Posted by Jock on March 26, 2008 at 11:37:37 from 87.105.81.146 user Jock.
In Reply to: Re: Famour AR readers (was Rowling... ) posted by Kathy_S on March 26, 2008 at 05:53:31:
I suppose they could even have been the same copies,
Gosh, I wonder how many other TarBoarders actually discovered AR by reading the same physical books!
I discovered AR in the late 50s in the Barham Park Library in Wembley, Middlesex. Perhaps some other
TarBoarder remembers the place? My library borrowings were rather esoteric: Books about obscure railways,
such as The Ironstone Railways & Tramways of the Midlands by Eric Tonks and books about canals such as
Canals & Navigable Rivers of England & Wales by De Salis. The first fiction that I remember borrowing
was by Olivia FitzRoy. The outdoor adventures appealed to me, but it was difficult to identify with a family
whose father - however impoverished - owns a deer park. Then I discovered AR!
The remaining problems were logistical. The library did not have all the books in the series. In fact, I think
that the first AR book I read was SD. The second problem was vocabulary, I stumbled over words like
'sisterhooks'. I saved up my pocket money and bought some books myself. In those days my pocket money
was 1 shilling (5p) a week. However SA, the first book I ever bought myself, only cost 7 shillings and
sixpence (37.5p). This problem finally resolved itself went I went to secondary school where the library
had the entire S&A series complete with dustjackets! Solving the second problem (vocabulary, particularly
the nautical terminology) eluded me, until I persuaded my parents to order Sailing by E.F. Knight. Sailing
itself was out of stock, but an updated edition called Small Boat Sailing finally arrived at my local branch
of W.H. Smiths. I've been mousing my sisterhooks ever since.
Sailing, complete with explanatory illustrations and diagrams drawn by Knight himself, used to be available
on-line, but that, as they say is another story.