What Is Your Most Memorable Childhood Book and Why?
I did an activity with participants in a workshop in Henrico County the other day—the Title I schools in the district are purchasing our IDR libraries and our focus has been on the importance of independent reading in classrooms. Of course, I shared some of Dick Allington’s research on students and independent reading and we discussed conferring with young readers. But, as a teambuilder at the beginning of the workshop, I asked the participants, “What is your most memorable book and why?” The responses were intriguing…
Some of the books the participants describe are by a specific well-known author--- for example, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen. Some love the Little Golden Books series like The Poky Little Puppy, The Saggy Baggy Elephant, or Margaret Wise Brown’sThe Friendly Book. Some participants have loved other series, like the Nancy Drew books. Others even loved their history textbooks (all of which have now been discarded!). My personal “memorable books” are a biography I read about Annie Oakley called Annie Get Your Gun and Pippi Longstocking.
Our books are memorable for many reasons—we love the time we spend with the adult who read them to us or we loved the feeling of being sucked into the vortex of a series and having multiple opportunities to read books about the same subject matter. We often love the illustrations we find in texts or use the stories to help feed our imaginary play. Whatever the reason, the trade books we read as children help shape our view of the world. Sadly, not enough of the memorable books were texts we read in school; rather, they were books the participants enjoyed at home. I hope that will be different for the generation of children in our schools now!
What about you? What is your most memorable book and why?
Isabel McLean is a Senior Staff Developer at Developmental Studies Center.
P.S. You may be interested in this article at Choice Literacy, which also talks about the excitement of discovering books as a child.
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I was enthralled by Cloudy
I was enthralled by Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barnett. I still have a 1st edition copy from 1978 that I've kept with me for over 30 years. I loved that the story was so far-fetched and bizarre.
I loved The Tales of Peter
I loved The Tales of Peter Rabbit. I have a picture of my mama reading it to me when I was about five years old - probably for the 100th time - as we sat in a big, comfortable chair in the living room. I think I just loved the characters' names: Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail. And I'm sure I identified with Peter's adventures! I look at the book today and the literacy person in me appreciate that the illustrations are soothing and supportive. And I still love camomile tea!
I would say hands down my
I would say hands down my most memorable books (from early childhood and later teenage years) were The Land of Nod by Roberta Louis Stevenson and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, respectively. I think the two things I most loved about the Stevenson book were the illustrations and the fanciful poetry. That book really took me to another place and time in my imagination.
As for The Fountainhead, I remember being really intrigued by the ideals of intellectual perfection and purity that Rand wrote about.
My most memorable book series, come to think of it, had to be the Bobbsey Twins mystery series. Those were great! I think those books really fueled my love of mysteries and crime fiction.
Roberta! I am impressed---I
Roberta! I am impressed---I tried several times to read The Fountainhead and never could get past the first few pages...I remember the poem Wynken, Blynken and Nod from my childhood (the three fisher men in the little wooden shoe/boat). I found and read Stevenson's The Land of Nod. Here it is for anyone else who is interested:
From Breakfast on through all the day At home among my friends I stay, But every night I go abroad Afar into the land of Nod. All by myself I have to go, With none to tell me what to do-- All alone beside the streams And up the mountain-sides of dreams. The strangest things are there for me, Both things to eat and things to see, And many frightening sights abroad Till morning in the land of Nod. Try as I like to find the way, I never can get back by day, Nor can remember plain and clear The curious music that I hear.I probably read Charlie and
I probably read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory more times than I can count. I was of course drawn into all the chocolate and candy imagery, but I was so intrigued by the depression-era characterization of Charlie's family. The idea of all those grandparents sleeping in the same bed killed me. And I still remember my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Carter, reading the book aloud to the whole class.
Susan--Do you remember Violet
Susan--Do you remember Violet blowing up into a blueberry? That image is forever burned into my brain (probably more from the movie thought than the book). Frightening!
Oh, of course! And it has one
Oh, of course! And it has one of my favorite lines, though I don't remember if it is from the book or the (original) movie: "Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!"
I was re-reminded of my love
I was re-reminded of my love for the book Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina as I watched and listened to my mom read it to my sister's children. I was instantly transported back to my childhood, sitting in my mom's bed on Saturday morning, cuddling under the covers, as she read each page giving life to every word with her intonation. Now when I read that same book to my daughter, I pass on that warm memory from my childhood.
Had to be TIkki Tikki Tembo.
Had to be TIkki Tikki Tembo. My second grade teacher read it and I was bound and determined to be able to pronounce that name. Great motivation to read over and over again!
I remember Bridge to
I remember Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. It was the first book I read on my own that made me cry! I shared it with my class each year.
I was a lucky kid whose
I was a lucky kid whose parents read aloud to me every night at bedtime. Of course, my brother and I would ask for our favorites over and over again, while my mom would try to mix up the selection for her own sanity, I think.
My mom reminds me that as a kid I loved Outside Over There, one of Maurice Sendak's lesser-known titles. I don't remember much except I think that the kidnapped baby was replaced with one made of ice and my mom thought the whole thing was much too creepy for children!
Another favorite that my mom objected to was a Richard Scarry dictionary. I thought it was funny (and I always loved searching for the hidden pickles in Scarry illustrations), but according to mom, a dictionary was not an appropriate bedtime read-aloud.
The book I remember most from
The book I remember most from my my childhood is Millicent the Monster by Mary Lystad. I think I remember it well because it was the first book I read (or maybe the second-- my mom says she thinks I memorized a scratch-and-sniff Christmas book, so it's unclear if I was reading it or not). Also, I think I was intrigued my the name "Millicent."
The story is about a little girl who gets so bored that she decides to become a monster and terrorize her parents and friends. The illustrations were pretty creepy a la Chas. Addams and Millicent gets oddly aggressive, threatening to turn everyone purple and such. When no one wants to talk to her anymore because she's so monstrous, she gets bored with that, too, and decides to be nice again.
We had a book of fairy-tales
We had a book of fairy-tales and frightening stories (the Brothers Grimm really were grim) that my sisters and I loved to terrify each other with. One particularly horrifying story was that of an innkeeper who "fit" unsuspecting travelers into their beds. Anyone too short for the bed would get a stretch on the rack, and anyone too tall would get his legs lopped off. My older sister especially loved to retell this story just after the lights went out and we pulled up the blankets. Of course, she'd scare herself as much as she scared me and neither of us would sleep. But the next day, we'd race back to the book to find another delightfully creepy tale of terror. I wonder if that's why nothing much scares me now?
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