Author Jane George: Into the Past + Giveaway!

Please welcome author and illustrator, Jane George, to StephTheBookworm today! Her novel, The Mumbo Jumbo Circus, which I reviewed yesterday, just came out, and is filled with magic and mystery! I finished it yesterday, and already miss the magical world in which it was set! In honor of Jane's appearance on the blog today, she is giving away a Mumbo Jumbo Circus t-shirt to one lucky follower! If you'd like to win it, please leave a comment below with your e-mail address. This will be open to U.S. followers and ends 6/19/2011. Winner will be selected via random.org.

Without further ado, here is Jane, talking about books from her past:

Age 5: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

I love the monsters and how Max’s room grows trees and he gets to go off in a boat on waves that look like blue frosting. The book makes me mad too. I want Max to be a girl. And why does Max get in trouble for running and making noise? I don’t get in trouble for that. Mom doesn’t even get mad when my sister and I take the washcloths so that Barbie & G.I Joe have sleeping bags when they go camping. We don’t have a Ken. He doesn’t go camping.

Age 11: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

I want a horse more than anything. I want to be Alec and befriend a wild horse and then be the only one who can ride the horse in the race. I want to grow up to be a jockey.

Age 16: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Those guys who threw the chocolate shake on me in the hall have no idea that I’m really from Lothlorien, the Golden Wood, the Dream Land. I am a being of transcendent light and beauty. My rightful home is in the trees. I am magical and speak a mysterious ancient tongue, unintelligible to morons.

Age 20: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge

This book has it all. Love. Intrigue. Betrayal. A strong, multi-dimensional heroine. All set in worlds of wonder and amazement. The Snow Queen needs to be made into a film! (I still feel very strongly about this.)

More recent books I wish I’d had available:

Definitely Coraline and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman for my 11 year-old self. And of course the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. I’m jealous that my kids (19 & 14) got to grow up alongside Harry. My 20 year-old self would really have benefited from reading Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. Boy, that’s an old book by now. Darn, looks like I’d better go read more books. There’s nothing better than reading a book that takes over your world for a bit.