Non-Romance Genre Hooks by Joan Vincent

Rox and Frances have written about their favorite children’s books. I bought many of the Golden Books for my kids and my grandkids also read them. Popcorn sounds like my kind of book too.

Sadly I cannot recall any books being around when I was, say under the age of 10. That seems strange to me since my father valued reading highly and read vociferously. In fact we didn’t even have a library at our little four room school unless you consider the various reading series we went through during the school year. It wasn’t until 7^th Grade that our principal checked out thirty books a month for each classroom that we really had a source for books. “In the olden days” as my kids were want to say when they were growing up hinting that I came grew up in a covered wagon, the only public library was downtown in Wichita. Trips to town were for tractor or equipment parts—not for books. I didn’t get to the public library until I was in high school and it was still considered a “special” –translate that as rare--trip.

But back to the 7-8^th grade. I as horse crazy in those days so of course I devoured Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and Walter Farley’s books:

• The Black Stallion (1941)
• The Black Stallion Returns (1945)
• Son of the Black Stallion (1947)
• The Island Stallion (1948)
• The Black Stallion and Satan (1949)
• The Black Stallion's Blood Bay Colt (1951)
• The Island Stallion's Fury (1951)
• The Black Stallion's Filly (1952)
• The Black Stallion Revolts (1953)
• The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt (1954)
• The Island Stallion Races (1955)
• The Black Stallion's Courage (1956)
• The Black Stallion Mystery (1957)
• The Horse-Tamer (1958)
• Man o’ War

From there I went to Jim Kjelgaard’s dog books.

• Big Red (1945)
• Snow Dog (1948)
• Kalak of the Ice (1949)
• A Nose for Trouble (1949)
• Irish Red, Son of Big Red (1951)
• Fire-hunter (1951)
• Trailing Trouble (1952)
• Haunt Fox (1954)
• Lion Hound (1955)
• Desert Dog (1956)
• Trading Jeff and his Dog (1956)

All of these books have the two things that I think hooked me as a child: adventure and mystery.

They continue to hook me as an adult as I tend to read mysteries of all sorts and time periods. I love Sherlock Holmes and can’t wait for the next Ann Perry Monk and Hester mystery. Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody set starting in 1920’s Egypt is a favorite. I enjoy Dianne Davidson Mott’s Goldy Catering mysteries and Elizabeth George’s Lynley series. These books all have disparate styles and settings but I like them all. Recently I bought a box of books to get one specific book and discovered a new mystery series-- Judith Van Gieson’s Claire Reyneir. This book was Vanishing Point. Now I can go find the other books—love it when I find a new writer to read!

Nothing like this blistering hot summer to curl up with the air conditioner and a good book. What are you reading?