How did you pick a book when you were a kid? Not when you were young and attracted to anything bright, shiny and colourful. Think back to when you were a little older than that. More like the 9 and 10 year old range. When you started to want to fit in. When you started to care a little more about what others thought about you. Did that influence what you read?
Thinking back I was shocked to realize that peer pressure influenced this part of my life. The Babysitter's Club was very popular reading amongst the girls in my school. Over 170 million copies of these books were sold between 1986 and 2000, and the 15 or so girls in my class were some of the fans wanting to get their grubby little hands on the newest release. This meant that many conversations revolved around what Kristy, Jessi, Mary Anne and many of the other characters were up to. So I read them. All of them. Or at least the ones our school library had.
The part that I'm sure I never told my friends was that I hated them. Even at that age I thought they were shallow and stupid (though I have to give them props for their business accumen) but I would have never voiced that opinion. After all, I was already the girl who wore mismatched socks and brought tuna fish sandwiches and carrot sticks in my lunch. I didn't want to stick out more than I already did. So as I said before, I read them.
I saved the books I really loved for home. Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie and every teeny bopper Holocaust book out there (there actually were quite a few). These sorts of stories were what I really enjoyed, but they were my private reading. I was like Lennie from 'Of Mice and Men' who loved his pet rabbits, but kept them for his private enjoyment. I never destroyed my favorite books with my overwhelming strength....so I guess the ananlogy ends there.
Being a confident, well-adjusted person now, it's hard to admit that peer pressure influenced my reading so much, but being the tinniest kid in class with a pronounced lisp probably had a lot to do with it. So as much as I may want to take a dull spoon to my brain and scrape out any evidence of my conformity and all Babysitters Club memories, I guess it's part of what made me who I am.
It's nearly lunch. I hear my tunafish calling me.
