saturday night's alright for fighting. er, reading.

Alright, dudes.  I am *so* ready for a break.  We're still caught in the ear-infection vortex, spinning madly, but I refuse to dwell on that (or the brain that I used to trust that is so lurchy and broken for all the reasons I have been overly wordacious about in past posts, so again, no dwelly herey), and instead, I am going to celebrate (cerebrate?  broken brain syndrome is hard to shake, unlike my booty, or a Polaroid picture). 

Celebrate what, you ask?  Ahhhh, that is the magic of broken-brain-ish-ness.  Anything, everything, the world!  The floor!  The quasi-invisible (invincible?) bits of plastic strewn about our home that are affixed with infinitesimal homing devices, the kind that only a child of the age of my son can detect, the kind that I find in his tiny paw as it approaches his tiny maw, and rescue from the abyss in the nick of time.  Stevie Nicks.  I was never that into her.  I like some of the Fleetwood Mac songs, though.  Big fan of "Rhiannon" and "Go Your Own Way."

I shall now settle the loose-association words that are teeming and clamoring in the queue, by giving them the promise of story-time.  And maybe a nice, kid-sized shag-pile rug, and a cookie and some apple juice.  But what should I read?  I have a list, and it is compiled of my favorite books from grade school days.  Ahh, those halcyon days.

The Great Brain series.  I especially loved the one where the Great Brain goes to boarding school and starts a "store," vending contraband candy bars to his buddies, after he has managed to carve a key for the washroom out of a copy he made impressed on a bar of soap.  Heart.

Encyclopedia Brown.  Oh, but I loved me some Encyclopedia Brown.  I couldn't get enough.  I really dug the endings, too, where the bully-kid used to say something like, "let's make like drums and beat it."  Or "let's make like trees and leaf."  Only, I sorta think he used to confuse them, as in, "let's make like babies and leaf."  Ahhh.  Loooved it.

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.  Magic!  Cookies!  Strange, upside-down stairs, weird, magical cures, pirates and buried treasure.  And parents who say really odd things.  Wicked cool.

Ramona Quimby (written, I am shamelessly proud to say, by a fellow Portlander, Beverly Cleary.  Every time I drive by Klickitat, my heart thumps.)  Also, Henry Huggins and his dog, Ribsy, and of course, The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  Fabu.
   

The Diamond in the Window.  I think it was about T.M. -- very taboo subject, in my mother's opinion, because it was one of those buzz topics I think they must have mentioned in her bible-study group, something she should keep an ear out for.  I didn't really care about the transcendental meditation aspect as much as I did the cool, magicky stuff.  Naturally, my mom's desire to keep me from the magicky, ESP-ish stuff just drove me straight into it's cozy bosom.  I never could get enough of the mysterious, magical, telekinesis stories.

The House with a Clock in its Walls.  I loved all the books I could get my hands on by the author of this book, John Bellairs.  I especially dug the illustrations by Edward Gorey.  So dark and eery, but with a slightly funny bent.  Bitchin'.  There were many, many nights of terror and bad dreams and sleeping on my parents' floor, by the foot of their bed, as a result of these stories.  (Needless to say, I had an even harder time with horror films.)

 

Behind the Attic Wall.  I don't remember it very clearly; I just recall loving it and returning to re-read it, library visit after library visit.  I know there was a doll, or something, and some weird, old aunts.  Awesome.

Half Magic.  I love the whole magical series by Edgar whats-his-name.  And I diggg the series he introduced me to through his books, penned by a woman who was a single mom, during a time when single moms weren't getting published all too often.  E. Nesbit.  Totally gnarly.

James and the Giant Peach.  I never did read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, believe it or not, because I was so afraid of the movie that I couldn't bring myself to read the book.  (I had an unholy fear of the girl who turns into a blueberry.  Really.  I would always run from the room, crying, whenever that scene began.  I was such a little panty-waist.)  But I looooooooooved James.  And I felt so close to his insect friends.  *heart throbs softly*

Oh, sigh.  I am afraid that's all I can dredge up for the moment.  Y'know, I so look forward to reading those stories to my kid as he gets older.  It's gonna be great to traipse down those dear, dusty halls with him, to see his eyes widen in excitement at the geography of the imagination -- its sheer enormity is bound to blow him away. 

Can't.  Wait.

What are some of the imaginary places you look forward to unlocking for your kids?

Comments

[Nancy]

Oooh, some excellent stuff in that list.

I actually am looking forward to giving my girls my big collection of horse books (Black Stallion, Misty of Chincoteague) more than anything -- not great literature, but I spent hours poring over those titles as a kid.

