Growing A Reader
by Evelyn Skye
Thank you so much for inviting me to The Hiding Spot to celebrate March is Reading Month, Sara! It’s an honor to be here!
As an author, books obviously formed a huge part of molding the person that I am today!
One of the first memories I have is of my preschool teacher reading Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? That, of course, soon led to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which was the favorite book of my early years, because I was (and still am) obsessed with food, and it’s possible that three-year-old Evelyn wished she were that lucky caterpillar.
In my elementary school years, it was Roald Dahl’s books that spoke to me. I adored Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (no surprise, since it’s full of… food). I read James and the Giant Peach over and over until the cover fell off, and I lost track of how many times I checked MATILDA out of the library. Then there was The BFG and The Witches and The Twits.
And when I got a little older, I fell head-over-heels in love with a short story, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” which maintained that quintessential Roald Dahl-ness from his children’s books and yet had a darker, satirical soul.
In high school, I took a class on British Literature, and we read a lot of Shakespeare and Austen and Bronte sisters, and we had tea parties at my teacher’s house, where she taught us the proper way to brew a pot of tea, and we’d all bring desserts we’d baked (usually to some disastrous result—like the “crater cake” I brought to one such party, so named because the center had completely collapsed; we were 16, and we didn’t much know how to cook). Those parties were the epitome of nerdiness and soooo much fun.
I was also obsessed with Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire at the time, and I remember my friends and I re-wrote Hamlet as a vampire play, and performed it for the class… Again, pure dorkiness, and 100% wonderful!
In short, I would not be who I am without all the books of my past. So thank you to all the authors who penned the stories that accompanied me, comforted me, and challenged me—you have bettered and changed more lives than you will ever know, including this one.
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About the Author
Evelyn Skye was once offered a job by the C.I.A., she not-so-secretly wishes she was on "So You Think You Can Dance," and if you challenge her to a pizza-eating contest, she guarantees she will win. When she isn't writing, Evelyn can be found chasing her daughter on the playground or sitting on the couch, immersed in a good book and eating way too many cookies. THE CROWN'S GAME is her first novel. Evelyn can be found online at www.evelynskye.com and on Twitter @EvelynSkyeYA.
About The Crown's Game
Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.
And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.
Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?
For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.
And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love... or be killed himself.
As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear... the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.
Learn more about the Growing A Reader series here!
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