Pity me. I'm still up because of this.
I started self-defensively ranting in my wishlist about why I wanted a copy of Edward Eager's Half Magic with exactly the same cover I had growing up, and it occured to me about a page into it that this was turning into more of a blog entry than a wishlist description. Aheh. So.
You know, I smiled the first time I read author Robin McKinley's bio; she writes that she remembers her childhood through what books she read where (she was a Navy brat, and got moved around a great deal). And I know exactly what she means... in every memory I have of myself when I was younger (except for pictures, when they generally got me to put it down), I had a book in my hand. Certainly I had a much firmer, richer relationship with books than I ever had with my own age group, growing up.
When my sister had her two children, I was still in college and quite determinedly still a child myself (heck, it was my last chance, after all). I didn't have much opportunity to see them when they were small and I've never been a good letter-writer, so I don't think we had too much effect on each other's lives back then. It's a little different now that my own friends have started having babies. I hear stories about their accomplishments, books and toys they seem to like (they're approaching 1, "seem" is the best we're gonna get for a bit, I think), shop for them, and it reminds me of the things I liked when I was little. (As I write this, I stare at a picture on the wall of a much younger me-- probably... 5?-- kneeling in a scattering of leaves under a blazingly yellow-orange maple tree, studying one leaf quite absorbedly. I remember the light blue jacket I'm wearing in the picture; it was my absolute favorite jacket, and I cried when I outgrew it.) Then there's the picture of Dad using the backhoe, putting in water lines for the campground. What you don't see in that picture is me-- I'm either riding in the bucket, or about 20 feet away, playing with my Tonka bulldozer, dump truck, and backhoe in the dirt pile the BIG backhoe created. (I'm helping, you see.) I loved my Tonka toys, darnit... make what you like of that.
Books were a very big portion of "things I liked" (the other was stuffed animals, and I blush to admit I still like those. Poor Dad-- he said I'd outgrow them by college.) I read a *lot,* so it would be pointless for me to try to list *everything* I read when I was younger. I don't even think I could do it, unless I could somehow get my hands on a full inventory of my elementary school library from... let's see... Fall 1976 to Spring 1982. And I say "full" because I remember systematically going through those shelves in 3rd or 4th grade (probably 3rd... 3rd grade was pretty traumatic, and I hid inside a book for as much of it as I could get away with) and reading practically everything on them. (I skipped most of Sports.)
I thought it would be an interesting exercise for me, though, to try to list as many of my *favorite* childhood books as I can remember (meaning, I read it at least five times before jr. high). Perhaps the true test of a classic is that you not only love it as a child, but remember it 25-odd years later as an adult. So, I'll start the list here, but I'll probably add to it (in the body or in comments) over the next several days. as I have time and inclination. (Note that for series, I'll probably just list the series title and author). Soooo... let's see... in order of "as it comes to me":
- Edward Eager, Half Magic and other books in this series
- A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh (I still have this- red cover, yellow Pooh in the middle. It came to college and grad school with me.)
- C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia (read at least 20 times each-- I had the boxed set, and I read the covers off)
- Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire, D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths, Norse Gods and Giants (kinda garish, but the library wound up getting another copy of the Greek Myths because I read it so much)
- E. Nesbit, The Book of Dragons
- Albert Payson Terhune, Lad: A Dog and others of the series (they were Dad's)
- Marguerite Henry, the Misty of Chincoteague books
- Grimm's Fairy Tales
- Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
- South American fairy tales (don't remember the exact title anymore)
- Russian folk tales (ditto)
- a series of picture books of stories from famous operas... I remember a big, viny "F" on the cover of each of them... ::tromps upstairs to get them:: Okay-- Publisher is Gakken, series is "Fantasia Pictorial: Stories from Famous Music," and all the illustrators are Japanese. (William Tell, Peer Gynt, Hansel and Gretel, Peter and the Wolf, Firebird...)
- Dr. Seuss, The Lorax, Green Eggs and Ham, Go Dog Go, One Fish, Two Fish, the... um... one with all the spots, and others (but those were my favorites)
- Esphyr Slobodkina, Caps for Sale
- The Story of Zacchaeus (I can't remember whose adaptation this is, it's a Bible story about a really short tax collector)
- Ruth Stiles Gannett, My Father's Dragon
- Aesop, Fables
- Miriam Young, Miss Suzy
- Munro Leaf, Ferdinand the Bull
- Norman Bridwell, Clifford, the Big Red Dog
- the Serendipity books (Serendipity, Flutterby and, um, one with a bat)
- Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories ("How the Camel Got Its Hump", e.g.), Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, and Jungle Book
- Don Freeman, Corduroy
- Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
- L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables series
- Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prarie series
- Michael Bond, Paddington Bear books
- E. B. White, Charlotte's Web
- T.H. White, Once and Future King
- Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game
- Carol Ryrie Brink, The Pink Motel (even the book was pink)
- Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Danny, Champion of the World and others
- Edith Hamilton, Mythology (seems to me it was an illustrated ed.)
