Queen's Bookprint! What's yours?

Summer isn’t just the season of sunshine and heat — for Scholastic, it’s also intern season! Corporate Communications welcomed one of our summer interns, Queen Muse, last week, and already she’s stopped by You Are What You Read to fill out her Bookprint (the five books that most influenced her). So of course, we had to ask her to share her thoughts. Take a look at Queen’s Bookprint, and then go create your own!

“What we read today determines who we become tomorrow.” All of the books in my Bookprint have influenced my style as a writer, my interpretation as a reader and my overall outlook on life. Yes, words are that powerful! I owe these great authors more than I can express for their words that have made me laugh, cry, shiver in fear, and ultimately, inspired my life. Here are my picks:

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne: When I read Young Goodman Brown as a sophomore in high school, I was drawn in by the love story within. A few years later, having read The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables (two other Hawthorne faves I dreaded having to leave out of my bookprint), I read Young Goodman Brown again as freshman in college and I picked up on a different message entirely. It’s one of those stories that you read over and over and a new detail jumps out at you, changing your perspective of meaning each time. Hawthorne inspired me to write more in layers and less on the surface. Complicated as his language may be at times, anything Hawthorne is a must-have collection item.

Desperation by Stephen King: At 12 years old, I was fascinated with mysteries and horror stories. Having exhausted my mother’s Hardy Boys collection and everything Sherlock Holmes, I moved on to Stephen King. The first of his books that I read was Desperation. It was the longest book I had ever read at that time and I read it in only three days. I’ll never forget curling up on the couch hanging on every word and graphic detail. And I must add that the book was much more exciting being read as a young, impressionable adolescent than being viewed 10 years later as an adult in a not so insightful film adaptation.

The Bible: I like to refer to the Bible as the “great book of letters,” full of compelling stories, and I read it just as intently as I read The Diary of Anne Frank. Each chapter in the Bible introduces a new setting and a different author’s perspective. From the racy poetry in the Song of Solomon to the vivid “end of days” descriptions in Revelations, I get something new every time I read the Bible, which is ironic since its one of the oldest books ever written! With more than 30 English translations, it has become more “readable” now than ever. I keep a King James Version, as does every American hotel nightstand, but my favorite version to read, these days, is the Contemporary English Version.{Ed. note: Queen isn’t alone in listing The Bible in her Bookprint — it’s the #2 most listed book in You Are What You Read!)

The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou: Since I’ve read just about everything she’s ever written, I knew one of her classics would land itself in my Bookprint, but choosing just one of her books was difficult. I chose this collection of poems because I honestly have been reading this book ever since I was 10 years old. Whenever I need writing inspiration, I open this book and Angelou’s words take me places I’d never think to go. Angelou is definitely one of the most powerful voices of our time.

Goosebumps by R.L. Stine: It was nearly impossible to be a kid in the 90s and not have been a part of the Goosebumps craze. In between reading Superfudge and Amelia Bedelia, I pretty much owned every book in the series from 1992-1995. I would beg my mother to buy them by the boatload when the Scholastic book fairs came to my school, because if you weren’t up-to-speed on the latest book in the series, well you might as well sit at a lunch table by yourself. I pretty much can’t imagine my childhood without R.L. Stine books.

What books changed your childhood? Tell us in the comments, and go create your own Bookprint!