The Stories We Read as Kids

I am so excited to introduce you to someone I met at this year’s Texas Library Association Conference. Kristine Hall is the owner of Lone Star Literary Life, an online resource for readers and authors in Texas. It was my pleasure to talk to her about the stories that impacted her life – among lots of other things!

Kristine is the owner and publisher of Lone Star Literary Life. Before assuming leadership of Lone Star Lit, Kristine served as coordinator for Lone Star Book Blog Tours and has now worked with over 400 authors and publishers to promote Texas books, Texas authors, and literary Texas. Hall earned her bachelor’s degree in modern languages from Texas A&M University, her teacher certification from Texas Christian University, and her master’s degree in library science from Sam Houston State University. She is a professional book reviewer, has been a moderator at the Texas Book Festival, and has been the featured speaker for numerous Texas writing groups, workshops, and conferences.  She is an active member of the Texas Library Association and a proud member of the Grammar Police and has been sharing her personal book reviews and book recommendations since 2011 on Hall Ways Blog.

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER

• How the stories we read as kids shape our dreams for the future.
• The impact a specific librarian had on the course of Kristine’s life.
• The purpose behind Lone Star Literary Life. (Hint: it’s dedicated to the idea that Texas readers and writers deserve their own lair.)
• How Lone Star Literary Life connects the multitude of writing and reading communities across Texas.
• Why Kristine is passionate about giving people a platform for their amazing books.
• Why Kristine and I both believe that there is power (and magic!) in getting stories into the hands of readers.
• How certain stories have contributed to significant life moments.
• How each of us has parents who didn’t endorse “questionable” books, but they let us read them. They viewed them as explorations, and they were not going to stop that.
• Why reading for each of us has been about an insatiable curiosity and wanting to learn.
• How books have given us what we needed or shown us what we didn’t need.
• How books are coping mechanisms for us.
• Why kids need to see themselves in books and know that those kinds of stories are out there for them. And why we as adults need to do everything we can to make sure those books are in their hands.