I recently read a Twitter post in which Neil Gaimen (the Newbery award-wining author of The Graveyard Book, Coraline, and the graphic novel Sandman Series) mentioned he likes to reread The Chronicles of Narnia when he has the flu, all the way through The Last Battle. I too like to reread this childhood favorite when I’m ill. Other books I reread every now and then, just because. Charlotte’s Web and Harriet the Spy fall into this category. And then there are picture books I revisit, because of their art, or what they bring back to me emotionally. One Morning in Maine, Katy and the Big Snow, The Story About Ping…These books are physical and visual entities, as well as good stories, that were important to me decades ago when I was an early reader.
What are the childhood books you return to again and again, and why?
– Alison Ernst, Library Director
My personal favorites are the Princess Bride and The Outlaw of Torn…not exactly kids books, but my favorite books.
My stepmother used to read “The Story of Ping” to me when I was a little girl. I always got scared when Ping was the last on the boat because he got a spanking with the switch!
She also read to me “James and the Giant Peach”. She gave me her copy when my daughter, Madeleine, was small. Unfortunately, Madeleine didn’t cherish it as I did. The paper cover over the hard cover book got torn and I gave it to a company in Easthampton, Praxis, to refurbish. [I happened to find them through a man who came to speak to my class at Smith who creates the most imaginitive, fantastic book covers you ever saw! (I'd send you his name, but Google won't load. If you're interested, let me know and I'll find him for you. Daniel...something!) Smith had a display of his work in the main library. ] I just got the call from Praxis that “James” is ready (I’ve been waiting over a year!) and I can’t wait to get this first-edition back into my arms and my home. I will try again to read it to Madeleine now that she’s a little older. There’s still hope I’ll make a fan of her yet!
My stepfather used to read “Eloise at Christmastime” every holiday season. He got a kick out of how she skibbled about the Plaza, “Charge it, and thank you very much” and Skipperdee and all. As a child I thought her rather repugnant with all her shenanigans, but now I’m quite delighted. I bought the anthology at the book store at the Eric Carle Museum.
And, though I didn’t care much for it when I was young, I have the “Madeline” series for my daughter. She (and now I) love the twelve little girls in two straight lines. We also have video cartoons of the books that we have watched ad nauseum, as children do.
Madeleine was fascinated with Dr. Seuss’ “Fox in Sox” that came in a box of Cheerios, I beleive. Or was it a doctor’s visit? Somehow I came up with the idea to read Fox in the accent of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the other character in the voice of President Clinton; both of whom were in power at the time. It added a bit of extra fun for me, though the implication was well above Madeleine’s wee head at the time. She also heartily enjoyed “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”, but I always preferred “Hop on Pop”. “No, Pat! No! Don’t sit on that!”
Then of course, the original “Winnie-the-Pooh” stories and poems. “Now We Are Six”, garnered a particular favorite,”Sneezles”:
Christopher Robin
Had wheezles
And sneezles,
They bundled him
Into
His bed.
They gave him what goes
With a cold in the nose,
And some more for a cold
In the head.
They wondered
If wheezles
Could turn
Into measles,
If sneezles
Would turn
Into mumps;
They examined hs chest
For a rash,
And the rest,
Of his body for swellings and lumps.
They sent for some doctors
In sneezles
And wheezles
To tell them what ought
To be done.
All sorts and conditions
Of famous physicians
Came hurrying round
At a run.
They all made a note
Of the state of his throat,
They asked if he suffered from thirst;
They asked if the sneezles
Came after the wheezles,
Or if the first sneezle
Came first.
They said, “If you teazle
A sneezle
Or wheezle,
A measle
May easily grow.
But humour or pleazle
The wheezle
Or sneezle,
The measle
Will certainly go.”
They expounded the reazles
For sneezles
And wheezles,
The manner of measles
When new.
They said “If he freezles
In draughts and in breezles,
Then PHTHEEZLES
May even ensue.”
Christopher Robin
Got up in the morning,
The sneezles had vanished away.
And the look in his eye
Seemed to say to the sky,
“Now, how to amuse them today?”
And all of Beatrix Potter’s dear little stories…Mrs. Tiggywinkle I find most intriguing! And I loved all my1960s Little Golden Books…
I keep meaning to read “Mary Poppins”…Maybe I’ll get lucky and get the Sneezles so I can!
Thanks for asking — what a fun question!
Madeline.
“Twelve little girls in two straight lines.
In two straight lines in rain or shine.”
The illustrations terrified me, probably planting the seed for my love/hate relationship with scary movies.
Oh, where to begin?
Eight Cousins – Louisa May Alcott (really, any Alcott book, but this is my favorite and most read)
The Secret Garden – Francis Hodgson Burnett
The Melendy books by Elizabeth Enright – I have read these over and over even as an adult.
The Little House – which my children loved as much as I did.
Anything illustrated by Tasha Tudor, but particularly the Corgiville Fair. “West of New Hampshire and east of Vermont lies the town of Corgiville……..”
and, like Penny, all the poetry of AA Milne, particularly
Hoppity, Halfway up the stairs, and Rice Pudding, and…and..
I love Ping and Harriet. Both are characters from the days when children were thought to have resources, were resilient, allowed indpendence and to suffer consequences. I re-read Harriet the Spy a few years ago and found a whole new lesson in it.