My Notebook

THOUGHTS OR QUOTES

One of my favorite authors
is Bill Martin, Jr. Do you
remember his books: Brown
Bear, Brown Bear, What Do
You See?; Knots on a
Counting Rope; Chika Chika
Boom Boom; or The Ghost-
Eye Tree? In the 1990s, I
belonged to a local reading
council which brought
authors of children’s books
to town for an annual young
authors conference. At
dinner the night before the
conference, I sat on a sofa
next to Bill Martin, Jr. as he
told me about how he wrote
Barn Dance. Then he
autographed my copy of
this book!!

As a boy, Bill Martin, Jr.
lacked confidence in his own
ability to read. He said that he
still reads slowly, but reads a
lot! One of his college professors
told him that to be a writer, one
must also be a reader.
Good advice!

· See "Transcript from an Interview
with Bill Martin, Jr." at http://www.readingrockets.org/
books/interviews/martin/transcript

· Watch the video, “Reading
Rainbow – Barn Dance.”
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=GuPA4TRv1Ts.

My father was an energetic reader who had full bookcases and books all around the house. My parents required my brother, my sister, and me to read regularly, especially for an hour on summer vacation afternoons. Today my family members are avid readers. However, my research for my writing has me reading mostly information articles and books. Yet I do have a stack of books that people have given to me to read during breaks in my writing as an author!

Have you ever met a published author at a school, book store, or public library event? Are you an enthusiastic reader? What do you like to read? What has influenced the kind of reader that you have become?

What do you think?