shipment of
books came in, they were more valuable than gold. My other resource for getting books was an
aunt who lived in the United States. She’d send me what she could get her hands
on, and I looked forward to her monthly package as eagerly as I looked forward
to the Sunday ice cream treat. It was through this aunt I got a taste of books
such as Rebecca of Sunny Brook Farms, Little Women, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys,
and Bobbsey Twins.
Books were my great escape and my entire world. I found
solitude from a busy household by burying my nose in a book. My favorite reading nook was under the
bathroom sink, until I outgrew that spot. When things got tough, I escaped to
my imaginary world. Reading was a great
way to experience a new world.
Most importantly, when you live on a British island with limited T.V.
channels if any, your reading material
is typically British, and so is your humor. New books at the time were hard to
come by, so you read anything you could get your hands on.
That said, my
introduction to Children’s books weren’t the usual. No Dick and Jane for me. I may have read those when I turned eight, or was
it ten and then out of sheer curiosity.
Charles Dickens, exposed me to a whole new world, and the
Oxford dictionary became my best friend. Books like: Great Expectations, Oliver
Twist, A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities, though rather advanced
reading for a child, kept me busy, and focused in a house where air conditioning
didn’t exist.
As an aside, and probably why I am a romance writer today, I
read Mills and Boon at age six and hid them under the covers. Back then there
was no sex. Not even a hint of it.
One of my favorite pieces of reading material growing up were
the misadventures of Bessie and Billy Bunter. They were overweight British
siblings who attended Greyfriars boarding school in England. Billy was
constantly being bullied because he was overweight and was sly, sneaky and
slothful. Billy’s boarding school was this
generations Hogwarts and Billy was our Harry Potter. His popularity produced
his sister Bessie.
Mind you, today, these books and cartoons would have been pulled
from the shelves. Billy was
constantly being whipped (caned,) by the masters. He stole money orders, made bigoted comments, and he and
Bessie lived to eat. Because of their size, (corpulent is being kind,) they
were constantly made fun of. They were definitely not politically correct figures by anyone's standards. But back then these were amazingly popular books, if you weren't overly sensitive and had a
sense of humor.
Books like The Wind in the Willows and Wuthering
Heights left an indelible mark. As a result, my perspective on life was far more
advanced than most, and perhaps a wee bit too cynical. But reading was a world I loved, and books helped
shape me. Without books I wouldn’t be the person that I am today: fanciful,
whimsical, and very much a child at heart.
All this to say, whether you’re four, five, or fifty-five,
put your heart in a book. The best gift you can give a young one is reading material. You’ll never regret it. Books feed the heart.
Soon to be released!
About
Marcia King-Gamble
Romance writer,
Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky
and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This travel industry
executive and current world traveler has spent most of life in the United
States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8
novellas. Her free time is spent at the gym, traveling to exotic locales, and
caring for her animal family.
Be sure to join
her mailing list.
12 comments:
Wow! You were an early reader Marcia. I was reading simple children's books at 5 but by 2nd - 3rd grade was reading a year or two ahead of my class. I lived in a large town (Portland was about 100K) but mainly stayed in my neighborhood unless visiting family in another neighborhood. With books I traveled the world and lived an adventurous life. I'd never heard of Bessie and Billy Bunter until now. And, I will admit to never having read "Wind in the Willows" or "Oliver Twist" although I did read "A Tale of Two Cities" (and cried).
I enjoyed your post, Marcia. I had a similar childhood, also reading children's books and things far above my age range. And your new book cover is awesome!
Thanks Judith for stopping by. On my island, it was a case of supply and demand, and a mom who was a teacher. Always loved reading. However, math and I did not agree. We still don't. Pick up a Billie or Bessie Bunter comic book and see what you think. They've probably had their day.
Thank you, Lynn, The advantage of being an early reader is reading comes easy for us, and we can never get enough of books.
Well, I have to admit, I'm not an early reader. I learned to read in school at an age appropriate age. But once I learned to read, I loved to read! And even now I'm involved in reading three different books. A non-fiction, a regency for bed time and a thriller for breaks during the day. Great post and thanks for introducing us to new to us British books.
Marcia,
I don't remember there being a book tore on Guam when I was growing up. (Do you, Diana?) The library was my second home there.
I'd forgotten about The Wind in the Willows and Oliver Twit! I discovered Dickens in my early teens. Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol are my favorites.
I'm also a fan of your book cover for By Heart!!!
Thanks Diana for stopping by and sharing. Once a book lover always a book lover On my nightstand are often 4-5 books. I have to admit I still have a fondness for British books.
Thanks Sarah, I've never been to Guam but would like to. Perhaps one day. Thanks for mentioning the library; another place I frequented. So kind of you to mention liking my new book cover. Would love to read one of your blogs about Guam.
Marcia, maybe the "disagreement" with math comes from being an early reader. I am so grateful to have a calculator and have even learned how to access it on my phone! which for those who know me well, realize is an achievement.
Wow, Marcia! Your vocabulary must have been amazing at an early age to tackle such books. So many things you read that I didn't even know existed before adulthood.
I have always felt that American children were far too coddled in terms of reading material. I read the usual things most children read until perhaps age 10. That was when I struck out to fantasy and SF like Wind in the Willows, A Wrinkle in Time, a whole bunch of Heinline juveniles about space along with Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
I didn't encounter Dickens until High School. What an education that would have been earlier.
With such a diversity of reading, you were practically shaped to be a writer. Thanks for sharing your reading journey.
Hi Maggie, I have to admit my vocabulary is quite good. As I mentioned, for years a dictionary accompanied me everywhere. Then of course there was the challenge of American and British spelling. That was a struggle for a while. My editor was always correcting words that to me were spelled the way that they should. I have a well known writer friend who did graphic designs for Asimov. You two should meet, or perhaps at some point she'll be a guest blogger. Hope you have a great summer.
Judith,
I relate to your comment. Calculators on laptops and phones are my best friends ever.
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