When I was 5 or 6, I was reading Thumbelina outside. I got distracted & went off to do something else. Being Newfoundland & the weather ever-changing, it started to rain & my library book was ruined. I was devastated & thought my mother & the librarian would be angry but it worked out. My mother bought a nicer copy of the book for the library and that was that.

I loved so many books . . . the Bobbsey (sp.) twins, moving on to Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, all the Judy Blumes, Beverly Cleary & Charlotte's Web like so many. I also read Animal Farm when I was really young & didn't fully understand it but it kickstarted me reading & writing satire for the rest of my life.