People who didn't live pre-Internet can't grasp how devoid of ideas life in my hometown was. The only bookstores sold Bibles the size of coffee tables and dashboard Virgin Marys that glowed in the dark.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I grew up in a house with very few books.
Most of my life wasn't about knowledge from books, but experiential knowledge.
I can't imagine my life without books. My father was an electrical engineer, and my mother was a public school teacher. Books were an integral part of my childhood.
Watching my kids grow up made me realize that they would never know a world or a time without the Internet.
We live in a dark time. Books are as dark as what is available to teenagers through the media every day.
I feel very privileged to have reached so many kids because a life without stories, without the power of books, would be a very grey world, it's good to add colour.
I came from a home where everybody had a book.
We didn't have all the distractions that young people have today. We didn't have these incredible computer games and social networks to engage with. I understand that. But once young readers do discover reading, when they discover a book which they fall in love with, it really unleashes something new in their imagination.
When I was growing up, my house was filled with books. My mother was an educator, and my father was a history buff, so our home was a virtual library, covering every author from Beverly Cleary to James Michener.
I spent my entire childhood in an environment in which the mighty of the earth had no place outside story books and dreams.