POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Book Review Introduction

By Nandy Ekle

I learned to read early and I learned early why reading is fun. I remember the primers. Our school didn’t have Dick and Jane and Spot. We had Jeff, Mary, Mike and Bingo (B-I-N-G-O, and Bingo was his name, oh!)

I remember getting books from the public library, school library, and from the Scholastic company. Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, books like Mrs. Pigglewiggle, Amelia Bedelia, Encyclopedia Brown, and Little House on the Prairie were all the buzz with kids my age. And I read them all and loved them all.

Then I discovered a specific author who had written several books. Zilpha Keatley Snyder. After Dr. Seuss and Laura Ingals Wilder, Zilpha Keatley Snyder was the next author to take my breath away. I read The Headless Cupid, The Velvet Room, The Changeling, The Witches of Worm, and The Egypt Game. To a choose a favorite of those would be like choosing a favorite out of my children.