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In my first Children's Fiction class of the year I always ask the students to talk about a book that was important to them in childhood. This time, for the first time in a dozen years, not one of the 18 mentioned Harry Potter. The HP generation appears to have passed. No one sat a-tremble on the eve of their 11th birthday to see if an owl would bring them the anticipated letter to Hogwarts. (They ought of course have been waiting to discover whether they were an Old One, which is much cooler.)

There was only one mention each of Dahl (The BFG) and Blyton, specifically Malory Towers. Jacqueline Wilson held up well, though, breasting the tape with Percy the Park Keeper.

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Date: 2014-09-23 07:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kalimac.livejournal.com
When I was last in a session where people were volunteering favorite books from their childhood, I noticed that most of the offerings were YA, so I went to the other end and picked picture books. I particularly fondly remembered those by P.D. Eastman, a colleague and contemporary of Dr. Seuss, who wrote Are You My Mother? and Go, Dog, Go.

If asked when I was 18, though, I'd probably have named The Hobbit, as the most influential book on my life.

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Date: 2014-09-23 07:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] steepholm.livejournal.com
Are You My Mother? was fondly remembered by me, too, though I preferred the "proper" Dr Seuss books. I learned to read with Green Eggs and Ham, which has to make that a pretty significant book in my life.

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