What a great idea for kids. As adults we still have creativity, but many of us loose our imaginations. Remember having an imagination so vivid you could write a letter to a dead author? Those were the days. I learned to read when my parents read me the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings, when I read it, was a big influence on me, as it was on so many. I read it six times before I was 16. I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction as young child, and it was the Wizard of Earthsea books that really got to me, lifted my wings, so to speak. In that magical world everything has a true name, and wizards learn that name to be able to talk to things, have power over them, or whatever. Thus in one of the early books the protagonist meets his first wizard who knows the names of all things in nature, and when the winds blow and threaten the village, or volcanoes erupt, he speaks to them in with their true names and calms them down. The books taught me to listen, that everybody has secrets and fears, and that if you just listen, you can learn almost anything about anybody, or anything. What you do with that information, to hurt or help, is a choice you make as a person. It also helped teach me that studying is important and learning is fun as it takes Ged a very long time to master his arrogance and learn the humility that must accompany with his natural talent.

Thanks for the tip about the Letters for Literature Contest. I will pass it along to all the teachers I know. When I was very little I read The Secret Garden. I thought I had found a secret book that no one else knew about. It took me into a secret world. Then it dawned on me that I could travel to other worlds whenever I wanted in the pages of books. Fantasies and sci-fi have been some of my favorites. They take me out of myself and my perceptions.

Thanks, Beth, for letting us know about this. We're considering a MySpace page, and what a great thing to promote young people to do in relation to the books/authors they love. I remember the book that changed the way I looked at things when I was 17: The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Being young, white, in Texas and surrounded by racism, I just instantly had a whole new picture of life, and at that point I can mark a departure in my life towards living in another way. As a managing editor now, I hope to be part of publishing books that can have that kind of influence. Again, thanks for letting us know about this, I'll definitely find ways to let others know about it. Best, Kim Guster, Insight Press

I wish I, too, could say "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," but I dind't read that till much later. However, "The Wizard of Earthsea," "Lord of the Rings," and "The Chronicles of Narnia" were all wonderful world openers for me. I grew up in a scary household, with a lot of fear/guilt/shame, and so the idea of hiding in a wardrobe had a lot of appeal for me. The idea that even little people could face their fear, find new worlds, and have adventures that ended more or less well was exactly what I needed to go on.

Cart before the horse - Put the