Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Children's Books



Growing up in a single-parent home, money was normally tight; however, I never remember feeling that we were missing out on anything. Mama was great at making do. For Christmas, she always bought us at least two new board games ("I could buy a board game for the price of going to the movies," she told me one time, "and we'd get enjoyment for a much longer time.") and, of course, books.

Every year, I'd get books for Christmas--and I loved them. Many of them were the little Wonder Golden Books--a bargain at 99 cents each (and, yes, I know I'm dating myself here.) Then there were the Disney and Peter Pan Read-Along books and records ("SEE the pictures, HEAR the record, READ the book."). As I got older, I graduated to chapter books. So...here are some of the books I remember best growing up.


1. This was my favorite book for years. I could identify with Biff the Bear--no matter which trick he tried, he messed it up. In the end, though, his mishaps led to a HEA for Miss Polly... see romance loving even back then!!









2. Grandpa shares his wonderful magnifying glass and it's amazing what the kids can see!








3. Sam and Bam were early NASA astronauts...I was intrigued by the space program. Watched the first space launch while I was in kindergarten, so this book stuck with me.









4. What was in that tree? A fun read.










5. To this day, I can't think of The Gingerbread Man without hearing the song in my head: "I've run away from a little old woman, I've run away from a little old man..... and a cow! And I can run away from you, I can."





6. I was given the entire set of Anne books--and I fell in love.








7. I don't remember where I got this book, but it's another one I remember fondly. I found a copy in a vintage store a few years ago and bought it.









8. My love for mysteries also started at an early age. Walt Disney put out a series of mysteries starring Annette Funicello from The Mickey Mouse Club, and I loved her convertible!! I think that's why, to this day, I would love to own one.








9. Trixie Beldon, along with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, also fueled my life-long interest in mysteries.








10. This was a sweet book that I remember loving as a kid. It's been years since I've read it...:::marking it down on my To-Be-Re-Read list:::










So...there you have it. Ten books I remember well from my childhood. I was always a voracious reader (things haven't changed much), so there are many others that I've read...but that's for another day.

Looking forward to seeing other memories of books gone by.

9 comments:

  1. I'd never heard of Trixie Beldon until a friend said something about her last year. I don't know how I missed a fab girl mystery solver like her!

    Thanks for visiting my TTT!

    Amanda

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  2. I loved Trixie Beldon! Awesome list!

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  3. Wow, I remember reading Trixie Beldon. These are great choices. I remember reading those Annette books, but I have no idea where I got them from.

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  4. I think I would have LOVED Trixie Beldon (I devoureded Nancy Drew) but for some reason, I'd not heard of them until I was much older. Too bad!

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  5. You know, after reading your post, I went to Amazon and downloaded Freckles. I recently brought Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea so I'm looking forward to reading them this December. I have no excuse for missing this series. Thanks for dropping by my blog post on my Top Ten!

    Your new follower,
    Nancy @ Simple Clockwork
    http://www.nancycudis.com

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  6. I have not read any of these, but I guess that's not strange since I grew up in Norway..:)

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  7. I've only heard of the Anne books, but I've never read anything on this list! Glad you enjoyed them :)

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  8. I haven't- let alone, read- of practically all of them! It's amazing and kind of sad to think that are so many books out there that I'll never read or hear of. The curse of a reader, I guess. To want to read everything, but never having the means to do so.

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  9. I'm really embarrassed to admit that the Anne of Green Gables series is the only one that I am familiar with in your list. :)

    I'm with Alex that it is sad that there are a lot of books that we have not read and will never be able to.

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So... inquiring minds want to know: what do you think?