IWSG Day and Blog Roundup: Children's Books Posts Over the Years

oday is Insecure Writer's Support Group Day!

IWSG Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

The awesome co-hosts for the June 4 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melisa Maygrove, and Jean Davis!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

June 4 question - What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?

What a great question!

I found an old (2009!) post about World Book Day, and this old post of mine on What Children's Books Are:

"Which of these represents your view about children's books?

Childhood is a sweet and innocent time, and children's books should be about fluffy bunnies and other comforting subjects.
Childhood is a mean and dangerous time, and children's books should represent reality with all its obstacles and troubles.
Childhood is a mean and dangerous time, and therefore kids need comforting fluffy-bunny stories because that's the way life ought to be.
Children's literature should be prescriptive, describing the world kids should aspire to.
Children's literature should be descriptive, describing the world as it is and kids as they really are, for better or worse."

I don't disagree with the latter two, and there's nothing wrong with some children's books representing reality with all its obstacles and troubles, either. Jen goes on to note that we need all types of books, "humor and adventure, realism and fantasy, poetry and prose... We need books that challenge kids and books that reassure them."

More importantly, from a writer's point of view, is knowing where in the spectrum your own books lie. I have no trouble writing about some of the darker stuff. Yet, partly because it's YA, and partly because all my books seem to have historical bents to them, the horrors always seem to have a certain fantastical element. They're not gritty modern tales but rather explorations of human failings and strengths, set against past events.

In short, the kind of stuff I always liked to read as a kid.

As CS Lewis once said "I put in [my children's stories] what I would have liked to read when I was a child and what I still like reading now that I am in my fifties" (Of Other Worlds, p. 22).

And I have so many posts about my favourite children's books, and the ones I've reread often, and the authors whose books I've adored over the years.

If I even tried collating them all here, it would take me all day!

Here, then, is a sample:

A to Z Blogging Challenges 2011 about my favourite books!

A to Z Blogging Challenge 2015 about books from a Reading Challenge
(Note: if you linked to an old post, blogger used to keep the "older posts" clickable link at the bottom, so that you could e.g. scroll through all the A to Z posts from that year -- how do I get that link back on my blog?)

 

Various posts about a very few favourite authors (there are so many more!):
Bernice Thurman Hunter
Margaret Buffie and an interview by me!
Jean Little
Lynne Reid Banks

I also have an old post all about recommending Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings; hoping to update it soon!

I've got a post about favourite ending lines from books, which includes Rilla of Ingleside and The Lord of the Rings.

And Olga recently had a fun game about My Year in Book Titles, which I still want to play!

 

My top ten favourite book covers include some children's books (as well as a few I would swap out, now).

A few new authors!
Board books by Michael Roth!
YA by Rose Phillips!
Stories and archaeology by Jordan Jacobs!

Then there was the time I tried to interview Canadian musicians about their favourite children's books -- here are the picks of Vince Ditrich of Spirit of the West!

 

I'm sure there are so many more! Here's me searching my own blog for Tolkien-related posts. Then there are all the Canadian authors, the ones from the United Kingdom--and I haven't even mentioned John Bellairs yet! Or old comic books or... I'd take a picture of some of the dedicated shelves, but they're quite messy, with books behind books.

I can't wait to see which books and authors others mention! And the illustrators! Axel Schaeffler, the two original illustrators of the Ramona books, Pauline Baynes, Edward Gorey, Maurice Sendak...

Who are your favourite illustrators?