If anyone had told me that I was going to be a writer of children’s books when I was a child, I would have said, “You’re badly mistaken. I can’t even read.”
I had a professor who one day came to me carrying six books adult novels. And he said, “Bill, I want you to read these books. If you’re going to be a writer, you’ve got to be a reader.”
And, first of all, I was very excited number one, that he cared that much about me as a person; and, number two, that he didn’t realize I couldn’t read. He brought me adult fare. One of the books was Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts. And I figured if Mr. Rowan thought enough of me to bring me six of his books, if he really wanted me to be a writer which had never occurred to me that I would read one book. So, I started on Northwest Passage and read week after week after week after week after week. And one night, I was reading, still, at midnight. I was getting near the end of the book. Maybe it wasn’t so much the story that I was trying to ingest; it was the fact that I was about to complete my first book.
At four o’clock in the morning, I remember, I finished reading the book. I was so overjoyed, I couldn’t sleep and was up early. I went to school to tell Mr. Rowan that I had read the book.
From that time on, reading books became easier. I knew it could be done. I still am a very slow reader, but I’m an avid reader. I’m reading all the time.
