Raptors, Dragons, and Literacy, Oh my! - Sean

When I was growing up, I don’t remember any books that really had a long lasting impact on me. In fact, when I was young, I was more interested in reading about space and nature. I was terribly curious about the world around me, and did everything I could to try and learn more about it. I suppose that, because of my love of dinosaurs, I was attracted to a book called “Raptor Red” by Robert T. Bakker.

“Raptor Red” follows the story of a young female “Utahraptor”, the largest species of raptor, as she goes about her life. She has a splotch of red on her snout, and thus identifies herself as “Me…raptor…red…” which ultimately gives her her name. The whole world is fascinating because you experience it through the eyes of the dinosaur herself. Everything has a smell, or is a new experience. I’m not sure if it had a vast impact on me as far as literacy, but it did teach me a thing or two about writing. The senses are used more than anything else in the story, and to this day I try to pack my writings full of them.

Another book I distinctly remember was “Dragon Weather” written by Laurence Watt-Evans. The story follows a young boy by the name of Arlian. I wouldn’t want to spoil the book for you, but I will say that it is fantasy, and it is a very good read. This book took me on a real adventure. I’ve always loved dragons, and I still do. They may be fanciful, but they’re still my favorite animals. I picked up the book based only on the title, but came away with many complex feelings about life. The book impacted me so much that in my own novel (a work in progress), I named the main character’s father after Arlian as a sort of tribute.

While these books haven’t had a large impact on me as far as literacy, they have had an impact on me when it comes to writing creatively. They tugged at my very active imagination, and enticed me to read deeper. In the end, without these two books, I may not have been the writer that I am today.