She exists only in the romance sector of fantasy. The modern fantasy heroine today is weak and love-addled 90% of the time. And the heroines – no author has written heroines as compelling as those in Mrs. She weaves stories that bring together a variety of characters, stories that can be enjoyed by adults as easily as children. Tamora Pierce wrote books that made my imagination soar to new heights as a child, but, unlike Icarus, I never fell. She’s my literary idol, second only to the late great Tolkien (because, let’s be real, Tolkien is the king of fantasy, and I love him). It’s safe to say that I’m a bit enamored with her. The bottom shelf is almost entirely her, though a few of them are missing…
I even tracked down a biography of Tamora Pierce in the Who Wrote That? series of young reader biographies, which I used to write a paper on her in ninth grade. I’ve bought every anthology she’s contributed to. I’ve since bought and devoured all twenty-nine of Mrs. It’s been 13 years since I realized I wanted to write novels. It’s been 13 years since Tamora Pierce became my favorite YA author. It’s been 13 years since I read that small book in bedroom I shared with my brother until I was thirteen. Instead, I read until I was at the end, nerves humming as I raced from page to page, heart thumping at every turn of the plot. To this day I think that’s the only time I’ve entered a bookstore, picked a single volume from a shelf, and checked out (I’m usually the one sitting on the floor by a pile of books trying to narrow my want list down to my “I can actually afford to purchase these” list). In fact, in a very un-Caitlin-esque manner I found my parents and said that I was ready to go, Magic Steps already open to chapter 1. I didn’t look at a single other book that day.
Looking back, I can’t say why that particular display caught my eye, or why the small, colorful book held my gaze and demanded to be purchased but it did. There was a small purple cardboard stand set up in the aisle with a small array of brightly colored purple and gold paperback books entitled Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce.
I remember walking to the back of the store, where the children’s and teen sections were nestled safely away from the entrance (for the adult’s sake or the children’s I can’t decide). It sounds insane, but I’ve always been a firm believer in the saying, “it only takes a moment to change a lifetime,” and that’s exactly what happened to me. Surely, at eight, my life couldn’t have been changed so dramatically by such a simple trip.
I know, I know, you’re probably wondering how I can say such a wild thing with such assurance. You see, this was the trip that would change my life.
And, like any good nerd-in-training, it was almost always my favorite place to shop.īut this particular trip, early in 2000, was special. Now, this wasn’t an unusual tradition in our household, in fact, I can hardly remember a time we went into the Town East area of Mesquite without making a stop at the bookstore on the corner. When I was eight years old my parents took me to Bookstop, our local branch of Barnes & Noble, as a treat.