If you have a
little one in your life, chances are that Mem Fox is already a household name
in your family. She helps children get to sleep (Time for Bed,
illustrated by Jane Dyer), reassures them when a new sibling comes to stay (Koala
Lou, illustrated by Pamela Lofts), and
her Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, is a must for every new mother and
newborn (the padded board book has just been released by HMH). Her latest
adventure invites children to add up a silly cast of hungry horned characters "frisking
in the sun," "going for a run" and eating seaside umbrellas, among
other things: Let's Count Goats! (Beach
Lane Books/S&S, ages 2-6, October 5, 2010), illustrated by Jan Thomas of Rhyming Dust Bunnies fame. Here Mem Fox talks about the books
and creators of great influence to her.
On your nightstand now:
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler, The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller and This Party's Got to Stop by Rupert Thomson.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall (an Australian children's classic about a koala).
Your top five authors:
E.B. White, A.S. Byatt, Vikram Seth, R.K. Narayan and Sebastian Faulks.
Book you've faked
reading:
Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
Book you are an evangelist for:
Any book that I have just read, if it's any good, such as The Night of the Mi'raj by Zoë Ferraris (Finding Nouf in the U.S.). Also, Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.
Book you've bought for the cover:
None.
Book(s) that changed your life:
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra, War and Peace by Tolstoy, Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, and To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee (yes, again).
Favorite line from a book:
" 'Where's Papa going with that axe?' asked Fern one morning." (It's the first line of Charlotte's Web.)
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.