Auspicious Days: Musing on Childhood Readings
By Sarah McCoy | October 23, 2018 |
Flickr Creative Commons: Barney Moss
It’s clearly an auspicious date. This Writer Unboxed post falls on the launch of my new novel, Marilla of Green Gables. It’s true, Jupiter and Mars are in alignment, the harvest moon has risen full, and the air is sparkling with autumn’s magic. Not that I believe in any of that and, of course, I believe in all of it. Whatever your conviction, no one can deny the charm of October. It’s ingrained from our childhoods to feel the magnet pull of change—new yet old, strange but familiar, comforting in its promise that the miraculous is real and evident season upon season.
On days like this one, there seems to me a palpable connection between the lives we live and the stories we share. The narrative osmosis begins in our youngest days and carries through to our last breath. It’s why I’ve come round to believing that the books we read during our imaginative development are the ones that make the biggest impact on our adulthood—the majority of our life.
Looking at my own literary upbringing, my favorite novel and one of the first that I read without pictures was Anne of Green Gables. I distinctly remember the pages of that old, borrowed library copy in my mother’s hands, ink type on sepia pages, dimly lit under night lamps. Nothing exotic, whimsical, or particularly fairy tale in it, but it didn’t need embellishment. The word pictures in my imagination exceeded any illustrator’s paints.
During that first reading, I had never met a person with red hair and had never been to Prince Edward Island. I had, however, visited my grandparent’s farm in Puerto Rico. I imagined Green Gables in tropical jungle motif. The landscape Lucy Maud Montgomery described sure fit the bill— vivid and swirling with motion. We had farm animals on my grandparent’s finca, just like Green Gables. I had a tribe of titis (aunties) flittering back and forth between kitchens. Marilla and Rachel could’ve been two. We had church gatherings weekly, bedtime prayers, and my mother made all my favorite dresses. So Anne in her Avonlea world felt like an extension of my own. A bosom friend in a make-believe world that was as real to me as any of the stories my family told about bygone days and people.
Such a poignant a part of my childhood, the book took root and my devotion only grew. For those who know me well, it’s not surprising that a middle-aged Sarah would be compelled to write the story of the middle-aged heroine Marilla Cuthbert. In Chapter 27 of AOGG, Lucy Maud Montgomery writes: “The spring was abroad in the land and Marilla’s sober, middle-aged step was lighter and swifter because of its deep, primal gladness.”
There’s a story heart beating passionately in that single sentence. I remember knowing it as a child and wanting to know it as an adult. It’s the reason Marilla of Green Gables exists.
I stared to wonder about the other texts of my childhood and the influence they have on my real-life character. Here’s my quick list—and I didn’t cherry-pick scholarly approved titles. These are the first ones that come to mind and by virtue of that, demonstrate themselves to be the most memorable.
- The Secret Garden showed me that nature and friendships and even who I was as a person could transform into something beautiful if tended to properly.
- The Velveteen Rabbit made me believe in the power of love to give life and meaning anything and everything.
- My Side of the Mountain taught me that no matter what adversity I faced, I could survive with a little ingenuity.
- Pollyanna gave me an admiration for eternal optimism.
- The Babysitters Club books stoked an entrepreneurial spirit and showed me the importance of strong female friendships.
- The Wind in the Willows helped me appreciate the unpredictable journey and the friends, old and new, who help me on my way.
- Samantha: An American Girl books gave me an appreciation for history in fiction and the literary framing of winter, spring, summer, and fall as a natural connection to the real world.
- Island of the Blue Dolphin was proof that self-reliance and perseverance are critical ingredients for inspiration.
- Anne of Green Gables instilled in me that magic, miracles, and blessings are all one of the same kind of power that transcend the page to the real world—or perhaps, comes from the real world into the written ones.
So now I’m curious, what books of your childhood have impacted the person you are today?
[coffee]
SARAH McCOY is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the novels Mustique Island, Marilla of Green Gables; The Mapmaker’s Children;The Baker’s Daughter, a 2012 Goodreads Choice Award Best Historical Fiction nominee; the novella “The Branch of Hazel” in Grand Central;The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico; and Le souffle des feuilles et des promesses(Pride and Providence). Her work has been featured in Real Simple, The Millions, Your Health Monthly, Huffington Post, and other publications. She hosted the NPR WSNC Radio monthly program “Bookmarked with Sarah McCoy” and previously taught English writing at Old Dominion University and at the University of Texas at El Paso. She lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband, Brian, an orthopedic sports surgeon, her dog, Gilly, and her cat, Tutu.
Congratulations on the new book, Sarah! I so agree with you about the magic of October.
“The narrative osmosis begins in our youngest days and carries through to our last breath.” This hadn’t occurred to me, but this morning I instantly recognized the truth of it.
