Reading Through Time…
I’ve been a reader my entire life, even before I could read I would beg others to read to me. Diving into new worlds — that were sometimes old — and learning from the characters I met was always something I loved to do and I love it even more today! So let me share with you some of my ‘core’ fiction book memories. Fiction books that helped me grow and changed me as I got older. Because when you find a book that does that for you, it’s hard to forget.
Let’s start at the very beginning of my fiction reading journey. When I first started to read, The Berenstain Bears By Stan, Jan, and Mike Berenstain, were the books I grew up with. I learned everything I needed to know right alongside the Bear Family that lived down a long dirt road deep in Bear Country. The pictures jumped to life and the stories unfolded before my young eyes and dragged me inside for adventures with Brother and Sister Bear. I read them, and re-read them, every chance I got. Even if that meant at the breakfast table. While there is really no way that you can ever ‘outgrow’ The Berenstain Bears books, I soon had to set them to the side as another series caught my eyes.
The Circle ‘C’ Series by Susan K. Marlow welcomed me into an ongoing adventure story set in an old west world. In California the main character, Andrea Carter, grew up on a farm with her large family and loyal horse. These stories showed me how faith and adventure could go hand-in-hand and how one girl, no matter how young, could make an impact on those around her. As Andi grew so did her series, and so did I. The next leap of the book world that I would take would bring me back into my love of animals and encourage my reading adventures.
The Green Ember by S.D. Smith had been a Christmas gift, but I just couldn’t see how those books would be anything but boring. They sat on my shelf for over a year until a lonely summer day when I had read all my good books. I pulled them off the shelf…and fell in love. Every page was full of adventures, lovable characters, and new things to learn. I followed this series until it’s end, cheering, crying, and always begging for more. This story held my attention in a way that many stories never could and it’s roots of faith were always something I loved to find. Those stories will never grow old to me and it is currently my favorite fantasy book series. I’ve read it over and over again, learning something new from the writing each time. But even when books don’t fade from your favorites, you will still find others that manage to change you in…unexpected ways.
The Hawk and the Dove by Penelope Wilcock had been a book assigned for me to read and one I thought I wouldn’t like. But the characters drew me in, the stories told in the chapters touched my soul in a way that’s hard to describe. The lessons learned in each short story I read left my heart feeling tender and joy spilling out. Sometimes the stories would make me sad, other times I would laugh, and more often then not I would take a few minutes to sit and think about the questions the book was bringing to me. I felt as if I had step into a world, a world that was safe and warm were I could learn without feeling pressure to get it perfect and form opinions without the extra noise. It’s been a series I have not soon forgotten.
These books I’ve shared with you are certainly not all the books I’ve read, but they were great milestones for me, the ones that have stood out the most. I still have many other books that I looked forward to telling you about, such as the ones… that felt like home whenever I open them to read again, the only author who managed to make history exciting for me, and other stories that kept me on the edge of my seat and marveling at their authors. But these first ones I’ve shared are the ones that helped me grow the most, and I hope they inspire you to look at your own books that helped you grow. I know I can’t wait for the next ‘milestone’ book that comes my way.
They say you are what you eat, but I know for sure you are what you read, so read well.
With Faith, Hope, Love, and Feathers
Inertia
