What I read when I was a kid!!

Hi everyone, I'm back from Europe. We had an amazing time in Paris. I was there with my two daughters and we did so much in two days. We went to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Saint Chapelle, Notre Dame and walked along the Seine River and ate and....shopped. Of course we shopped. We went in every designer store and pretended we were rich and famous. It was a wonderful trip and we kept pinching ourselves because we were in PARIS. But I'm home to cold weather and writing. I'm back pounding the key board, working on a children's novel that is geared for grrades 1-3. And loving it! An early reader. I've never written for this age group so I thought it would be a challenge. You know, short and sweet is harder than you think because of the pacing. You have no time to drone on and on. My book is about a a girl named Dana who takes dance classes. I'm using dance because my one daughter dances so...the research is all there. If it sells, if it becomes a series, it will be the Dancing Dana series. I like Dana, she's a bit naughty and mischievious. I was telling my author friend Deborah Nicholson (she writes great mystery novels) about this book and we started into a conversation about what we read as kids. She didn't relate to the Bobbsey Twins or Nancy Drew because they were a bit too unreal. I liked Trixie Beldon. She was my favourite. Her and her friend Honey who was rich and beautiful. But Trixie wasn't. I read every one of those books. And I loved Anne of Green Gables and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe series although I do remember not finishing the last few books in that series. I liked the first book best. And I read all the Hardy Boy books. And of course I read Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little and the Little House on the Prairie books. I also read a series about a nurse and for the life of me I can't remember her name. Cherry Ames? Does that sound familiar? I was a reader for sure. I can remember my mom taking us to the library. I loved the smell. (Now I take my kids to Chapters or McNally's to buy books. Hmm. Will the coffee smell be there memory?) And on Friday's I would walk down to the street corner and take out books at the Bookmobile. I loved the Bookmobile and would spend hours in there. Sometimes they would kick me out. I've always been a big reader but you know when I look at my roots, I read a lot of mysteries. Maybe that's why I've gravitated to writing mysteries as well as my sports books. I also was a real jock and loved sports. Maybe that's why I write sports books. When I do school presentations and kids ask me what they can do to become a writer, I always say, "Be a reader."