Home on vacation watching a documentary on Netflix Watch It Now. It is Stone Reader, a film about a quest to find an author who only wrote one book that is strikingly forgotten.
I adore documentaries in much the same way I do books. For me, just like books they reveal deeper truths below what we see on the surface every day.
I was so happy to see that the documentary talks about other books as well, including the books that Mark Moskowitz and his friends read during their childhood. It is these books that immediately bring smiles to their faces and get them talking about reading. All pretension falls away and there is just the joy of reading a really good book.
They talk about Dr. Seuss, Harold and the Purple Crayon, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and the Hardy Boy series. It got me thinking about what books define my childhood. Here are the ones that immediately come to mind:
Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (controversial now that I am an adult, but I loved these. I still have my battered first copies that I read and reread again and again, held together by shockingly red tape and yellowing Scotch tape.)
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (I knew this book so well that I stopped reading it front to back and would just dive in wherever I wanted to be at that particular time. Did I want wealth and pampering or did I want dark, cold attic?)
Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (I tried and tried to read other Aiken novels, but never made it through another one. This one I read over and over again, loving the adventure, the danger and gutsy heroines.)
Tell Me a Mitzi by Lore Segal is a book that brings back such memories for me that I actually can smell my childhood and taste it. I finally got my own copy of the new paperback edition because I couldn’t find an old copy in my local libraries.
All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown by Sydney Taylor, is one that I still have my tattered childhood copy of. I won it in second grade for reading the highest number of books (tied with my best friend so that we could both win a book!) My favorite scene is when one of the children looks into the fire and pulls out the glimmering jewel-like coals. I still think of that whenever I gaze into a fire and the coals are bewitching.
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink is still a favorite. Caddie was so spunky and vivacious and her childhood reminded me strongly of the stories I heard about my mother growing up on a farm. I adored both Caddie Woodlawn and Magical Melons.
There are many others that I loved as a child. But these are the ones that I read time and again as a child and sought out as an adult to have surround me. As I look back at the list I just made, I am struck by the strong heroines in all of the books. Not something I was consciously trying to do at all.
That’s my list. What would be on yours?
Waking Brain Cells 
A Little Princess, too, also Burnett’s The Secret Garden.
Little Women (like you, one of those books where I could dive in anywhere).
Nancy Drew mysteries – I think between my year-younger sister and myself, we owned all that had been published at the time.
To Kill a Mockingbird – OK, not a kids’ book, but definitely definitive for 7th and 8th grade for me.
I must have missed something – why are the Little House books controversial now?
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Yes, The Secret Garden! I love that book.
Little House on the Prairie is controversial because of the portrayal of Native Americans. I understand the concerns and issues, but also continue to really love the books because they were such an important part of my childhood.
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I listened to A Little Princess a few years back on CD and was surprised that I honestly seemed to know every word (from re-reading in childhood). [grin]
I also spent a lot of time with From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Daniel Pinkwater’s The Snark-Out Boys and the Avocado of Death.
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What great memories! On my list would be Boxcar Children, the Trixie Belden series, the Lois Lenski Mr. Small books (my dad taught me to read using those books) and early Wonder and Golden Books, especially The Surprise Doll. I recently tracked down a copy on ebay and got one for my sister too because we both liked it so much. I still like children’s books just as much as adult books, and I’m now enjoying getting some of my favorites for my granddaughters.
Terri
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These are great! Several of them are on my childhood list, too. And I’ll have to read the others you mention to my kids. My additions:
Baby Island – I don’t remember the author, but it was a book order from the Weekly Reader.
Chronicles of Narnia series
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Education of Little Tree
I stumbled upon your blog while searching for help on a mystery to me: What is the missing animal in the updated version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Martin and Carle. I blogged about it a couple of days ago. Can you use your mad librarian skillz to find the answer?
Cheers – Julie
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I’ve never read Baby Island. That’s a new title to me.
Ah, Narnia. Sadly I followed my trend of not finishing the entire series, but loving the very first book. So I adored Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, finished the next few, and then gave up.
I’ll see what I can discover about the missing animal. I love a good mystery…
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Wow, a completely different list than mine. Isn’t that fascinating? I only ever read one Boxcar Children, never go into Trixie, but yes, I loved Lenski. I need to read some of hers again, since I haven’t in years and years and years.
And Golden Books. Yes. Loved those.
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Emily,
You are far too cool for me. I never read Pinkwater as a kid, though I wish I had. I was a Mixed-Up Files Fan though.
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I have wonderful memories of sitting for hours reading books either in a tree or on the porch swing as a kid. Some of my favorite books were:
The Little House series, especially The Long Winter. All of the Ramona series of books by Beverly Cleary were read over and over. I also loved The Boxcar Children. Thanks for bringing back good reading memories!
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