The Books That Shaped Us.

Reminiscing about the stories we loved when we were kids.

There have been two special book series in my life. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones that got you through hard times when you were a kid in school. The ones you stayed up waaaay too late at night reading under your covers with a flashlight. The ones you cried when they ended, not because the story was so sad, but because you knew that was the last book in the series, and there is nothing quite as exciting as reading a good book for the first time.

The first pivotal book series in my childhood was the Narnian Chronicles by C.S. Lewis. I wanted to live in Narnia more than anything. Pretty sure if I had a wardrobe instead of a closet I would have crawled in that sucker and stayed there for hours waiting for a magical door to open. I wanted to be Lucy. I wanted to know Aslan and bury my face in his mane. I wanted to be a queen of a magical land filled with fawns and talking animals.

I remember weeping while reading the Last Battle when the evil dwarves killed all the horses that had just been freed and were charging out to join the battle.

The second book series that was pivotal in my younger years was Harry Potter. Now I know Christians get all uppity when it comes to talking about Harry Potter, but I would just like to point out that The Narnian Chronicles also have questionable parts. Remember the guy from Calormen who has no idea who Aslan is, but makes it into heaven because he’s a good guy? Yeah, chew on that for a while. I could probably put an entire blog post debating why you should let your kids read Harry Potter (that’s not a bad idea!) but let me return to my original point before I get too far down this tangent rant.

I remember I was in grade eight when I first laid eyes on Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone (why is it sometimes called the Sorcerer’s Stone instead? Anyone know?). My friend had the book sitting on her desk at school and I leaned over to read the first sentence of chapter one, and asked: “What book is this?”

And that was it. I was hooked. That book had me so enthralled by the first sentence I borrowed my friend’s copy and proceeded to try and read all of it instead of paying attention at school. I remember at the end of the day she very politely asked for it back, and then probably had to pry it out of my vice-like fingers.

Thus began a ten year journey of reading lovable Harry Potter. I would pounce on the next book as soon as it came out, read it in three days, and then lie around bemoaning my life because I would now have to wait a WHOLE NOTHER YEAR until the next one arrived. Fortunately they soon started making movies and that helped to ease the pain of Potteritis.

Harry Potter books carried me from elementary school, through high school, and up to my wedding. I read The Deathly Hallows aloud to my husband when we were on our honeymoon driving to the Grand Canyon and back. I feel like I grew up with Harry and Hermione and Ron. We faced the battles of bullies, puberty, and dating together. I even dressed up as Harry Potter for Halloween one year. That’s right. Not Hermione, or Luna or Ginny. Harry. Heck, I had the glasses already and the short hair. I really hope the photographic evidence of that never surfaces on the internet…

Sigh, I miss those days. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a fantasy series as life gripping and world overtaking as the Narnian Chronicles or Harry Potter. To be honest that’s my dream! To be as good a writer as C.S. Lewis or J.K. Rowling. Maybe I need to change my pen name to H.M. Knutson? That’s probably step one.

So! Here’s my question for you. What books formed you in your childhood or your youth? What were the books you couldn’t put down once you started them. The books you wished you could live inside them and be one of the characters.

Pretty sure I’m going to dream of Hogwarts or Cair Paravel tonight.