STACKED

books

Our childhood favorites

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Written by: Kelly on November 12, 2010.

Do you have a book from your childhood you remember the most — the one you maybe read over and over again for years or the one that left an impression on you that still sticks? We’ve shared some of our all-time favorites before, but we thought this week, we’d take a walk down memory lane for the singular most memorable books for us.

As I thought about the books I read as a kid, I remembered some of the horrifically formulaic series books I devoured (we’re talking Babysitters Club and Babysitters Little Sister and yes, I am still gloating about being able to leave school early in 2nd grade to meet Ann M. Martin at Anderson’s bookshop back in the day where she signed a book for me and I got a photo!). There was also a series about gymnasts I believe was just called The Gymnasts full of the angst and tension only imaginable in a gym of athletic girls working on the latest beam routine.

Beyond that, I remember reading a lot of classics, from the time I could. I was the kid that read Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew in 7th grade (and understood, thanks to Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You). In 12th grade, I had a teacher ask me to give him book recommendations because I read more than he did.

I also had my comfort reads. I specifically recall clutching tight to my 1980s Guinness Book of World Records and reading the mind numbingly long list of facts and figures whenever relegated to the basement because of tornadoes.

But the one book I remember most vividly is one that is the most simple and one that is, sadly, out of print.

That book?

Suky the Kitten by Sue Camm. The book was published by Brimax in England, 1985. This 12-page board book follows one kitten through an adventurous day. As you can see in my copy, it was well read, the binding worn down substantially, and there may indeed be a few teeth marks. Suky was delicious indeed.

A couple other page views for those piqued:
Suky, as you can see, is a terrible (yet all together realistic) cat who loves chewing on flowers. Would you believe that’s the happy ending, too?

A cat with a mission.
This book was part of a four book series, including Roly the Puppy, Tilly the Duckling, and Fluff the Rabbit. I’m a little sad it’s not in print any longer, but I am glad I still have this little gem in my possession.

My childhood was filled with Sweet Valley Twins and Babysitters Club, The Fabulous Five and The Boxcar Children—I loved series fiction, and devoured them in hours, waiting for the next monthly installment. I remember begging my dad to bring me to the bookstore for the next adventure of the Wakefield Twins–just before Hurricane Bob was supposed to hit Massachusetts. I needed my reading material to weather the storm, after all!

Rounding out these were the less frilly books that I still savor to this day: Sydney Taylor’s All of a Kind Family, Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes series, and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden (which I remember getting three copies of for one birthday–everyone must have known my interests!).

But above all others shone Anne of Green Gables, my kindred spirit. I admired Anne’s wounded pride, her spunky spirit, the way her imagination and heart lit up the world around her. I wanted my own Lake of Shining Waters, yearned for a tormentor every bit as charming as Gilbert Blythe (who I would fall in love with all over again when I watched the movies), and sobbed when her beloved Matthew died. Anne of Green Gables, along with the rest of the series, will always be my comfort book, the book I turn to as a friend. I even read some of Anne of Avonlea before bed the night before my wedding! Anne is the friend I wanted to have, the person I wanted to be, and the girl I think we all have a little bit of inside of us.

After all, “Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive–it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?”

The books I remember best from childhood are always the ones most closely tied to good memories unrelated to the story: a wonderful place where I read the book, an event that happened while I read it, a song I listened to while reading, etc.  Books for me are a little like certain music or smells for other people – they bring to mind a whole slew of memories that may have nothing to do with the story, but everything to do with the circumstances surrounding my reading of the story.  For that reason, I’m always careful to read books I feel I’ll really enjoy in comfortable surroundings – I don’t want my memory of the wonderful book to bring up other unpleasant memories of terrible music or illness or something along those lines.
When Kelly, Jen, and I began discussing the idea for this post, it was really a no-brainer for me.  Like most avid readers, I learned to read before entering school, and I honed my skills at home once I had learned.  One of my most vivid and treasured memories of my childhood is reading to my dad while he did the dishes (a near-nightly occurrence), and the books I best remember reading are the Oz books, beginning with L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
When I began reading these books out loud to my dad, they were a challenge.  As I worked my way through all fourteen of Baum’s books and started on Ruth Plumly Thompson and Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Rachel Cosgrove Payes, I grew older and the books grew easier for me to read.  The Oz books launched my love affair with fantasy (an affair that I don’t ever see ending).  And there were so many of them, and so many good ones!  
I loved how imaginative they all were, with interesting creatures like Tik Tok the robot and the Patchwork girl and Polychrome the daughter of the rainbow.  I loved reading about the dangerous hazards like the Deadly Desert which turned everyone who touched it into sand. I loved reading about the friendships between the main characters (not to mention the magic!) who all lived at the Emerald City, and I wanted to join them.  The world of Oz (and its surrounding environs) was so detailed, and each author added something new while also working within the framework Baum had created.
For the most part, reading is a solitary endeavor, but not in this case.  The act of reading aloud to my dad created a bond between us that still exists in my adulthood.  When I was about 10 years old, my dad and I wrote our own Oz book, one of the few longer-length works of fiction I’ve actually finished.  My younger sister illustrated it.  For years and years I was a member of the International Wizard of Oz Club (I still occasionally get mailers from them).  My dad and I always talked about going to one of the conventions (Munchkin, Winkie, Quadling, or Gillikin) but never made it – with my adult knowledge of Comic Conventions I wonder what that would have been like!  To this day, Oz is something my dad and I share: each year for Christmas he gets me an Oz trinket or ornament.
While the books are amazing on their own, particularly Baum’s, I wouldn’t love them quite so much if they didn’t help forge this special connection with my father.  For that reason, the Oz books are the books that made the strongest impression upon me and will always remain among my most treasured reads.

Comments

  1. I always get so excited when I come across a fellow Oz fan! I've loved them since I was a kid, as well. And like Kim was a member of the International Wizard of Oz club at one point in time.

    BTW I also love the Anne series, and wanted/want to visit P.E.I. someday if I get the chance.

  2. I was definitely a Baby-Sitters Club girl. I met Ann M. Martin twice in my life which seems insane to me as a person going on 30. Another childhood favorite, a standalone and still a book I really love to read, is Matilda. Also, Where the Red Fern Grows. My first sappy dog book. I still read them and cry.

  3. I remember reading picture books like a fiend at a very early age, and the one that sticks out is "The Monster at the End of This Book, Starring Lovable Old Grover." But the book that really opened up the magic of imagination for me was "The Wind in the Willows." I remember thinking how cool it was that a Toad lived in a mansion called Toad Hall, and I could actually see it in my head. Also, Oz rules.