Five Books that Shaped Me—Suspense on the Seas

DAY 074 - 26/15/3 -

I was scrolling through social media, when I came across this question: What five books inspired your writing? I admired this prompt. It wasn't asking something broad, such as "What are your favorite books?" or "Who are your favorite characters?" It was focused on long-term impact. So, to answer this question, my next blog posts shall be about the five novels that have most shaped my writing. Starting with...

#1 - Peter and the Starcatchers

- Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

My story of the Starcatchers begins with my fifth grade homeroom teacher. At the start of the school year, she noticed that our class was not reading as avidly as the lower grades. She observed that teachers in those classrooms would read aloud at least one book at a higher grade level. This practice continued from first through fourth grade, but then stopped. So, our teacher decided she would read during our class' end of the day study hall. She even let us sit on our desks. The book she chose was No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. She didn't use any voices or extra sounds. Just the words on the page. Our class enjoyed it and we politely asked if she'd read another book.

She found the mother load.

Peter and the Starcatchers was the high seas adventure of our dreams, but it didn't start that way. The first chapters were slow. Unlike the books I read which were dominated by immediate action, Barry and Pearson opened their tale with a murky atmosphere. On a dock in London several boys boarded a ship where they would be treated as slaves. No hope of adventure. Plus, the only girl on board was an upperclass sprat. No hope of friendship. I was perplexed, but as time wore on, Peter started to hear strange whisperings. "Starstuff." "The Wasp." "Guard the trunk." Soon, his insatiable curiosity became that of our own. Little mysteries kept us on the edge of our desks.

Barry and Pearson's work taught me that revealing your story's secrets can be just as exciting as an explosion. One scene that remains with me is when Peter is down in the ship's depths searching for food. Everything is quiet, as he hides in the shadows. Then, the men start shouting, and Peter, unable to restrain himself, pokes his head out and sees, "A rat. In midair. A rat floating in midair," (57). We gasped, as our minds raced. ‘How is it flying?’ ‘Will the crew see Peter?’ ‘Will the boys eat the rat?’ A simple moment was suddenly flooded with shock and tension.

It didn't take long for our teacher to realize we were hooked like a shark on chum. That's when she started to play it up. Over the following weeks, she'd always stop on a huge cliffhanger. It drove us crazy. Eventually, it became a game. She'd finish a chapter, look at the clock, look at us, and then calmly say those fateful words. "And we'll stop there for today." We'd all shout, "Nooooo!"

All of us joyfully suffered through a month of anticipation and playful aggravation. Then came the afternoon when the last chapter was finally closed. On that day we didn't just cheer. We downright shook the floor, stamping with great whoops and hollers! And of course, we begged our teacher to read another. She agreed on the condition that every study hall we would finish at least one piece of homework before she began. Thus, we became the fastest mathematicians in our grade.

For her next trick, she selected the sequel, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, as well as Pearson's Kingdom Keepers. She also read Andrew Clements' Frindle and No Talking. They were delightful, but none of them struck me as much as Peter's drawn-out tale of impossible adventure and unforgettable magic.

It's astonishing to me that there would be four more novels in my life to impact me in a similar way—perhaps even greater ways. I can't wait to tell you about them. But, in the spirit of my wonderful fifth grade teacher, I'll stop here for today.

Make sure to read my next post, where I'll discuss the second book that shaped my writing style, especially in how to craft dialogue with accents you can read.