Z is for Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Z is for Zilpha Keatley Snyder.

 

   Somewhere after Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, but before Richard Peck (Blossum Culp Series) and S.E.Hinton, I found a favorite in Zilpha Keatley Snyder.  Maybe some of you will remember the covers below...

 

 

 

 

 

Although, I found a great deal of entertainment in Cleary as a child and a pre-teen connection to many of the relevant coming of age tales of Blume, Snyder was the one to set my imagination on the trail it follows even to this day.  Yes, it was great to read about the trials and tribulations of kids my age, but what really got me, was the world set outside of age and the day to day.  Zilpha gave me that.

 

Mrs. Snyder's works were some of the first stories I tried to emulate as a middle-schooler.  I guess you could call them my first fan fictions.  *smile*  I wanted my stories to send those chills up my spine.  I wanted to be the creator of the big mystery that kept all guessing.  I was (and still am) enthralled by the possibility of the extraordinary, just being one step over a neglected back ally wall or through a thorny suburban hedge.  I believe there is more to our world than what we see in our daily passing.  Finding Mrs. Snyders and later Mr. Pecks works was like finding something familiar.  Far more familiar to me than the sweet tales of Cleary or the coming of age tales of Blume.  

 

Now don't get me started on movies and directors who I identified with back then.  Spielberg anyone?

 

It's been a blast A to Zers.  I hope to see some of you again at next Wednesdays post for The Insecure Writers Support Group but if not, it's been real.