I also clearly remember buying Harriet the Spy as a kid. I was a voracious reader and picked it because it was the fattest book in the store, plus I loved the different font that signified her journal entries.

[chichimama]

You hit all of my favorites!!!! What a great list.

[kittenpie]

There's really a Klickitat street?! I know you wrote a whole bunch of other stuff up there, but I loved Ramona so much, I couldn't concentrate after that. Plus, I'm a children's librarian, so I'm all over that other stuff, but really? There's a real Klickitat Street? That's so cool! I must visit some time now.

[Andrea]

I love you.

My parents mostly read the Disney books to us, and then I got into Ramona and Henry and Ribsy myself. Picklejuice was another one, and then I started on Sweet Valley Twins, which morphed into Sweet Valley High as pre-teen. After that, I got sucked into the world of Stephen King and it was nothing but horror until after I went to college. But I cherish those kids books. I was a customer service rep at a book wholesaler in the education department. When I'd run across a teacher's order with a book from my childhood, sometimes I'd rush back into the stacks and read it quickly. I never read James and the Giant Peach, but the thing is that I'm looking forward to reading all those I loved plus a ton more books to my little one as he gets older, including Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and so many more. I've started compiling a list of the books I want to buy for him, which is quickly surpassing my own list (with over $1000 worth of books on it) so I don't know if I'll get to do them all. We'll see, but I'm excited to introduce him to the world of literature. I just hope he's as excited about it as I am.

[lildb]

I'm so psyched (showing my age with that word, but whatever) that you guys are all so into the kid book genre still. I feel kinda geeky about it sometimes.

I get swoony when I think about having a little girl someday to read the Anne series to, if I should be so lucky.

MGM, I often wonder, when reading your daugher Tacy's name, whether you gleaned that from the Betsy-Tacy-Tib books? I mean, I hope that isn't a *thing* for you, people assuming you did so, but I have to ask.

'cause I *hearted* that series of books. (I am slightly mortified to confess to having re-purchased and re-read the entire series, a year or two ago. GEEK.)

[mothergoosemouse]

We've read every Ramona book in existence to Tacy at bedtime, a few pages at a time. Now we're starting the Great Brain. Major favorites.

Apart from books, what I really look forward to doing with my girls are puzzles. Hard puzzles. Puzzles that sit on the kitchen table for days while we work on them. First I must wait until both girls are old enough to refrain from EATING the puzzle pieces and have sufficient patience to help put them together.

[Pattie]

Encyclopedia Brown??? I almost forgot about him! Thanks for making me smile.

[Jennifer Lawson]

You are SO my lost sister.

And the Great Brain...I'd totally forgotten about him!

Personally, I can't wait until Hailey is old enough to start reading Ruth Chew. She's now out of print but I loved her wonderful magic books. I now search ebay looking for any copies that people foolishly don't want anymore. I highly recommend.

[Kristin]

I just purchased Encyclopedia Brown and The Great Brain for my kids... I hope they enjoy them as much as I did (do)!

[Ruth Dynamite]

I remember my mother reading me James and the Giant Peach, and thanks to that book, peaches will be forever huge, sweet, and incredibly succulent. Roald Dahl rules.

[Dawn]

Lets' see, we finished Narnia a few weeks back - all 7. She's had the Harry Potters, the mrs Piggle Wiggle's, Paddington's, pooh, and we on Eragon right now. I think the Hobbit will be next year. We started Secret Garden, but she was Bleh about it, so I'll try again a a later date.

I'm a sci-fi fantasy geek, so she will be too. I can't wait to read her the "Dark is Rising" series...

[mrsfortune]

Oh my. I am so in love with you at this very moment. :-)

Ramona!!! I remember so many details of that book (well, those books). The pink eraser her father gave her on the first day of school. The place they went out to eat. She had hamburgers and got a balloon.

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. All those cures! Where did she come up with them? Member the girl who wouldn't bathe grew radishes on her skin? Oh my.

Behind the Attic Wall. I still have that book. I posted about it a while back. I think I've read it 80 times. Those little people behind the wall!!!

Sorry to write a book in your comments I just had to! What about The Little Princess? I loved any book where the kid was an orphan.

[MelanieinOrygun]

Ha! I also get excited every time I pass Klickitat Street. What's with that? I don't know that Beverly Cleary is still an Oregonian, and I'm also pretty sure she doesn't live on Klickitat Street. Heh. Well, that's where Ramona came from, so maybe that's why.
When my older girl got old enough, I introduced her to the Little House series, and she loved them. Ditto Narnia, ditto Anne of Green Gables. Also Shel Silverstein.
I'm looking forward to the 7-year-old's getting old enough to be introduced to them, as well.

