Do you think your hopes and dreams were influenced to some degree by the stories you read and loved when you were young?

Song believes in the dream that "she might meet her comparable other, a man who lived his life as she lived hers" (49). She credits this belief, atypical for a Chinese of her time, to the Western stories she read in her youth when she was learning English. Do you think your hopes and dreams were influenced to some degree by the stories you read and loved when you were young?

Absolutely, although thankfully I have never acted on the impulses of the countless murder mysteries read. I loved the connection of home and family of the Louisa May Alcott books; the ties of friendship relieving loneliness in books like "The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess", both by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Books revealed the world, instilled an early love of literature and travel as well as curiosity and a sense of adventure and the abiding sense that love, laughter and friendship are paramount and material possessions of lesser value.

I came from a dysfunctional family, not really an ideal upbringing..When I was about 10 years old I read "Pollyanna"...a foolish book by today's standards...but it gave me hope that I could be happy even if I had to make my own joy..and it worked..amazing what a book can do.

At a younger age possibly. Fairy tales of a prince whisking me off to live happily ever after left me thinking until I was mature enough to realize it's not that simple.

I do think the stories we read help to shape not only our desires, but also how we view the world. By reading Western stories, Song opened herself up to a world she would not have otherwise known, it is why book banning has the support it does. By stepping into other worlds through the written word, we are able to experience not only the positives, but the consequences as well. Everything I am has been influenced by a book - the way I parent, love, teach, and deal with adversities.