All right, I'm still kind of a dork.
My nose is usually stuck in the pages of a book. It's comfortable there. So it shouldn't really surprise any of you that, growing up, I often felt a closer connection to book characters. As opposed to, I don't know, real people.
It's cliche but true: reading transports you. In reading I've gone more places, met more people, and done more things than I'll ever be able to go/meet/do in real life. That's the bookish magic!
There were plenty of characters I read about that I looked up to, or wished I could know for real. Especially actual characters in history, or at least characters set in times earlier than this boring present.
I definitely went through stages where I was obsessed with certain cool females throughout history. Annie Oakley. Harriet Tubman. Helen Keller. Rosa Parks. Joan of Arc. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Clara Barton. Pocahontas. I read biographies, I read novels. I wished I could be as brave, as strong, as important.
As for the fictional girls, well, they weren't quite always quite as inspirational. But they were spunky, creative, and hilarious. Anastasia Krupnik. Anne Shirley. Ramona Quimby. Mia Thermopolis. Jo March.
These stories shaped me growing up. I learned things. How to be patient, how to solve problems. How to fight for what you believe is right, and how to deal with pesky siblings. How to go on an adventure and how to get into trouble!
I'm so thankful for these females - real and imaginary. The more I read, the more I meet.
Thank you, ladies!
3 comments:
Oh so true! I love the fact that I have read so many books! It was my favorite pasttime as a child, and I still very much enjoy it. So glad you have the privilege to work at a library :)
Laura,
I read all the time and as a young boy I was influence by the characters in books I read. I wanted to be like them.... To have the discipline and work habits that that the boy had in The Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I wanted to stay strong to my convictions of what was right and ethical like Spock and Kirk did in my Star Trek books. Even now I hope to display characteristics of characters I consider hero's and men and women of integrity that I read about. I also relish those characters that have flaws and who overcome their flaws to do what is right for I know we all have flaws.
Mark
Me too, Ani!
I loved Farmer Boy, Mark! Still do, in fact.
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