I was reading another blog yesterday that touched on favorite books from childhood. I was what you might call an avid reader when I was a kid. Bombs could explode, tornadoes could strike, my brother could pester me and my focus would be entirely on the book at hand. I remember emerging from the world between two covers and finding the world I lived a suddenly unfamiliar place. Today kids seem to all have Attention Deficit Disorder. I had Attention Surplus Disorder when it came to reading.
I still occasionally reread some of those childhood favorites: Heidi (still have the copy Mom and I read together), Little House on the Prairie (wore those out), the Narnia books. Not only are those books still wonderful, they also carry me back to a childhood that was, frankly, pretty idyllic. It’s nice to remember.
I still waste away with Heidi in the big house in Frankfurt. I still rejoice with Laura when the barrel of provisions come on the train when the family has nothing but potatoes to eat. I still wish for an attic that connects with other worlds where Aslan roams.
Q4U- What books do you still love from your childhood? What do they evoke?
Meet Sarah
I learned to read when I was three. The couple who lived across the hall from my parents were unable to have children; she was a school teacher, I was a teachable toddler. The rest is history; I’ve had a thing for books ever since. I was reading my mother’s novels by the time I was eight, no joke. So there aren’t a lot of children’s books in my remembered childhood because I sort of skipped that phase. I read The Secret Garden, for example, in my late teens…right around the time I discovered Heinrich Böll. (Yes, it’s a crazy paradox.) I was given Edward Eager’s The Well-Wishers for my tenth birthday by a well-meaning family friend and I remember being STUNNED to learn there were novels written specifically for kids (and I loved that book). My favorite book from that time of my life is The Once and Future King by T. H. White.
Three! I knew you were precocious. I learned around four or five as a defense against my dad falling asleep while reading to me. He’d doze off and one day woke up to find me finishing the book on my own.
I really don’t have memories of reading as a child; but, then, I don’t really have very many childhood memories. I remember Heidi and Little Women because they were the first books Aunt Eunice gave me, but I was probably 8 or 9 by then.
Oh yes! Little Women! I still kind of want to be Jo. And that copy of Heidi Aunt Eunice gave you would be the very one on my bookshelf.
I was just thinking of the book Heidi the other day. It mesmerized me. I remember laughing, crying, and flipping page after page to see how it all turned out. What struck me was Heidi’s simple needs–a pillow for grandmother, good cheese and bread, and to live with grandfather. Thanks for sharing this!
Yes! And a bed in the loft made of sweet, fresh hay. I BEGGED to be allowed to sleep in the barn, but my parents wouldn’t go for it.
I don’t know why we wouldn’t let you… I’d go for it now and probably join you. Jill thank you for reminding me about the cheese and bread (and fresh goat milk.) Sarah: I gave red Badge Of Courage to a young girl at church who is an avid reader (and have given her Heidi, Little Women and other classics) because she reminds me so much of you.