My Love of Reading

 My Love of Reading comes from:

1. The Silly Book: I had my mom check this out from the local library several times in succession and I thought it was hilarious. The only joke I remember now is that it starts with "Goodbye" on the first page and "Hello" on the last page. In my barely-post-toddler mind, this was comedy gold.

2. Road Race Round the World: A classmate had ordered a copy through the Scholastic Reader program that used to exist in elementary schools. I looked through it and saw a picture of one of the cars that took place in this 1907 NY-to-Paris race--shown with a windmill in the background. In my 7-year-old mind, I saw this as the windmill mounted ON the car and assumed it was powered by wind. I ordered my own copy of the book. I discovered there was no windmill-powered car, but it was an awesome book anyways.

3. Our Army at War #221. The first comic book I owned after trading three toy plastic astronauts to another kid on the school bus in order to get my hands on it. Though I had no thought about the name of the artist at that young age, it turned out to be illustrated by Russ Heath, one of the best comic book artists ever. I remember trying to tell my parents and my siblings about how awesome this comic book was and not quite understanding why no one else thought it was as wonderful as I did. (I reviewed it as an adult HERE)

4. Fantastic Four in House of Horrors & Major Matt Mason in Moon Mission. Engaging stories designed to fire a child's imagination, with each page of prose facing a full-page illustration. (reviewed HERE and HERE)

5. G.I. War Stories #1: World War II soldiers fighting dinosaurs? I had no idea the world was capable of containing anything this wonderful! (reviewed HERE.)

6. The American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States. These were on a shelf in our home growing up. Being a bloody-minded boy, I read the volumes on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War II several times before I got around to reading the entire set. Along with a biography of John Paul Jones and and a book about the battle of Iwo Jima (both of which I repeatedly checked out of my Elementary School Library), these books gave me a love of history and a life-long interest in military history.

7. The Iron Monster Raid and Fear Formula: Both based on TV shows from the 1960s--both were exciting World War 2 stories I read a number of times until the books eventually fell apart. (both books reviewed HERE)

8. Hands in the Dark. I saw this on the paperback rack at Winn Dixie. I had recently whined until my mom bought me an LP containing two episodes of the Shadow radio show (the beginning of my love for old-time radio) and I HAD to read this. It was another can't-put-it-down reading experience. (reviewed by both myself and my wife HERE.)