This Tuesday At The Tiki Hut - Jean Hart Stewart

This Tuesday we welcome historical and fantasy romance author Jean Hart Stewart.

Jean Hart Stewart feels she's very much a Californian although she was born in Ohio. California has been home for a good many years. Life changed drastically for her when she was six and her father died incredibly from an errant golf ball. A dishonest insurance agent forced her sheltered mother to seek work, and she became a teacher. Her hours required Jean to be alone in the house in the afternoon, and since she was forbidden to leave till her mother got home, she became an avid reader. The local library supplied most of the books and she developed early her two of main interests, Jane Austen and King Arthur.

Reading is still one of her favorite activities, although she sometimes has to push it aside to make room for her enduring love of writing. Her journalism degree was used infrequently until recently. Marriage and raising two children pleasantly got in the way. After twenty years of being a real estate broker and with the kids raised she finally could devote her time to writing, her first love.

Jean's enchantment with the lore and legends of Druids and, therefore, delving into their history led to fascinating research that inspired her popular Garland of Druids Series for Cerridwen Press and her upcoming series about Mages that kicks off with her June 22nd release DAMIEN'S DESTINY.

Few things in her life have been so satisfying, especially when all her books have a happy ending. Wonderful to make happen. It only gets more interesting when a secondary character demands his very own book. Who would want to deny him? Not Jean!

Welcome to the Tiki Hut Jean and thanks for your article on How to Make a Reader.

***

How to make a reader?????

I’ve been obsessed lately with wondering why some children turn into avid readers and some never learn to like that is one of my life’s greatest joys. It’s not intelligence, as I was blessed with two bright kids, one how now reads much deeper subjects that I can even tackle. (He’s a mathematician, way over my head!) The other child never even would sit still to listen to me read. She’s just as smart, although not a mathematician. So it’s not a matter of reading to them, which you often hear, as I did with both. Or tried!

I polled some good friends, but found little consensus. One, a child development teacher, found what worked for her four children was limiting TV and reading to them extensively. Been there, done that. She’s raised four bright successful adults who are all readers. Another, mother of five, states it’s exposure to books and following up any clue if they seem to like a certain book or author. Very good points, and with today’s libraries so well stocked fairly easy if a child gets a fix on a certain author. Her daughter fell in love with the Nancy Drew series, which my granddaughter did last year. A third friend has one reader and one non-reader like me, both bright but simply with different inclinations. She’s thinks it’s like so many other traits. A parent gets what he’s dealt.

I’ve mentioned in various biographies and chat talks how my father’s early death forced my mother back to teaching and how I wasn’t allowed out of the house until she came home. I was six years old. With no TV and lots of library books I became a compulsive reader. I’ll fixate on cereal boxes if nothing else is handy. Incidentally, some of their blurbs are pretty funny, although they may not mean to be.

Certainly if you don’t do anything as a parent, let the TV be unlimited, don’t provide them with books, and don’t read to them you cut down the chances. Yet I think some children simply can’t be stopped from becoming readers. They’ll find books on their own no matter what.

Conclusion? Draw your own. I’m baffled!!!

***

Learn more about Jean and her fabulous books about Druids and Mages at JeanHartStewart.com .

Here's a video taste of her upcoming June 22nd release DAMIEN'S DESTINY.