I wasn’t the reader in my family growing up. In fact, I remember countless times asking my older sister to play Barbies with me, only to be denied because she was deep in a good book. Once I even stormed into her room and tore all of the neatly alphabetized books off of her shelf just to make a statement. Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t realize what I was missing. While I was creating my own world with my dolls, my sister was enjoying so many others written within the pages of her books.

My very favorite book as a child was There Were Ten in the Bed.  I loved this story not for the words, but because there was this little wheel that you would turn with each page and a different character would “fall” out of the bed. It was engaging and interactive and reminded me so much of my own bed stuffed with more animals and dolls than I could fit

It wasn’t until I was older that I really began reading on my own. I owned Molly McIntire, the American Girl doll, and was fascinated with her stories.  This is where my love for playing helped grow into my love for reading. I would act out the scenes from Molly’s books with my dolls and relive the stories written in them. My mom always ordered them from the scholastic book club, and I remember being so thrilled every time I would find a recent order in my cubby at school. I can still smell the distinct scent of these books and remember their smooth pages. I loved the bit of history that I got to relive each time I read them, and I loved acting out those plots on my own, too.

Throughout my younger years, I mostly read for my school assignments, and when I was in sixth grade (I believe), we had to read My Brother Sam is Dead. I had already developed a love for historic fiction from my American Girl books, but this was the first book that really sparked a love for reading about war. This book gripped me, and to this day I remember the lines, “Ned’s head jumped off his body,” and “He’ll lead us through the Lobsterbacks like a hot knife through butter.” I don’t know why these stuck with me, but the descriptive writing was something that got my brain going and I soon caught the reading bug my sister had developed so many years earlier.

Throughout junior high I read pretty much every Mary Higgins Clark book I could get my hands on. My mother read them first, then my sister, and then they were passed down to me, so the mysteries had long been solved, but I loved the suspense in them and how they were just nail-biting enough to keep me reading without terrifying me entirely.

In high school it was back to reading for assignments, and of those I was drawn to works like The Great Gatsby, The Odyssey, and 1984.

It wasn’t until my late twenties, after I’d gotten married, worked for several years, had two babies, and finally started sleeping through the night again, that I picked up a book for pleasure again. And you guessed it, it was the Twilight series that got me back onboard. Since then I’ve read The Hunger Games and many of the other popular young adult books, and right now I’m in the middle of the Mortal Instruments books and am finishing up the Hush, Hush series.

I love young adult books because in so many ways I don’t feel any different than the seventeen year olds I read about on the pages. We all remember what it feels like to experience love and loss and how extreme those emotions are the first time you’re going through them. So in many ways, these books aren’t that different from my own experiences, and I find it incredible that I get to relive that time in my life again each time I pick up a new book. Only difference is, there are now a few more angels, demons, and vampires that weren’t present the first time around.

About Megan Squires - website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads
Megan Squires lives with her husband and two children just outside of Sacramento, California. A graduate from the University of California, Davis, Megan is now a full-time mother, wife, and dreamer – though her characters don’t often give her much opportunity to sleep.

 

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Check out the rest of the tour!

Monday, February 11th – A Book and a Latte

Tuesday, February 12th – Coffee, Books and Me

Wednesday, February 13th – The Cozy Reader

Thursday, February 14th – The Book Whisperer

Friday, February 15th – Ticket to Anywhere

Monday, February 18th – Sara in Bookland

Tuesday, February 19th – Tynga’s Review

Wednesday, February 20th – Imagine a World

Thursday, February 21st – Oops I Read a Book Again

Friday, February 22nd – Jenuine Cupcakes

Monday, February 25th – Ruby Reads

Tuesday, February 26th – My Neurotic Book Affair

Wednesday, February 27th – The Book Faery Reviews

Thursday, February 28th – Rants N Scribbles

Friday, March 1st – The Book Hookup