Thanks for your answers, Andi! I love reading about other people's perspectives on the industry. And I'd have to agree with your illustrator friends... graphic design is not illustration :P
Nice redesign of the blog, btw. How did I miss that? I saw the GD Links site, but not this one.
Have you ever listened to books on tape? I'm currently going through Harper Audio's Chronicles of Narnia (funny you should mention Lucy and Aslan!). They're read by famous British actors (Patrick Stewart does The Last Battle!!!) and although I don't have kids yet, I can see my family putting on an audio book rather than watching TV. You can imagine the story in your head infinitely better than any screen could capture!
I remember my mom reading to me before bed when I was little and I would always draw pictures of what she read about. Got to exercise my mind and my creativity, too. It's no wonder I ended up a graphic designer :D