| First McKinley Book? [message #12685] |
Mon, 09 March 2009 18:23  |
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 Black Bear
Messages: 3216
Registered: September 2008
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA |
Senior Member
[Moderator] |
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| First McKinley Book?[ 127 vote(s) ] |
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| 1. | Beauty |  33 / 26% | | 2. | Door in the Hedge | 0 / 0% | | 3. | Blue Sword | 37 / 29% | | 4. | Hero and the Crown | 36 / 28% | | 5. | Outlaws of Sherwood | 3 / 2% | | 6. | Deerskin | 7 / 6% | | 7. | Rose Daughter | 2 / 2% | | 8. | Spindle's End | 6 / 5% | | 9. | Sunshine | 3 / 2% | | 10. | Water | 0 / 0% | | 11. | Dragonhaven | 0 / 0% | | 12. | Chalice | 0 / 0% | | 13. | A Knot in the Grain | 0 / 0% |
In light of the discussion on a blog post thread regarding what we'd like (or not like!) in a third Damar book, should there be one, I thought it might be interesting to see how most of us came to Robin's work in the first place--was Damar the entry point for the majority of people who now like Robin's work enough to join her forum? Or is it more across the board?
So, tell us! It doesn't necessarily have to be the first book of hers you ever read, but the one that made you think "Hmm, this McKinley--I'd better see what else she's got on the shelf!"  We've got another thread for talking about your favorite books, so please don't get into involved discussion here--this is just a straight up, what-was-your-gateway-book poll.
[Updated on: Sun, 15 March 2009 21:18]
"The time is always right to do what's right."--MLK Jr.
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #12689 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Mon, 09 March 2009 19:41  |
kfoster2047
Messages: 138
Registered: January 2009
Location: Charlotte, NC |
Senior Member |
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And I still have my paperback copy of Beauty from 1979.
Karen
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #12708 is a reply to message #12706 ] |
Tue, 10 March 2009 05:17 |
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I still remember the moment I found Sword. I was shelving books when I found one with a picture of a HORSE on the cover. My name was the first on the card and I even got special permission to take it home for the summer. When I moved on to High School I arrange to have it on loan from the middle school so I could read it again.
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #12710 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Tue, 10 March 2009 10:41 |
ravenclawgirl
Messages: 75
Registered: February 2009
Location: Ohio |
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My first McKinley book was Outlaws. I was on a King Arthur kick... oh, freshman year of high school? Maybe? Probably a little earlier. And right at eye-level in the library was this book called Outlaws of Sherwood. Robin Hood is in England, Arthur is in England, and I was getting near the end of the Arthur books that I could find easily. So I got it. (By the way, I thought it was kinda cool that a book about Robin Hood was written by a person named Robin... yeah, it was definately during junior high...)
And I loved it. It was about real people, unlike other Robin Hoods I had read. Though, to be fair, I hadn't looked too hard for books about Robin Hood. So I started reading some of her other stuff, Hero, Beauty, etc. And I haven't really stopped since.
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #14593 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Thu, 09 April 2009 18:47 |
Karayna
Messages: 28
Registered: April 2009
Location: Boston |
Junior Member |
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shoot.. i voted HERO and it was actually Rose daughter that i read first.. i have borrowed that book so many times (like almost 50 or so..)
i should just buy it!! lol
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #14624 is a reply to message #14593 ] |
Fri, 10 April 2009 13:13 |
Meredith B.
Messages: 3
Registered: March 2009
Location: Southern Ohio |
Junior Member |
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I'm curious about how many people started reading the books in their childhood, as opposed to coming to them as adults. I didn't pick up my first McKinley book (Hero) until I took over the Children's Department at a book store when I was 24. I read it because I was trying to broaden my base in Newbery books so I could handsell more of them, and it's a fantasy, hence more saleable right now, etc. What an incredible delight! But I think I read all of them far differently as an adult than I would have in elementary school or high school. I don't think I would have understood /Chalice/, for instance, on so many different levels, although I think I would have felt the charm of it. (Bee charm? Sorry-- bad pun.)
So, when did you first read them, and is there one in specific that you read much differently now than you did at any point in the past?
Meredith
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #14629 is a reply to message #14624 ] |
Fri, 10 April 2009 17:25 |
Karayna
Messages: 28
Registered: April 2009
Location: Boston |
Junior Member |
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I first read Rose daughter when i was 11 or 12.... im 15 now...
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #14635 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Fri, 10 April 2009 17:51 |
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I found Sword browsing in Andromeda, (alas now defunct), a fantasy book store in Birmingham. I read the blurb and saw woman as hero plus swords, horses... and promptly took it home, reading it overnight.
Someone says "pie" and we all go on alert, like meercats. "Pie? Where?" - Blackbear
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #14636 is a reply to message #14624 ] |
Fri, 10 April 2009 18:38 |
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| Meredith B. wrote on Sat, 11 April 2009 05:13 |
I'm curious about how many people started reading the books in their childhood, as opposed to coming to them as adults. *snip*
So, when did you first read them, and is there one in specific that you read much differently now than you did at any point in the past?