Island of the Blue Dolphins is among my formative books. My boyhood dog was a German Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix named Sadie. She was my Rontu. We went everywhere together. The winning over of a dog’s heart and loyalty were central to my connection to that story.
Wonderful insights and examples, Sarah. Wishing you the best with the new one.
THIS is why I write for children. This right here. Childhood books leave impressions that last a lifetime and shape us into the people we become.
I’m so looking forward to your MARILLA! Yesterday I sent your WU interview to my friend who took a PEI / Maud pilgrimage with me two summers ago. We’re eagerly awaiting your book!
I loved this so much. Yes, books shape us! This is why I write for kids. My favorite authors growing up were Enid Blyton, Charles Dickens and later (age 12 yrs) AJ Cronin and Lloyd C. Douglas. I just shared my bio in books this morning–something I wrote for my ICL class. https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2018/10/a-biography-in-books.html
I didn’t discover Anne until we moved to the US (age 14 yrs). Congratulations on Marilla!!!
I very much enjoyed this post, Sarah, and congratulations on your new novel! I have many of the same stories as you on my childhood favorites list. I would add: Charlotte’s Web, Jane Eyre, anything by E. Nesbit, the Oz books, A Little Princess, and the Chronicles of Narnia. Also, Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Alcott. Too many wonderful books to list, and I still own most of them.
I so agree about the charm of October, and the beloved books of childhood.
Huckleberry Finn was not just a boy floating lazily down the Mississippi River on a raft, he was a boy living the dream of all boys like me…except…his companion was a runaway slave. Twain thus paired freedom and fear, humor and empathy. It is the best kind of adventure.
Johnny Tremaine was a silversmith’s apprentice in revolutionary Boston, a boy consumed by an ambition that proves to be his undoing. But he changes and grows, a stirring transformation that made a patriot of me. His first taste of hot chocolate is never to be forgotten.
The Phantom Tollbooth was not just a gateway to adventure but a tribute to traveling companions (the dog Tock) and a lesson that the stops on a journey all have meaning that characters can be symbols of specific human qualities. It began my lifelong study of people and probably of the methods of storytelling.
Memory is not perfect. It is “Johnny Tremain” without an “e”.
Island of the Blue Dolphins inspired me to become an archeologist so that I could uncover the lives of people with no voice.
Little Woman inspired me to write and read all the time!
In thinking about the books that had the biggest impact on Young Keith (also known as Keith With Hair), I noticed some recurring themes:
Using brainpower rather than physical/athletic prowess to win:
– The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald
– the Encyclopedia Brown series
Fostering a continuous curiosity and appetite for new information:
– Harriet the Spy
– From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Finding wonder and inspiration in the simplest things:
– Harold and the Purple Crayon
– Winnie the Pooh series
Growing up and getting real – the first indication that not every story has a happy ending tied up in a nice little bow:
– The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread
– First Blood (spoiler, in the book, disenfranchised Viet Nam veteran Rambo dies, in what was sadly a far more believable ending than the movie)
Thanks for a thought-provoking, memory-prodding topic. But most of all, congratulations and good luck with your new release!
Probably Jo March in LITTLE WOMEN affected me a great deal. I also loved the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE BOOKS, yet in MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON, Elizabeth Strout calls them out for their place in history. Her character preferred reading about Black Hawk. Yes, there were things I didn’t know and understand growing up, things that slowly revealed themselves. I did read all the time–my mother was a great guide to the classics. And Anne of Green Gables was read and loved and is such a favorite of my daughter that she and her family have made two trips to PEI. Wishing you the best with this publication.
AOGG — I am a redhead and, in fourth grade, there could be nothing worse in my world. Anne changed that. I always loved Marilla and Matthew for rescuing her (as well as Davy & Dora later), but the friendship with Diana set the bar for BFFs.
Heidi — The scene when she’s too homesick to eat, but pockets her bread roll for Clara… my heart breaks!
Charlotte’s Web — Save the animals!
Love Comes Softly — I really need to learn to cook and sew. LOL
I can’t wait to read Marilla!! Thank you for bringing her back to life.
Island of the Blue Dolphins is always at the top along with Black Beauty and Call of the Wild.
Thank you for sharing your reading memories. I cut my reading teeth on The Bobbsy Twins, Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. One regret is that I read so fast, my Christmas and allowance books were finished in one day. Then I graduated to adult mysteries. Thus, I didn’t read many classic and fun children’s books until graduate school, learning about library science. What different eyes read Anne of Green Gables, Dicey, the Taylor children and the Five Little Peppers. Now I recommend classic children’s lit to all young readers. Don’t let children or grands skip them. Marilla will be for me!
The Bobbsey Twins[probably because I have a twin sister], The Honey Bunch series,The Five Little Peppers, Little Women.All Kind Of A Family,Anne of Green Gables , Little House On the Prairie,Betsy, Tacy,Nancy Drew, All of the American Girl- the original editions. Congratulations on Marilla.
Marilyn