I'm not sure why, but summer seems to be the most nostalgic season. Perhaps because I wasn't in school, where the routine days just meld into one another and only bad memories tend to stick out. Summers for me meant haying season and a lot of work, but they also meant visiting cousins and of course, my birthday. As a child, aren't birthdays just the most important day? Well, that certianly changes as we age, but some things don't. I still love getting books for presents, although nowadays, more often as not, they come in the form of a giftcard so I can pick my own. ( Better yet, I say.) But I still own most of the books I got as a child. Here's a sampling, do you recognize any?
8 comments:
Oh yes, Stephanie, I definitely remember many of these (of course I'm older than you)--MARY POPPINS, PIPPI LONGSTOCKING, FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD...
And I loved the OZ series, especially the big, hardcover books with the original illustrations: THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ, TICK-TOCK OF OZ...Yes, summer was always the time for reading.
And Happy Birthday, Stephanie! When exactly is the date?
I have several of those big Oz books, they were my fave to get at the library and I still collect those and Five Little Pepper books. ( I just watched "Tin Man", very cool take on Oz.) August 6 is the date, which I'm repressing this year...
I enjoyed rereading many of these books you've shown to my daughter when she was younger. One book that I did not read as a child, but became acquainted with as a parent, is Pippi Longstocking. I have to confess that it does not appeal to me, nor did it to my husband or daughter. Pippi just seemed rude. Are we all just stiff fuddyduddies in my family? Loved Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.
I suspect many share the pleasure of summer reading. Recently on Facebook, I received an onslaught of responses to my request for recommendations for a good "summer read."
My son's middle name is Joel because of The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. And I think I read all but maybe three of those books. Oh, A Wind in the Door...I read that many times. Thanks for the nostalgia! Right now, I am re-reading The Phantom Tollbooth. Remember that one?
For some reason, I didn't read The Phantom Tollbooth when I was young, but my daughter loved it.Pippi was one of my faves, although yes, she was very rude! But that's what made her so loveable to children, I think.
My favorite book, hands down, is Beautiful Joe. Others off the top of my head are Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, and one called Peggy's Wish about a foster child hoping to be adopted by the family she's staying with for the summer. Oh, and Ann of Green Gables. All of them had impact, for different reasons.
Count me among the fuddyduddies who didn't like PIPI. I, too, read it as an adult, and though I still love children's books, this one had no appeal. And it ended so abruptly, I thought the last page of the book had been torn out! I much preferred another Astrid Lindgren book, RONIA, THE ROBBER'S DAUGHTER.
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