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Question of the Month

#Question of the Month: a #bloghop to think about. No. 13- What was the first book you really fell in love with?

A little while ago, Michael D’Agostino, of A Life Examined, brought up the idea of a new blog hop called Question of the Month. He thinks blog readers would like to know a little more about us, the bloggers. So we’re all gathering to show you guys who we are by taking part in the Question of the Month blog hop. On the first Monday of each month, we answer the question that gets posted here.

This month’s question is: “What was the first book (or book series) you really fell in love with?”

This is an easy question to answer for me, the only problem is I can’t just pick one. It’s no secret to anyone who’s read a little of my blog that the book Peter and Wendy changed my life at a young age. It made me see the whole world as an adventure, at least for a while. But of course reality set in and one day I realized that no matter how much I tried I would never make it to Neverland and become a lost boy.

Then one day I accomplished the small but notable feat of reading an entire chapter book all by myself- the title was Ramona Quimby. Once I discovered the work of Beverly Cleary, I sped through at least three in the series. Always the strong-willed and mischievous tomboy, I could relate to Ramona; plus, she had a big sister just like me and the similarities, at the time, seemed so close.

As much as I don’t like to admit it, as I grew older reading for enjoyment lessened. Fortunately, I did enjoy some of the required reading in school, but by the time I reached college- if it wasn’t assigned, I didn’t read it. Years later when I decided to rekindle my friendship with books I returned to my comfort zone of fantasy.

It was Gregory Maguire’s The Wicked Years series that helped me reconcile the imagination of my youth with the reality of my adulthood. It’s not my favorite adult series, but it means a lot to me. I’ve always been a fan of pretty much anything Oz and to question my feelings about a world I thought could be so wonderful was refreshing. As a kid you never really question if the far distant worlds you love are actually as good as they seem, but reading The Wicked Years series gave me an opportunity to embrace the child within and still stand firm the in mental and physical maturity I’d grown into. It was basically a reality check of the fantasy kind. 😉

Please visit the other participants in this hop and even join in if you’d like. I can’t wait to see what other books and series have impacted so many.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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By Toi Thomas

Author and illustrator of children's books, as well as clean adult fiction and nonfiction. Toi is a geek-girl blogger, vlogger, reviewer, and advocate for a healthy reading lifestyle. She finds comfort in faith, family, and creative expression. Toi believes in the dream of world harmony and hopes all your dreams come true.

13 replies on “#Question of the Month: a #bloghop to think about. No. 13- What was the first book you really fell in love with?”

My kids got the Beverly Cleary series (there’s a tongue twister) as a gift, but since they read some of them at school, they didn’t touch it. Bummer. I remember reading Judy Blume books in grade school and loving them.

At least they got to read some at school. You’re right Beverly Cleary Series is a tongue twister.

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Sometimes I still think I could go back, like in the movie Hook, but I’m okay with being an adult.

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I do like the ones you posted. I have detailed pop-ups of The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan. I took them to read to the 4th graders at my son’s school. They are bigger books, so I only read parts of them.

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