Children – Katie L. Carroll

I’ve got all these thoughtful blog posts simmering in my brain, ideas sketched out in my notebook. What I haven’t got is time to write them. Which is actually a good thing. I haven’t had the time because I’ve been lucky to have a bunch of writing events this fall, I’ve got three wonderful kiddos that keep me busy and laughing and loving, and some days the weather has been too beautiful not to get outside. Plus, I’ve been devoting as much of my writing time as I can to drafting ELIXIR SAVED, and that’s actually been going well (fingers crossed I can writeTHE END by the end of the year).

And while my personal life is in a good place, the larger country and world is more often than not a trash fire, so on days when I do sit down to write, it’s easy to get distracted by that. And then I feel guilty that I have the privilege to be able to call all the politics and stuff a distraction. Yet I also know that my work of writing books for kids is an important and political act (as is all art), so when I’m working, I’m not actually ignoring those things but contributing (hopefully) to the growth of the very people who will be running the country and the world one day.

I try to remember to pause and be in the moment and appreciate where I’m at. I have this writing life that is gaining a little bit of steam and maybe (maybe!?) one day will be a full-time career. And, of course, I have this beautiful family that is a joy and a pain and a million other things all at once.

I guess what I’m saying is life is complicated in a wonderfully messy way. I love my blog, but lately life has been moving too fast to stop and give it the attention it deserves. But that’s okay…it’ll be here when I have the time for it.

The 2013 CBW poster, illustrated by Brian Selznick.

It’s Children’s Book Week and I’m celebrating over here at the Observation Desk (which for those who don’t know is the official name of this blog)! In the words of the CBW website, “Established in 1919, Children’s Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes — wherever young readers and books connect!”

Honestly every week feels like Children’s Book Week in my house because pretty much everyday I do some combination of writing books for teens and kids, editing book for teens and kids, and reading to children. And there’s no doubt that reading and being read to as kid has shaped not only who I am as a reader and writer but as a person.

I can remember my mom reading to me and my siblings before bed. I’m sure she read us picture books (we had many, many, many Golden Books on our shelves), but it’s the novels that stand out in my mind, particularly the Little House books, the Anne of Green Gables books, and Little Women. These books were full of strong girl characters, family relationships, love and friendships, hard work and hardships.

My well-worn copies of Little Women and the Little House books.

It’s the values of these books that have had a huge influence on the way I strive to live my life and the kind of books I write. And no book I read as an adult can really have that same impact on me. So of course I feel the need to celebrate Children’s Book Week…I hope every child can learn to love books and like me find new worlds, people, and loves through them.

What books influenced you when you were a kid?