Ada Denby
asked
P.J. MacNamara:
What was the first book you ever read? Was there one in particular in your childhood that made you think you wanted to write your own books some day?
P.J. MacNamara
That's a great question!
I didn't have that many proper books as a kid. People used to buy me a lot of annuals. But I was quite advanced as a reader. They used to test us every year at primary school and I remember regularly being told I had a "reading age" that was 6 or 7 years in advance of my actual age. Fortunately we had some proper books at school, and we were visited by a mobile library too. I really did read a lot more than most of the children I was around until I was about 12. It tailed off a little after that, and by the time I was about 17 I hardly read at all. I became much more interested in music and film and that's really never changed. But I'm rambling. Sorry, I do that!
I remember teachers reading to us at school when I was perhaps 5 or 6 years old. There was a wonderful illustrated series about "The Giant Alexander", and "The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen" I still recall being thrilled by.
The first book I remember reading from cover to cover at home of my own free will was one of Michael Bond's Paddington Bear books. He was fishing on the cover, so I'm assuming it was "Paddington Bear Goes Fishing". I read that several times for practice between the ages of 7 and 9. I did the same with one of Enid Blyton's "Secret Seven" books (can't remember the title) and some little fairy tale books. By the time I was 8 (and I remember that because we moved house at that time,) I had read Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and "Kidnapped". At around the same time we read a couple of the "Narnia" books in class, and then "The Goalkeeper's Revenge" and "Stig Of The Dump".
Other books I picked out for myself to read before I left primary school included "Snoggle", "Trillions" and "The Old Powder Line". When I moved on to secondary school the first book we did in class was "The Phantom Tollbooth".
I remember all these books with great affection, but in all honesty, being a writer never crossed my mind until I was almost 17 and studying A-Level English. I hadn't realised it would just be reading books and writing essays on them. Almost the entire syllabus bored me rigid. I needed some kind of a creative outlet, which was what I thought I'd signed up for. The lad sat next to me in class suggested I might try writing poetry. That was what he was doing, apparently. I thought it sounded like a stupid idea at the time, but look at me now!
Strange as it seems now, when I was a kid I actually wanted to be a dancer. Or maybe a scientist of some kind.
I didn't have that many proper books as a kid. People used to buy me a lot of annuals. But I was quite advanced as a reader. They used to test us every year at primary school and I remember regularly being told I had a "reading age" that was 6 or 7 years in advance of my actual age. Fortunately we had some proper books at school, and we were visited by a mobile library too. I really did read a lot more than most of the children I was around until I was about 12. It tailed off a little after that, and by the time I was about 17 I hardly read at all. I became much more interested in music and film and that's really never changed. But I'm rambling. Sorry, I do that!
I remember teachers reading to us at school when I was perhaps 5 or 6 years old. There was a wonderful illustrated series about "The Giant Alexander", and "The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen" I still recall being thrilled by.
The first book I remember reading from cover to cover at home of my own free will was one of Michael Bond's Paddington Bear books. He was fishing on the cover, so I'm assuming it was "Paddington Bear Goes Fishing". I read that several times for practice between the ages of 7 and 9. I did the same with one of Enid Blyton's "Secret Seven" books (can't remember the title) and some little fairy tale books. By the time I was 8 (and I remember that because we moved house at that time,) I had read Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and "Kidnapped". At around the same time we read a couple of the "Narnia" books in class, and then "The Goalkeeper's Revenge" and "Stig Of The Dump".
Other books I picked out for myself to read before I left primary school included "Snoggle", "Trillions" and "The Old Powder Line". When I moved on to secondary school the first book we did in class was "The Phantom Tollbooth".
I remember all these books with great affection, but in all honesty, being a writer never crossed my mind until I was almost 17 and studying A-Level English. I hadn't realised it would just be reading books and writing essays on them. Almost the entire syllabus bored me rigid. I needed some kind of a creative outlet, which was what I thought I'd signed up for. The lad sat next to me in class suggested I might try writing poetry. That was what he was doing, apparently. I thought it sounded like a stupid idea at the time, but look at me now!
Strange as it seems now, when I was a kid I actually wanted to be a dancer. Or maybe a scientist of some kind.
More Answered Questions
Della
asked
P.J. MacNamara:
I can see why you didn't put the contents of this book in chronological order, but I'm thinking if you had included approximate dates of composition that might have been of some interest to your readers? It can be interesting to see how a writer's style develops over time. Mixing your "old chestnuts" up with your new material must have been very difficult for you. Are you embarrassed by your earlier work at all?
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