Ten Favorite Childhood Books
Someone tagged me on Facebook, with instructions to list ten favorite books I read as a child. I'm having a problem here--several actually. One, I have a poor memory for details. Two, I'm beginning to wonder if I had a book-deprived childhood. I do know that when I had young children I often envied their reading opportunities, and realized that their homeschool experience far surpassed my public school experience in this access-to-and-time-for-reading department. As is often the case, I can't quite comply with the listing format that works best for others, but I'm willing to approximate the list of ten.
When I was in first or second grade our teacher read Pilgrim's Progress during story hour. I thought it was a wonderful story.
Our home did not have many story books, and we never visited the public library when I was growing up. We did have a church library, and we had a school library, of course. I read so many books from both libraries that I sometimes thought there were no interesting-looking ones left. From the church library I read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Among my favorites from the school library were Thornton W. Burgess books, and a few Jim Kjelgaard books. Those were animal stories, and I loved them. I also read a number of Lois Lenski books. The only title I recall now was Texas Tomboy. In a similar vein was Caddie Woodlawn, another story of a tomboyish girl. I loved both stories, and identified with the main character.
What we had at home instead of individual story books were sets of books. We also had a collection of old magazines from Christian publishers. My mother had sewed them together in books, and we read them over and over. Youth Companion is the one I remember best.
We also had one very large volume of children's literature, a textbook from a class my dad took in college. It was called Story and Verse for Children, and had poems and stories from the best children's authors.
In the category of sets of volumes, we had Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, Childcraft (the old red-covered ones), and World Book Encyclopedia. I browsed the Encyclopedia often, and read and re-read the Bedtime stories and Childcraft books, especially the volumes with stories and poems.
So there you have it--my custom-formatted list of ten books. Here it is, in summary:
Jim Kjelgaard books
Thornton W. Burgess books
Laura Ingalls Wilder books
Lois Lenski books (Texas Tomboy)
Pilgrim's Progress
Caddie Woodlawn
Story and Verse for Children
Childcraft Series
Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories Series
World Book Encyclopedia
My list looks like the kind of child I was, and hints at the kind of adult I became. I'll let you put that together any way that seems right to you.
When I was in first or second grade our teacher read Pilgrim's Progress during story hour. I thought it was a wonderful story.
Our home did not have many story books, and we never visited the public library when I was growing up. We did have a church library, and we had a school library, of course. I read so many books from both libraries that I sometimes thought there were no interesting-looking ones left. From the church library I read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Among my favorites from the school library were Thornton W. Burgess books, and a few Jim Kjelgaard books. Those were animal stories, and I loved them. I also read a number of Lois Lenski books. The only title I recall now was Texas Tomboy. In a similar vein was Caddie Woodlawn, another story of a tomboyish girl. I loved both stories, and identified with the main character.
What we had at home instead of individual story books were sets of books. We also had a collection of old magazines from Christian publishers. My mother had sewed them together in books, and we read them over and over. Youth Companion is the one I remember best.
We also had one very large volume of children's literature, a textbook from a class my dad took in college. It was called Story and Verse for Children, and had poems and stories from the best children's authors.
In the category of sets of volumes, we had Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, Childcraft (the old red-covered ones), and World Book Encyclopedia. I browsed the Encyclopedia often, and read and re-read the Bedtime stories and Childcraft books, especially the volumes with stories and poems.
So there you have it--my custom-formatted list of ten books. Here it is, in summary:
Jim Kjelgaard books
Thornton W. Burgess books
Laura Ingalls Wilder books
Lois Lenski books (Texas Tomboy)
Pilgrim's Progress
Caddie Woodlawn
Story and Verse for Children
Childcraft Series
Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories Series
World Book Encyclopedia
My list looks like the kind of child I was, and hints at the kind of adult I became. I'll let you put that together any way that seems right to you.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
5:59 PM
2 Comments:
I have the privilege of having Story and Verse for Children on my bookcase. I remember reading that so often as a child. Also, the big brown book called Quests and Conquests. I don't know how I was so lucky to get them both.
By
Unknown, at 9/16/2014
Dorcas, I wondered what happened to that book. And I had forgotten all about the Quests and Conquests book. I should have added that to the list.
By
Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige), at 9/16/2014
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