I was an avid reader as a child, but what I remember most is being read to by an elderly babysitter. She used to read me all these really neat Bible stories; I guess she must have been a master storyteller, because they always seemed so exciting and left me hungry for more. Then I got my own copy of a children's version of Bible stories and never got tired of reading out of that book. My all-time favourites were Daniel in the lion's den, the Prodigal son (I always changed it to daughter), the Good Samaritan and doubting Thomas (I even named a pet bird after Thomas). They became like best friends to me.

Many hundreds of books and many years later, these are still my all-time favourite characters.