Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Weekly Geeks #3






This week’s theme comes from Samantha, who suggested that one week we all write about our fond memories of childhood books.


You could approach this several ways. I’ll probably list my favorite childhood books with maybe a paragraph about each book: why I loved it, how old I was when I read it, where I got the book, etc. You could also just pick one childhood favorite and review it as you would any other book. Or, if you’re fast, you could make up a meme other weekly geeks might like to use. It’ll be interesting to see how everyone personalizes this theme. Don’t forget to come back and leave a link to the post in your comment once you’ve written your post. No wrap-up post this week; just the one childhood books post.





Ah.....reading memories from Childhood. What a fun topic!! The really funny thing is, I don't have a lot of memories of reading "kids" books. What I mean by that is picture books. This isn't because I didn't love books at an early age because I did. But I was a sick little girl. I spent more time out of Kindergarten than in it. And when I was in the hospital, I had a tutor. So when the other kids were working their way through the Mat and Pat books one at a time, I had already been through the entire series. So, in essence, I skipped reading a lot of picture books. That's not to say I still don't have a couple of favorites. I always loved Dr. Suess. I mean, really who doesn't? Horton was always fun, but my personal favorite was Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Yeah, I know. I was weird right off the bat!! I can remember actually checking this out of the grade school library MANY times! My grandma also had a couple of really awesome Richard Scary books. They were really large hardbacks, and they were filled with fun!



But by 2nd grade I had graduated to reading books that were much harder. That's when I found the "girl sleuth" novels. Nancy Drew, The Bobbsie Twins, and my personal favorite: Trixie Belden. I SO wanted to be a part of the Bob-whites!! One of the gang. Be friends with Trixie and Honey and Jim and Mart. I loved these books. I read everything our little library had. And my grandma used to take me shopping on Saturday mornings. We'd go to the Little Professor Bookstore on the square in Taylorville. I swear, that woman really knew how to feed my book habit!! Then she introduced me to Agatha Christie. I was really young, and they took me forever to read. But by the end of 4th grade, I had read most of her works.

Jr. High brought on all the cheesy teen Romance books. The Sweet Dreams and Wildfire series were awesome! So wholesome, now that I think about it. Times were different in the 80's, that's for sure. But read one, and you've read them all. Boredom set in. And the discovery of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul. Not really what you would call "childhood" books. So I guess I'm at the end of this post!!

16 comments:

Debi said...

Trixie Belden was definitely one of my favorites, too!

Marg said...

I totally wanted to hang out with Trixie and her friends as well!

DesLily said...

I have absolutely no memory of childhood books.. sad I know... but it's cool reading others who do remember!

Tammy said...

Trixie-loved her!! I read those books so many times I practically had them memorized. Thanks for the short walk down memory lane.

Anonymous said...

I loved Trixie too! I only had a couple of the books but I read them over and over again.

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

I forgot all about Richard Scary!!! His books were some of my favorites, especially Loly the Worm. I still remember how Loly's friend the Hippo sat on Loly's little chair, and how Loly had only one shoe ... I LOVED that stuff. Thanks for the memories! Feel free to check out my post if you want. :)

Anonymous said...

that bartholomew book sounds so funny!

and i love the trixie cover. very cool.

Anonymous said...

interesting one...

Melody said...

The Dr. Seuss' book looks good... don't think I have read it. And oh, I love those Sweet Dreams Romances! I really regretted not keeping them before I moved house, and now I couldn't find them anymore! :(

Anonymous said...

I remember reading KON TIKI by Thor Heyerdal. It made me want to build a raft and sail across the Pacific Ocean.

Bookfool said...

I didn't read Oobleck till I had kids of my own, but then we collected Seuss books. I love them all. Well, most of them. That's a pretty fun one. :)

The Bookworm said...

awwww...I loved Dr Suess and have a collection of them for my kids.

http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

maggie moran said...

I loved Where the Wild Things Are! :)

I'm doing the first of 5 contests for the autographed Mudbound books. Go here if you would like to play.

Book Calendar said...

I loved Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss, Theodore Geisel is one of my heros. I remember One Fish Two Fish very well as the Foot Book. Another favorite childhood author was Maurice Sendak, In the Night Kitchen and Where The Wild Things Are. I especially remember In the Night Kitchen. I also have the big Richard Scarry Story A Day book. I remember Bananas Gorilla and Lowly Worm from Richard Scarry.

Susan said...

I loved Trixie Belden! thanks for the cover, it brought back so many memories. I am collecting them again, for my daughter. I so loved Jim, and Honey, and everyone....
oh...and I have used Bartholomew and the Oobleck in charades!!! lol and won....one of my favourite Dr Seuss books, too.
Great post, Stephanie!

Iliana said...

OMG Stephanie I used to go to Little Professor (when we had one in my town) and buy Trixie Belden books too! I loved that series. I liked Nancy Drew too but Trixie was the best. And, yep, I also read way too many of those Sweet Dreams books - I still remember the title of my favorite one - P.S. I Love You. Some tragic teen love story. Ha,ha.