Interview Questions with Catherine Mackenzie

Along with the book review I was able to do for Christian Focus, I was given the opportunity to pose a few questions for the author of How to Be a Bible Princess.  Catherine Mackenzie was gracious enough to answer a couple of questions I had for her.  

Here are the questions and her responses. 

Q1: What were your favourite books growing up as a young girl?

A: My favourite secular books as a young girl were anything by Enid Blyton; The Sula books by Lavina Derwent and The Narnia books. My favourite Christian books were anything by Patricia St. John and O.F. Walton.

Q2: How would you encourage mothers in encouraging their daughters to read material that is good for them? Have you discovered any ways to encourage young girls to spend more time reading than in other, more popular pursuits?

A: My mother never needed to encourage me to read. I can remember her talking with my grandmother once, saying how you couldn’t stop me from reading. Even at the breakfast table I would be reading the cereal box or the back of my father’s newspaper. Books were always available. There probably wasn’t a room in the house that didn’t have a book or several books in it - even the toilet and washroom. In fact the littlest room in the house can often be a good opportunity to sneak in a couple of books. Perhaps some small short books, a little book of quotes or bible verses. My mum put all of us to bed at roughly the same time but as the oldest child I was allowed to read for half an hour while the others had to go to sleep. My mum reckons that’s why I grew up the keenest reader in the house out of me and my two sisters. I remember once in school we had a reading competition to encourage the class to read more books. I was in a head to head with this other guy who pipped me to the post by about two books. We were both given a prize – I believe I chose for my second prize another book. Books are expensive but I would suggest that you make use of libraries if you have one near by and/or second hand bookstores where you can purchase books at affordable price. Both of these ways mean that you can try out new books at very little expense. Perhaps join up with other Christian families who have children of a variety of ages – so that you can mix and match books and swap them around. Have allotted times in the family schedule for book reading – a time when everyone in the house sits down and reads for twenty minutes, adults included. With our family this automatically happened on a Sunday afternoon.

Catherine's advice at the end of her answer to the second question is very valuable:  make books available and make reading a family endeavor.  I whole heartedly share her recommendation about having a devoted time for reading.  When we were homeschooling, our reading together time was in mid-morning, with our snack.  We as parents ought to be setting the example if we want our kids to be readers.  I also like her suggestion about second hand book shops.  A well organized, clean second hand book shop is a real treat.  

Comments

[rosemary]

It's fascinating to read about others' childhood reading favorites. As a child our home had very few books besides the Bible. I remember reading my copies of "Heidi" and "Little Women" countless times. I was very excited when my parents finally bought some of the Danny Orliss series from Back to the Bible, and when a family friend gave us several Grace Livingston Hill books. I read those a bazillion times. Plus, I read every biography in our school library and a few others that came my way. I read to my boys daily and provided a good library for them. One continues to be a reader, but one is not.

[Kim]

My daughter is a voracious reader, and my youngest still reads, but my middle child, a musician, would rather make music than read. He reads for school, but not pleasure. I don't know if he'll take it up again or not.