My Childhood in Stories
pt. 1
When I was a kid I liked to sleep with people, things, and animals in bed. I loved when one of parents would stay with me until I fell asleep. I loved to sleep with every single one of my (very extensive collection of) stuffed animals (NOT dolls). I would let my dog Jenny actually sleep under my covers, sometimes with her head on my pillow, if that's what she wanted. And sometimes I would sleep with books. I surrounded myself with as many books as I could get my hands on, so there was no room for me to turn over or move at all, really, without books falling to the ground. My parents never understood. To be honest, I don't know exactly why I did it either. That's alright. Sometimes it's okay to just chalk things up to being a kid.
Let me just say that this was a very difficult assignment for me. Once I started listing books I wanted to include in the list I couldn't stop! I constantly had to cheat by going from individual books to series of books and in some cases I even had to just include significant authors. My list is by no means a comprehensive list of all the books I read throughout my childhood. In fact today's list only includes a few selections from my over-all, non-comprehensive list. Apparently, when it comes to books, I could go on and on and on.
I have futilely tried to divide my list into different categories in an attempt to organize my post. This will work for today and tomorrow. Beyond that, I don't know.
Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss was a very popular storyteller in my family. Not only were his stories often read to me, but they were some of the first stories I read by myself. There are so many stories I could talk about, so many I love, but there are two that for some reason stand out in my memory.
First: There's a Wocket in My Pocket. There's not much to this book in terms of in-depth, life-changing plot lines and character development. It's just silly, frivolous rhymes and illustrations. It appealed greatly to me as a child, because I was sort of silly and frivolous myself. At one point, I had the entire thing memorized. Be aware: don't buy the "board book". Apparently it's missing some pages!
Second: The Lorax. There are so many things about this book that I adore. It is already a story within a story; if it was read to me it was a story within a story within a story. It has never taken much to amuse me. "I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees!" He was such a charming little guy. And it was difficult to hate the Once-ler completely (difficult, but not impossible), he was making such a cool product ("A Thneed's a fine something that everyone needs!"). The Once-ler who let his greed and ambition consume him so he was blind to what was going on around him and deaf to the Lorax, who was eventually driven away from his home. Only the Once-ler was left to tell the story of what used to be a beautiful and magical place. It's like Avatar, but not in space... or 3D (so many stories to compare to Avatar. Here's three more: Fern Gully, Dances With Wolves, Disney's Pocahantas). But I digress. When I was a kid I was mostly just enchanted by the world that Dr. Seuss created. And I really wanted a Brown Barbaloot all for myself.
How the Sun Was Brought Back to the Sky by Mirra Ginsburg
I love this book. The story and illustrations have stayed with me for more than a decade. The title, however, often eludes me. Which is silly, because it truly is a book about how the sun was brought back to the sky. This was accomplished through the perseverance, dedication, and teamwork of a group little chicks and the animal friends they met on their journey. I especially love the part of the book where all the animals ride the suns rays back to their homes at the end. I could always envision this so clearly in my mind that I just assumed their was picture of this in the book, but as I sit here with the book in my hand, there's no picture of the animals riding the rays. I guess I just imagined it.
My grandmother owned this book. She lived down the street when I was a kid. I read this book all the time when I visited her. It never got old. I don't know if it is out of print, but you can definitely by a used one on Amazon. I am privileged now to own my own copy. I plan to take very good care of it.
Little Dot and Richie Rich
I already mentioned one grandmother, who lived down the street. My other grandma lived two and a half hours away in Kansas. In her basement she had a huge stack of (not-very-well-taken-care-of but certainly-well-loved) comic books. There was Archie, Casper the friendly ghost, and Wendy the good witch. But mostly (in my memory anyway- my brothers probably remember differently) there was Little Dot and Richie Rich. I can't be sure, but this was probably my first experience with comic books and I still read them. I have graduated from the wonderfully child-friendly comics my grandma owned to ones slightly darker, but I still apparently got started early.
Little Dot was my favorite. I loved her various Aunts and Uncles that the encountered in every story and I loved her obsession with dots, somehow it always helped her out of a tight fix. She was such a resourceful little girl.
Stories from the Mouth
This, like the previous entry, is not a book. Technically, this list is My Childhood in Stories, NOT My Childhood in Books. I like to capitalize on loopholes whenever possible.
My dad worked nights, so he wasn't often there to put us kids to bed. But when he was, there was nothing I loved more than for my dad to rub my back and tell me a "story from his mouth" until I fell asleep. This simply means that he wasn't allowed to read the story, he had to make it up. I'm pretty sure sometimes he cheated and told stories like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" or "The Three Little Pigs," but I'm equally as sure that he added his own twists along the way. I could be getting this wrong, but I don't think I allowed my mom to tell me stories from her mouth. She got to read stories to me. Dad had to make things up as he went along. Poor dad. Such pressure!