[Her Bad Mother]

I love, love, love (loved) all of those books. But dude? RAMONA QUIMBY WAS MY HOMEGIRL!

Thanks for bringing her back. I'd forgotten.

[motherbumper]

Fungus the Bogeyman and A Wrinkle in Time just to name two. Oh I can't wait. Bump already has more books then toys. Have I already said I CAN'T WAIT!!!!?

What a wonderful post! Thank you for writing and sharing:)

[Suebob]

Holy cats, we read all the same books as kids! The "half magic" etc books - seriously cool. Love me some Gorey. Encyclopedia Brown, couldn't put him down. Great Brain was also a big fave. Ramona, she's my girl.

I also loved the Harriet the Spy books especially, and EL Konigsburg books.

Thanks for your comments on my blog. I especially appreciate the part where you tell me I'm hilarious, since Mr. Stapler always tells me "You're not funny." There is a real reason I moved out of his house. Because I am funny, I am, I am.

[Mommy off the Record]

I just love, love, love this post. I am going to come back to it again so I can copy all of your book recommendations down. I haven't read them all or at least it's been a while for some.

Re. your question, I'm going to have to go with the Chronicles of Narnia series. I have the boxed set in my closet all ready to go as soon as my son is actually old enough to enjoy a story (i.e., he takes more pleasure in listening to me read than in eating the book).

[Susan]

Henry LOVES Encyclopedia Brown, although he's too young really to figure out the solutions to the mysteries and he's baffled by a lot of the very 1950s-ish references (to things like "mumblety peg," which even I am at a loss to explain). But he will ask to read the stories and then say, "When I grow up, I think I will be a detective, like Encyclopedia Brown." It makes my heart melt a little.

I'm waiting for someone in this house to be old enough for Madeline L'Engle, who I adore. My husband, however, is just plowing ahead with The Lord of the Rings, in tiny little four- and six-year-old appropriate slices. And the boys love it. Unfortunately, because I have boys, and I am a girl, a lot of my favorite reading isn't going to fly around here. I've started buying Little House on the Prarie books for one niece and I recently came across a copy of Ellen Tibbits, which will most likely go to another niece, because I doubt my sons will really get the whole trauma of having to wear long underwear to ballet class.

And the blueberry girl always freaked me out, too.

[JGS]

I have had such incredible pleasure reading Dr. Seuss - especially Fox in Socks - to my Okapis. "Who sews Sue's socks? Sue sews Sue's socks!" and "Let's have a little talk about...Tweetle Beetles...A Tweetle Beetle Puddle Paddle Battle." It is only the time in my life where I really hope I screw up because my Okapis laugh so hard when I do. And their laugh is a lovely sound.

Other books I have so enjoyed sharing with them...Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. "Next week I'm going to be in Australia."

Make Way for Ducklings has also been enjoyable though it is much longer than I remember.

Corduroy is a lot sweeter as an adult than I remembered as a kid.

[bubandpie]

Just looking at the cover of Half Magic is enough to bring back that library smell from the old village library I used to visit with my mother when I was a kid. The library moved to a fancy new building a few years ago and the old building is now a candy shop. I often want to stop in to see if there's still a hint of that comfortable, homey, old-booky smell.

I try really hard to discipline myself not to impose expectations on my children, to let them be themselves and not what I want them to be. The one hope I can never quite jettison, though, is that they will be readers. The day I give my daughter Anne of Green Gables is going to be a very big day for me. (I'll give it to my son, too, if he seems interested, but I'm less invested in his appreciation for the novel - alas, I fail to be entirely gender neutral in relation to my children).

I look forward to reading them The Secret World of Og, by Pierre Berton (another Canadian writer). I know my husband will introduce them to all things Dahl at the earliest opportunity. And I really look forward to rediscovering Thornton Burgess. Most of my favourite children's classics I've reread multiple times over the year (and, in many cases, taught in my children's literature courses), but with Burgess's books, all I really remember is how much I loved them.

Lots of good posts lately about children's lit. Thanks for this one.

[Marcie]

I've tried to share some of my childhood book loves with my daughter and it's been hit and miss. She liked Bridge to Teribethia and she didn't like A Wrinkle in Time. Oh well. She has her own tastes and as long as she is reading something.
I also bought her a choose your own adventure book one time and she turned her nose up at it, I loved those books when I was kid. I didn't know whether to be disappointed or proud of her:)