This week’s prompt in the #MFRWAuthor 2018 52-week Blog Challenge is: A book that has influenced my life.
As usual, I can’t pick just one, but two children’s books came immediately to mind: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare.
When I was in grade school, Little Women was my favorite book. I can’t remember how many times I read it, always identifying with Jo, of course. And I cried every time Beth died. My mom used to get annoyed at me and ask, “Why do you keep reading it when it makes you cry?” My answer was always a sobbing, “Because it’s so good!”
I think Jo March was the reason I, too, wanted to be a writer.
The other book that I remember with great fondness from my middle school days is The Witch of Blackbird Pond, the 1959 Newbery Medal winner. If you don’t know the storyline, it’s about Kit Tyler, a teenage girl who leaves the relative freedom of her life in Barbados to stay with Puritan relatives in Connecticut in 1687. She meets a dashing young man name Nat and a Quaker woman living in isolation, whom the colonists suspect of being a witch. The Goodreads description, calls it a “portrayal of a heroine whom readers will admire for her unwavering sense of truth as well as her infinite capacity to love.”
There’s a bit of romance in the book between Kit and Nat, and I credit this book with my preference for historical romance, as well as opening my eyes to the evils of religious persecution.
While Little Women was a contemporary novel when it was written, it always seemed historical to me, set in the Civil War as it was. And The Witch of Blackbird Pond was written as a historical, my all-time favorite genre.
What book(s) influenced your life?
Linda
Click on the linky list below for more influential books.
I loved The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I remember my mother giving it to me.
Great gift for a girl. I found it at the school or public library.
I LOVE Little Women:)
It really is a wonderful book. I saw a musical stage version last year, which was fun.
Me, too.
I’ve hear do Little Women, but can’t recall ever reading it. As my post said, I’m not a reader of ‘the classics’. The second one sounds very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
There are a lot of classics I haven’t read, I’ll admit. Little Women is a great kid’s book, esp. for a girl. Jo is a good role model.
I’ve read Little Women and liked it, but I haven’t read the other. I’ll be checking out The Witch of Biackbird Pond. It sounds good. Thanks for sharing.
It’s not an award winner for nothing!
You’ve sparked a memory! I did the same as you, read Little Women several times and cried every single time. I’ll investigate the other book you mention as it sounds good. Great Post 🙂
I think a lot of us cried during Little Women.
Of course, Little Women! I read it a zillion times, too. I had forgotten about it.
It probably came easily to my mind because I saw a musical stage version last year.
It looks Like Little Women made a hit with most of us. I loves it too though it wasn’t the book that inspired me.
It’s a classic!
Another hand raised for Little Women. The second book title sounds familiar from way back, but I never read it. I’d like to now that I hear how it inspired you.