- George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin and others
- Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Crockett Johnson, Harold and the Purple Crayon
- Carolyn Keene, the Nancy Drew original series (my sisters'-- some Hardy Boys in there, too)
- Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
- Joan Aiken, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
- Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond
- E. L. Konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler
- Robert C. O'Brien, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
- Kin Platt, The Mystery of the Witch Who Wouldn't
- Robin McKinkey, The Blue Sword, The Door in the Hedge, Beauty, and eventually everything she's written
- Maxwell Grant, The Shadow novels (Dad's fault, originally)
- Madeleine L'Engle, Wrinkle in Time series and everything else she wrote
- Willo Davis Roberts, The Girl with the Silver Eyes
- James H. Schmitz, the Telzey Amberdon books, and Witches of Karres
- Robert Arthur, The Three Investigators series
- Agatha Christie, any of the Miss Marple or Harley Quinn mysteries (I didn't like Poirot)
- a Giant Quiz Book from... the 50s or 60s, I think? maroon cover
- William Shakespeare, The Tempest
- Thomas Rockwell, How to Eat Friend Worms
- John Christopher, City of Gold and Lead (it scared the bejeebers out of me, but it made an impression)
- Elizabeth Scarborough, Songs from the Seashell Archives series
- Anne McCaffrey, the Harper Hall trilogy
"I cannot live without books." -- Thomas Jefferson
Ah, the memories...
I still have my copy of My Father's Dragon.
And the Narnia books (in the right order, damnit!!).
And Witch of Blackbird Pond.
The Firebird, a collection of Russian folk tales (remind me to show that to you when you're down next - it's a beautiful book. And all the heroines are described as being fat!)
A Little Princess.
The Star Wars trilogy.
Heidi.
Little House on the Prarie.
Caddie Woodlawn.
(Ok, ok, I admit it, I read the Sweet Valley High crap. Up to about book 27 or so before I stopped).
Encyclopedia Brown.
McGurk Mysteries (such as The Nose Knows).
Are you There God? It's me, Margaret.
The Practical Princess and other Liberating Faerie Tales (remind me to show you this, too. It'll take you all of about 15 minutes to read and it's so fun!)
The Wonderful Fashion Doll.
Peter Pan.
Alice in Wonderland.
A Nickel for Alice.
I honestly didn't *know* until late high school that fantasy novels were a genre. I really didn't. It wasn't until my aunt (step-aunt) Anne lent me Pawn of Prophecy and Queen of Sorcery that I knew there was more fantasy novels out there than Lion, Witch and Wardrobe.
I was a sophomore in high school when I first read the Dragonriders of Pern. My mother gave me Dragonlance trilogy for Christmas (in my stocking) and I didn't come out of my room to open the rest of my presents until I was so tear-blinded by Sturm's death that I couldn't read any more that day.
I can't recall the number of times I said to my mother "Just til the end of the chapter, *then* I'll do the dishes." Or stayed up late reading until I fell asleep.
So far, Jess's favorite toys seem to be her books. I hope that lasts. I've been reading Harry Potter to her in bits and drabs (not necessarily in order either, as I don't think she's really listening to the story yet, so it's a few paragraphs here and a few pages there. Gods, reading out loud is SLOW!)
Posted by: KT at August 4, 2004 09:34 AMHeh... When Matt and I were first dating, he found out that I hadn't read the Prydain books. So he read them to me. A chapter or two a night, every night, before bed.
I read him The Phantom Tollbooth.
He read me a lot of Roald Dahl, and some more Lloyd Alexander.
We moved into grownup books. He read me all of the Dark Tower series. (I'd read the first couple of books on my own, years earlier, but he started at the beginning because my memory was sketchy.)
I read to him most of the Black Company series, and Villians By Necessity.
Yeah, it's pretty slow going. But it's also very fun. When you read a book that you know well, you inject your own emphasis, your own take on the characters' and writers' rhythms.
We kept it up for two or three years, before other things interfered and we stopped.
But he still reads The Polar Express to me every Christmas Eve... That's going to be a family tradition that Penny will probably think is hopelessly dorky right up until, oh... shall we say, college?
Posted by: Liz at August 4, 2004 07:51 PM