Y is for yes please! 
Yolen, Jane
I remember the first time I picked up a book by Jane Yolen. It was at that moment that I stopped going outside for recess and lunch. For the rest of the year. I’d had a pretty big love affair with books before I first read Dragon’s Blood, but when I found it in my school library and discovered there were books there that were not related to researching the life of a dead artist (non-fiction took a lot longer to grow on me), any moment not spent in class, I was wedged between shelves of books reading. Jane Yolen’s Pit Dragon Chronicles absolutely put me there. I only read the first three–that’s all my school had, but Alex has read up to four. We want to complete our collection, but we’re both unhappy with the new cover design, and if possible, we want to get them with the original covers. There’s something about the cartoonish covers that doesn’t mesh right with the theme of the books.
Anyway, The Pit Dragon Chronicles isn’t the only thing I’ve read by Yolen, nor the only books I plan to read by her. I’ve had her book Encounter on my wishlist for ages, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the series of books, How Do Dinosaurs… which we bought for our more Jurassically minded students was also co-written by her. She is a fantastically imaginative writer, capable of pulling a reader deep into her words. She is one of the first writers to really solidify a love of reading in me and I’m very grateful.
Yes, that’s a Frida Kahlo finger puppet. I ran out of dragons, and they’re both awesome ladies so it works.
Diary of an Aspiring Writer 
It’s always so fun to remember our “first,” isn’t it. Mine is/was Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. Oh the memories…which we can visit over and over again!
I agree! This book will always be one of my favorites!
I love Jane Yolen and read her to my students often! Great Y!
Yes! She’s great for kids of all ages, I’ve found. I was so surprised to find her books for really young kids. Surprised and pleased.
I love thinking back on those books that really inspired me and made me passionate about reading 🙂
Never heard of Jane Yolen though, will have to give her a look.
You won’t be disappointed. Her books are amazing! 🙂
Yolen also has a wonderful non-fiction book on writing: Take Joy. LOVE that book!
I didn’t know! :O I’ll have to pick it up.
I hadn’t heard of Jane Yolen yet – which sounds like a huge mistake on my part. Will have to check her out immediately 🙂
Happy reading! 🙂
What an interesting topic for the challenge! And your posts are well-thought out. Have you got one for Z? How about Carlos Ruiz Zafón? Maybe, I could interest you in him from this post: Shadow of the Wind
I do indeed have a Z, but I will check out your post anyway. Always good to have more books! 😉
Jane Yolen has been on my TBR list for a while. I am now going to move her up for sure! My inspiration back in the day—the Narnian Chronicles by C.S. Lewis. I can’t count how many times I read those. I remember begging my parents for the money to buy the entire set. 🙂
I read the second to last book in that series and remember liking it, but having no clue what was going on. It was one of the books I read while sequestered in the library, but either our school didn’t have the complete set, or most of it had already been checked out. In any case, I’ve never read any of the other books. o.O
I know I have a book by Jane Yolen somewhere, but I can’t find it and can’t remember what it is. I used to have a database set up of all the books I owned, but I lost it when my computer crashed last year. I’d thought I had it backed up, but found out that I didn’t. 😦 Haven’t gotten around to rebuilding it yet. Someday…
I can only dream of having so many books that I need a data base to sort them. ;_;