[Writing Meme] Day 4: Your Favorite Book

I was a funny kid. I was more enamored by a list of banned books than I was by any best seller or recommended library list. Harriet the Spy caught my eye on a list of banned books in one of those almanacs. I was intrigued about the story of the spunky young kid who writes notes about other people. My first writing workshop with Teacher Maya Jacinto used an excerpt from Harriet as an example for worldbuilding, and a few months later I managed to find a copy from a boutique bookstore.

I had this vague notion of wanting to be a writer, and I automatically took to anything that talked about writing. I was eleven years old at the time and didn’t really understand the emotional range and complications Harriet went through, even though we were about the same age. I realized later that I probably saw myself through Harriet: the awkward kid who wrote a lot and were open to a lot of things my peers weren’t open to. At the time I started reading Harrier the Spy I really was growing up, and growing out from my colleagues. My elementary school was one of those most students stayed in from kindergarten through grade 7. I got the feeling, though I couldn’t quite put it to words at the time, that change was not something my peers were open to. I didn’t feel free to try new things, and in the few times I did I wasn’t prepared for the ridicule and criticism that followed.

It took a few reads for me to get Harriet, and a few more years before I really understood how much the book taught me. To this day I read the book when I feel that I’m in an awkward place, or when I’m about to come face-to-face with dangerous, beautiful truth.

Part of the 30 Day Writing Meme. Next is Day 5: Your Favorite Quote.