Since we began our book club
The Page Turners at work I often find myself involved in many conversations about books. Today we got started talking about books for kids which in turn got us on the topic of favorite books from when we were younger.
It's funny how you completely forget about things from your childhood until you begin talking them with others. We got to talking about the book series
Goosebumps. While I don't remember any of the books and their plots I do remember the joy they brought. I remember being in
elementary school and once a week, the best time of the week, we would get to go to the library. We would begin our library days with Mrs. Titus reading us a book. Then as the book finally closed she would let us go and find our own books! yay! In elementary school we used paint sticks to put in the place where we would pull our book from, being younger we didn't quite have the Dewey decimal system figured out just yet. We would race to the Goosebump section of the library. I was discussing with a co-worker today how awesome the Goosebump book covers were, when you ran your hand over the cover of the book the title was embossed with nothing else but goosebumps. Like I said I don't really remember any of the actual stories but I remember on book cover in particular sticking out in my mind,
The Haunted Mask I even remember a few of the
stories being made into an after school TV show. How millions of children didn't have nightmares on a nightly basis we'll never know... but they got kids to read! Do they even still do that or does the xbox read to them nowadays?
Really thinking about I used to read alot when I was younger. What girl didn't grow up wanting to be Claudia, Kristy, Mary Ann, Stacy, Dawn and Jessi. I know I had all the dolls, and had a Baby sitters club of my own. I have a crap ton of these books stowed away in some rubber totes patiently waiting for the day when I can give them to my kids. There are literally hundreds of books in this series, it's mind boggling that someone would be able to think of that many stories and successfully market the whole brand. There were dolls, movies, baby sitters club packets that really made you want to babysit. The series began in 1986 (awesome year) and ended in 2000. I was unaware that the books had been out of print since then. It's hard to think of children growing up without these books in their lives. Most of my BSC books were accumulated through our monthly book orders from school, man those were the best! I read today that April of this year the books will be re-issued and updated, how exciting!
My all-time favorite books from my childhood however are the books I grew up
hearing.
The Berenstain Bears, The Spooky Old Tree and
Love you Forever. These were the books that I had heard one hundred million times. I could recite these books from memory even before I knew how to read. I love love love these books and I'm pretty sure I have had multiple copies because the originals had been worn out. The Spooky Old Tree is still a good fun read, definitely check it out. Love you Forever however is complete tear jerker, it is such a sweet story and so cute that it literally makes me tear up every time I read it. If you ever have someone who is expecting this should be the first book on
your list for a gift. I also need to squeeze in the
Hungry Hungry Caterpillar which was also a staple in my library. There are so many books I could go on and on.
I feel like I can't have this topic without mentioning
A Light in the Attic,
Where the Sidewalk Ends, and
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. Which were huge staples in my book reading young life. I don't even know how many times those books were fought over in the library..quietly of course. The poems, stories, and illustrations in these books are timeless. I also cannot end without mentioning the wonderful Dr. Suess books as well, but those should be a given. The lessons in his books are still pertinent today and I'm pretty sure
Oh, the Places You'll Go! was used in a valedictorian speech at my graduation. But I think my favorite Dr. Suess book, besides The places you'll go is
The Sneetches when you're
little you don't see the political messages you just love the silly rhymes and love to read along. Dr. Suess sure knew what he was doing and those lessons still need to be learned today.
I'm glad that books are still around and that I still read them. I hadn't really been for awhile but our book club at work has really gotten me back into reading and Jane is my inspiration, still have a long long way to go to read as many books as she does, but maybe one day! So in closing I'd like to thank my elementary school librarian Mrs. Titus for helping us youngins find some really good books and getting us interested in reading and making it fun!
Book Club is the highlight of the month. After all the blah you know you have something to look forward to coming up. Book club goes like this... the hostess of the month picks the book and the place we go, we have dinner then discuss. Our book club is a small manageable number with a nice spread of ages and life experiences so everyone brings something different to the table.
