Formative Early Book Interest, the Useful and the Weird

I remember a large bookshelf in the house growing up. There were a few books that called to my attention more than others.

I was interested in the content of:

• The Foxfire series — Appalachian how-to. I was raised in a very Southern household.
• Grimms’ Fairy Tales — The dark, violent originals, not the watered down versions. There is a correlation between these fairy tales and how my mind turned out (it’s a bit darkly humorous), but I don’t know if I was attracted to them because I was already like that or if they were more formative.
• Literary criticism. Yeah, a bit weird for a kid, I guess, but I liked seeing the penciled notes that my mother had made in the books.

I liked looking at the pictures of:

• Fantasy books. I won’t lie: I especially liked the more racy covers. I liked seeing that adventurous options may be available. Perhaps there was a bit of the whole “when I grow up, maybe I could do that!” sort of appeal. I’m still waiting on the overflowing bosom.

• Comics. My dad had a bunch of the Garfield books, and reading his copies got me interested in comics. I absolutely adore the McPherson books, like McPherson Goes to Church, because of the couple books he had.

The things that surround us have an effect on us. Those who appreciate art or even the right color in a room know that even these minor visuals in our environment can subtly influence us. The things that we read and the ideas that our minds then chew on profoundly influence us as individuals growing and forming our own personalities, opinions, and thoughts.

Would I have been so likely to become an English major if I hadn’t appreciated some of the literary criticism on that shelf? I spent almost every weekend growing up in a bookstore, so, yeah, an appreciation for books anyway seems like an obvious thing, but I then chose to happily spend so many intense hours of study on English literature and poetry, to the point that I actually contributed to the Oxford English Dictionary (not so subtle self pat on the back).

I’ve developed a sense of humor that’s a bit odd but actually helps me a lot at work. People find that there is a voice in my emails and other communications that makes them easy to read. While being an English major obviously did a lot to develop my writing voice, the books I read for fun long before that helped give me a lot of the sillier elements, and I am not at all sorry for that.

Our sense of humor and the ideas that we cling to desperately are rooted in childhood experiences, including the books we read. The values and themes in books can influence how we view the world. If you’re growing up in a small town, books let you experience more of the world. Even now as an adult, I feel that there is a similarity with the business sorts of books that I read. By reading about the situation described, I can imagine how I would operate in such a situation and respond better should it ever become real in my own career.

We internalize better ways of operating and even of what we would want from society as well. Star Trek is an excellent example of imagining a better society, though it was TV rather than a book.

So, reflecting on how my early interests influenced my, I’ve been thinking about how I can influence my daughter positively. I have a fair number of books around at all times, though more scattered than a single centralized bookshelf. One of the things I feel that I can do to help her is to make my books available to her and to keep a variety around, including books from the library. I want her to see that adults use the library, too, even if it’s more natural for me to be reading mostly ebooks. Some of the books that my daughter seems drawn to right now actually are the McPherson books. This makes me optimistic that long-term she may retain a lot of my sense of humor.

I also subscribe to several magazines that she looks through, and perhaps because of that, she has really liked getting the Highlights magazine for herself.

The things we do to positively affect our children don’t have to be huge. It can be as simple as leaving a book like Polar Obsession on the coffee table. My daughter absolutely loves looking at the pictures. I recommend such photograph coffee table books for kids to browse. The images are beautiful and let them imagine and see the world before they can even read about it.

I would love to hear what early childhood exposures have influenced you, in serious or amusing ways.

Sources and Further Reading:

Gierzynski, Anthony. “Magic effect: how Harry Potter has influenced the political values of the Millenial generation.” 19 Aug 2014