My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/2CvDcAYuU-o

Enjoy! ( )

A congenial congregation of Australian & New Zealander writers discuss books and stories and the power of plot and language and character and ideas and illustration to move and change us. With what must be at least a few must reads for anyone. ( )

In the introduction, Judith Ridge, the editor says:

Thinking about the a writers I knew and loved, I wondered, what was the book that made them - the book that made them fall in love, or made them understand something for the first time? Made them think. Made them laugh. Made them feel safe. Made them feel challenged in ways they never knew they could be, emotionally, intellectually, politically. Made them readers, made them writers - made them the person they are today. And so I asked them. [...]
As you’ll see when you start dipping into the essays, poems, memoirs, and other pieces in this collection, there’s a fascinating variety of stories told by people who ended up making words and stories their living (and perhaps their life).

These stories are entertaining, memorable and interesting. I loved the diversity - of experiences and of approaches to the topic. Some authors focused on a specific moment or a specific book, while others wrote more generally about their experiences with reading. Most of the authors are from Australia and New Zealand, but nevertheless grew up in different countries, in different eras, in families with different attitudes towards stories. They had differing levels of access to libraries and to books featuring people like them.

I thought this would be the sort of book I’d read a bit here and there, and then return to it after reading another book or five - that is my usual approach to anthologies and non-fiction - but I practically read it in one go. It’s delightful. One of the best books I’ve read this year.

It also has funny, quirky illustrations by Shaun Tan. ( )

A collection of short essays by thirty-two writers on the subject of the book that "made them," that was most influential in their lives, that stuck with them. What a fun read this was! And it grew my TBR quite a bit too (oops, not oops?) As most of the writers were from Australia or New Zealand (with a handful of UKians), many of the essays also served as interesting glimpses into childhood in cultures I'm not terribly familiar with. Recommended. ( )

*DISCLAIMER: I received an ARC copy of this book from Candlewick Press. I am voluntarily leaving a review of this book with no influence from the publisher.

When Candlewick Press contacted me asking me if I was interested in this book I was thrilled. I had thought about a book like this in the back of my mind for many years, and I was so excited to see that someone had the same idea I did and turned it into a reality!

This book was such a fun read! You can easily fly through it in a few hours but I really recommend taking your time with this anthology. The way I suggest reading it is to read one story per day. Each story has something you can take away from it and think about later on or throughout your day. I feel like you will get so much more out of it that way.

One way I do think this book could be unenjoyable for people is that this book only contains authors from Australia and New Zealand. Most of the authors in this book are not internationally known, so the reader may not feel a connection with them or their story. I think the way to fix this is before you read each story to go to the back of the book and read the authors little biography, maybe look up their books on Goodreads as well. Who knows? You might find some new books to add to your TBR list. I would love to do the same thing here with American and Canadian authors as well.

I'm not going to have any spoilers in this review, but there are some stories that I would like to highlight as my favourite. Those are: Alison Croggon, Markus Zusak, Kate Constable, Queenie Chan. Of course I didn't really connect with all of the stories, but they were interesting to read nonetheless.

I really loved how this book really didn't put any limits on the stories that these authors could tell. They weren't restricted to one book, they could do multiple books or a series, and there were many mediums used as well; print books, verbal stories, manga, picture books, etc.

I love books so much, that I was constantly absorbed in each story and I couldn't wait to see how reading and which book or books it was that influenced a person and how it changed them. As readers we each have our own stories and books that we connect with and remember nostalgically and this anthology is a treasure trove when it come to that. If you love reading, I recommend that you go out and read this book. ( )