Meredith
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Interesting question - I read Hero first, probably aged 11 or 12 and Blue Sword not long after.
I possibly read Hero a bit better than I originally did. I didnt like the fight in the tower and the bit with Maur's head, I found that very dark and depressing. I still do, but I guess I understand those emotions better?
Blue Sword remains my most favourite book EVA!
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #14654 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Fri, 10 April 2009 22:03 |
kfoster2047
Messages: 138
Registered: January 2009
Location: Charlotte, NC |
Senior Member |
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Hmm, I read Beauty at about 18 or 19. Really identified with the ugly duckling, misfit, book reader. Blue Sword was next and I think that really struck me because of the blend of traditional English "heroism" and fantasy - and, of course, the writing was great. Hero had that additional layer of depth in a more unfamiliar fantasy setting. I'm not sure how much of that I realized because of the age I was when I read them or how much the books themselves brought it out.
Karen
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #14670 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Sat, 11 April 2009 11:33 |
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Beauty was my first. I read it when I was about 10 or 12 and fell in love with it (and yes, I coveted the Beast's library as well), and I didn't come across any of Robin's other books until I spent a fortnight with my penpal in California when I was 22. I came home from that trip with rather more luggage than I started with (and nearly got charged for excess baggage on the flight home...)and a fair chunk of it was books, including several of Robin's. I didn't read Hero and Sword until Kathy presented me with a copy of each the first time we met *waves at Kathy*
Don't worry about the dust bunnies, they're just here to guard the treasure.....
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #16215 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Sat, 16 May 2009 11:42 |
Cosmia
Messages: 4
Registered: April 2009
Location: Ohio |
Junior Member |
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A few months ago I read Sunshine and fell absolutely in love with it. I'm about halfway through reading/buying everything else Robin has written....
It started out as a feeling, which then grew into a hope.
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #17629 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Sun, 28 June 2009 16:31 |
karalianne
Messages: 13
Registered: June 2009
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, ... |
Junior Member |
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I borrowed Deerskin from a friend (a fellow bookaholic). I read it, then I re-read it, then I read it again. The cover came off from being read so many times. I started working on a piece for chamber orchestra based on the book. The music isn't done, but every few years I pull it out and start again.
I wound up giving my friend a brand-new copy of the book to replace the one I had stolen from her.
I'm not sure what I read next, but I know Beauty and The Outlaws of Sherwood were in there. I was in high school at the time. I believe I also read The Door in the Hedge, but not The Blue Sword. I was rather limited in choices, as we lived in a small town and I was stuck with what I could find at the public library (the school library wasn't a good source for good reading material; I think I went in maybe once a year when I was in high school, usually during class time to do research).
I remember finding Rose Daughter and being overjoyed. I think it was in an airport bookstore, and I was ecstatic to have found another McKinley book that was a retelling of one of my favourite fairy tales - and one of my favourites of her books! Obviously Deerskin is my all-time favourite.
Oh, and I was rather tickled to see the reference to Deerskin in Spindle's End. That sort of thing - where an author lets you know that they're using the same world but not writing a sequel - gives me the feeling that I'm in on some kind of big old secret that nobody else knows.
"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." Albert Camus
"I want to remake the world; anything less is not worth the trouble." Karen Cushman
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #17763 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Wed, 01 July 2009 22:36 |
skating librarian
Messages: 570
Registered: October 2008
Location: Vermont |
Senior Member |
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I read The Blue Sword as soon as it was named a Newbery Honor Book ... I was a Public Library Director and I had a challenging Children's Librarian and had to borrow it from another library.
When Hero won the Newbery I went to the ALA conference in D.C. and got my copies autographed and heard Robin's speech. So you can see I was already a long way from childhood. I'm pretty sure there was nothing like them when I was a child. I did read Rosemary Sutcliff's books over and over, so I suspect I would have liked Robin's books had they existed when I was a YA.
"Winning a war is like winning an earthquake" Jeanette Rankin
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #18052 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Mon, 13 July 2009 01:39 |
kimc
Messages: 4
Registered: January 2009
Location: Northern California |
Junior Member |
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My first McKinley book was Beauty, which I got in 1979, when I was 29. After that, every time I was in a bookstore, the first thing I looked for was a new Robin McKinley. I still do.
I love all of her books, but Beauty is still my favorite. It's flawless.
[Updated on: Mon, 13 July 2009 01:40]
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| Re: First McKinley Book? [message #18065 is a reply to message #12685 ] |
Mon, 13 July 2009 20:52 |
Piankatank
Messages: 35
Registered: October 2008
Location: Virginia, USA |
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Hero and the Crown. My children were young and I was a full-time mom at the time that my community started a library. A patron gave the library money to stock the children and young adult section with Newberry winners. I had started reading the young adult books because they were fast reads and good reading. A stay at home mom does not have time for big books, children do not give you the luxury of sitting and reading for long. The library got a paperback copy of "Hero and the Crown". I loved it so much that I gave money to the library to order the book in hardcover as well as "The Blue Sword", and "Beauty". I was gratified to learn that new copies had to be ordered a couple of years later because the copies that I bought for the library were worn out.
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I will have to re-read those books and then read Deerskin again!
