Love of Reading, Love of Writing

by Clare Langley-Hawthorne

My twin sons are avid absorbers of books and between what they can read themselves, what we listen to on audio books and my bedtime reading to them, we seem to have amassed an amazing backlist of children's books. Now, of course comes the inevitable plea-"why can't you write a children's book, mum?"  (my current output gets little more than a collective shrug from these two). I have to confess I have an idea brewing which I think, maybe, possibly, might make a terrific series chapter book...but (and it's a big but), books for children are not an endeavour I would ever enter into lightly. 

Children's books are, in my opinion, some of the hardest to write. Not only because children are the harshest, most brutally honest of all reviewers but also because I remember the impact reading had on me as a child and I want to live up to those expectations.

In the spirit of this, I have been compiling a list of my favorite chapter books I read as a child and identifying what made these so significant and memorable to me. There are books such as those by Enid Blyton that made me wish I could have adventures on my own island, classics such as Little Women that made me cry, and books like A Wrinkle in Time and the Narnia series that made me want to create my own fantastical worlds. 

What sets all of these books apart from the dull readers we were obliged to consume at school was the same elements that make a great thriller or mystery - they created compelling characters and places, had terrific plots and pacing and were the sort of books you literally couldn't put down.

So not much to live up to right?

As I continue my 'research phase' on children's chapter books, I'd love to add some more titles to my list - ones that are the kind of books that stand the test of time.  I'd like you to cast your minds back to when you were about eight or nine, and remember the books that made all the difference to you. They might be the ones that first inspired you to write - or the ones that made you the avid reader you are today...then let me know what you think about writing for children: a terrific new adventure or potentially treacherous seas?