We are over the moon to welcome Janet Ellis – TV presenter, podcaster, and author – as our new Reading Force patron. In this blog Janet recalls the comfort of books in her military childhood and beyond…
AUTOBAHN. That was one of first words I remember reading aloud, as we zipped along a German motorway. I was four years old, sitting in the back of the family car, my Sapper dad at the wheel. It was a revelation that words could somehow get into my head and I could make sense of them. The anodyne contents of the Janet and John readers we had at school weren’t enough to put me off and I was soon reading everything I could. I was lucky that my voracious habit was encouraged and supported. Wherever we went, my books were the first thing I unpacked, as they helped me feel at home. My mother would take my sister and I straight to the nearest library (and I support any campaign that seeks to keep libraries open now). Later, I joined the newly-launched Puffin Club (I was member number one hundred) and can still remember the thrill of those fresh books arriving every three months. You never knew what you’d get, which was decidedly part of the joy. When I started a podcast, Twice Upon a Time, asking people to name and discuss their favourite childhood book, I felt a similar excitement about their choices. For every Little Women, which I’d loved, there was An Ordinary Princess, which was completely new to me. In lockdown, I noticed my then eight year old grandson struggling with isolation and new routines. We started an impromptu book club – I’d read to him over WhatsApp, then we’d chat about what we’d shared. We started with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – a strangely appropriate choice, as it turns out its author, Joan Aitken, was involved with the Puffin Club from the start. No tests, no peer pressure, no deadlines, just the enjoyment of stories and the written word read aloud. I got as much pleasure out of it as I hope he did. Visits to libraries and bookshops are a regular treat for my grandchildren. I love seeing the worlds inside the book’s covers opening up to them and for all of us a book is a truly transporting – and transportable – pleasure. If my reading journey started on an autobahn, I’m happy to say there are many roads ahead left to explore.