Wdnesday Links

Have you seen what's cooking over at Book Roast yet? There's a great line-up this month. Starting off the week, you'll find the following agent, editor roasts. Questions will be answered throughout the day and books will be given away!

Mon, Sept 8: Evil Editor
Tues, Sep 9: Editorial Anonymous
Wed, Sep 10: Mystery Agent
Thurs, Sep 11: Moonrat
Fri, Sept 12: Janet Reid

Talk about links! Be sure to check in at Cynsations this week too. I always find tons of great information on her blog. Cynthia Leitich Smith is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her website with more great interviews, and a 10th anniversary giveaway. Love those interviews! Congratulations and thank you Cynthia!

First Books is running their What Book Got You hooked? literacy awareness campaign again this year. You can cast a vote, share a memory of the first book that made reading fun for you and help get more kids hooked. They will be giving away 50,000 new books for children in need to the state that receives the most votes. (Voting ends Sept. 15th.) Last year I wrote about the book that hooked me here.

I Was Hooked by...

In the previous post I talked about the contest over at First Books where you win books for your state by to voting on what book got you hooked on reading. Now, I don't think mine will rank up there with the top well-known, best-sellers that seem to be making up the list, but it ranks number one in my childhood memories.

Follow My Leader by James B. Garfield. How cool is this! I thought I'd go google this title, a title I'll always remember, and have to spend some time searching through site after site before I 'd find the same book I was looking for. I mean I read it in about 1966 or 67. It can't still be in print can it? Low and behold. One try at google and look what's at the top of the list. That's the book! With a new cover and a 1994 publishing date. It's still in print!

It was the very first chapter book I read all by myself, but on top of that, it opened doors for me. With that book I discovered that books could lead you into a whole other world. I had some trouble early on learning how to read. When I was in 3rd grade I had to go to summer school to catch up. That's when I ended up reading this book. And that's one of the reasons this is a book I always remembered. It really was the one where everything "clicked " for me.

A couple of years ago my Mom said she'd found some old books that belonged to my sisters or me and wanted to know if I wanted them for my library. There were two of them there that I couldn't believe she had kept! One was my little sister's favorite book The Mouse and the Motorcycle that I remember reading to her, and the other was a tattered, scribbled on, 1957 copy of Follow My Leader! It actually has my older sisters name written in it, in her hand writing, but I'm not telling.

How about you? Share what book hooked you. I'd love to hear about it! One anonymous reader already posted her books here.