Today we welcome Sue Walker to the blog to tell us about what she used to read after lights out when she was growing up. In the past Sue has worked in a bank, a school, a bookshop, and a cemetery. She now works from a studio in her backyard in Sydney, where she lives with her husband, three children, and a scruffy white dog.
Her book Tilly’s Treasure is part of the Aussie Nibbles series, and Best Friends is a Children’s Book Council Notable Book. Sue’s latest title is Arnie Avery – a novel for children 9-13 years.
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When I was young, I had a bed with a light built into the bed head. It was great for reading after lights out. I’d read books by Enid Blyton – The Magic Faraway Tree, The Enchanted Wood and The Wishing Chair, and I’d imagine it was me visiting all those strange lands and flying in the wishing chair. I shared my room with my sister, and she’d complain because the light kept her awake at night, so sometimes I’d use a torch instead of my bed light. The best book I ever read was The Shark in Charlie’s Window. It was about a boy who had a flying shark for a pet.
As I grew older, I became an avid romance reader, and I loved super scary books too. Sometimes I was so tired in the morning it was hard to get ready for school, but it never stopped me from reading after lights out. Somehow, it was more exciting when I knew everyone was sleeping except me, and the house was dark and quiet around me.
Even though I’m an adult now, I still read loads of children’s books. If I had a lights out curfew, I’d read the kind of books I loved as a child. Books with a little bit of adventure and fantasy – they’re great for the imagination.
© 2010 Sue Walker
Visit Sue Walker’s website for more information about the author and her books!
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Alphabet Soup magazine is celebrating the launch of Undercover Readers (our new reviewers club for kids)! If you’d like to join the Undercover Readers Club, you’ll find an information pack you can download from the Alphabet Soup website. As part of the celebrations, we have a different children’s author or illustrator visiting Soup Blog each day until 29 June 2010 to talk about what they used to read after ‘lights out’ when they were growing up.
alphabetsoup.net.au 
I loved The Faraway Tree books too. I still think Dame Slap’s version of Math problems is a lot like the ones in my text book that drove me crazy: If seven crows sat on a fence and five oranges fell from a tree, how many hours until Tuesday?
Me too – I loved the Faraway Tree books! Especially the feasting parts.