I’ve loved to read since I was in elementary school. My sister and I were reading chapter books in third and fourth grade. I remember vividly reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone at 8 years old.
I enjoyed the children’s picture books I had read before, but when I finally was introduced to the immersive world of chapter books for kids, I was mesmerized.
I couldn’t get enough. I wanted to consume as many words on pages as possible. Everything about chapter books awakened me; the smell, the sounds, the way the pages felt, what I could see in my mind. Everything.
But, it wasn’t Harry Potter that started it all for me. I loved the Harry Potter series, it’s my favorite of all time. BUT, it isn’t the book that made me fall in love with what writing and reading has to offer.
In fact, the book that started it all for me is one that nobody I’ve ever spoken to about it has read. The book that started it all for me is titled, Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs and it’s written by Betsey Hearne.
The world Hearne created was magical—but not in the way you might expect. It wasn’t filled with wands or flying broomsticks or dragons. It was a quieter kind of magic, the kind that sneaks into your bones and makes you believe that anything is possible if you’re paying close enough attention. It was about a girl, Louise, who makes a hasty wish that actually comes true— her brother becomes a pig. She has to race against time to figure out how to undo the spell before he’s changed forever.
And somehow, through this strange and whimsical premise set in the cozy little town of Tolliver’s Hollow, the story taught me something about imagination, family, and the way we’re all connected to forces bigger than ourselves, even if they happen to be muddy and oinking.
There was something about that book that made me think: Someone actually wrote this. Someone dreamed this up in their mind and put it on paper. That idea had never fully clicked for me before. Books had always felt like they were just there, like they had been there since the beginning of time. But this one felt like it came from someone’s heart, and I started to wonder if maybe, just maybe, I had a heart like that too.
Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs was the book that lit the match, lighting up the world of writing for me. It made me want to write stories of my own. And I did. I wrote silly little stories that never made sense from then on, not realizing it was setting me up for what I’m working towards in grad school now.
Stories with pigs for brothers, weird wishes, strange little towns, and girls who were brave in the quietest ways. I remember finishing it and feeling this tug in my chest—a pull toward something I couldn’t name yet, but that I now recognize as the beginning of a calling.
I’ve read hundreds of books since then, and I’ve studied reading and writing, taught it, written it, and lived it. But that one strange little paperback, with its dreamy title and pig-filled plot, is where it all started. And maybe that’s what makes literature so powerful—not just the big, award-winning, generation-defining stories (like Harry Potter), but the quiet ones. The ones that find you when you’re young and open and looking for magic in unexpected places.
So no, you probably haven’t read Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs. But maybe you have your own version of it. Your own strange little book that cracked something open in you. I hope you do. And if not, maybe it’s still waiting for you—curled on a dusty shelf, just waiting for you to pick it up and fall in love.
So… What about you?
Do you remember the first book that made you fall in love with reading or writing? Was it something wildly popular, or a quiet little gem like mine? I’d love to hear what book cracked the world open for you, even just a little. Drop it in the comments or send me a message (Contact). I’m always looking for those hidden treasures, and who knows? Maybe your childhood favorite will become someone else’s next spark.
With warmth and ink-filled notebooks,
Danni Writes.
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