By Karen Weido
One of the things I am so thankful to my family for is my love of reading. I can remember being a very young child and my mom spending time reading to me. Once I learned to read on my own, I lived with my nose in a book at all times.
I’m also thankful that my kids have developed a love for reading. Both of my children beg for a story each night a bedtime, and both have quite a book collection on their shelves. We have discovered some amazing books during the few years I have been a parent, but my favorite books to read with them are the ones that I loved as a kid. And I look forward to the day my kids are old enough for even more of my favorite books from back in my day.
Probably the first book I ever fell in love with was “Goodnight Moon”. I can remember my mom reading this book to me over and over again while I searched for the mouse on each page. We have this book in all sizes at my house and it is a favorite for my kids as well.
As I got a little older, I loved “I’ll Teach My Dog 100 Words” (although the name of this book has apparently changed). My mom loves to tell the story of me reading this book to her and she thought I was so smart because I could read. Turns out I just had the book memorized!
One of the first chapter books I ever read was “Ralph and the Motorcycle”. There are three books in this series and I have actually started reading them with my daughter. She loves them just as much as I did. As I got a little older, I turned to Beverly Clary’s “Ramona” books. I thought these books were so funny and I could read them so quickly.
What elementary girl back in the day did not love “The Babysitters Club”, or the “Sweet Valley” series?? Is there really anything else that needs to be said?
I also remember my mom having all the Shel Silverstein books on the shelves of our home. I loved reading them all and found the poems to be hilarious. I think I even took one of his books to Show and Tell one day in elementary school.
So there you have it – my favorite books from “back in my day”. What were some of your favorite books growing up?
Karen lives in South Arkansas with her husband and two kids. When she’s not working, chasing kids, or playing on Twitter, she blogs about her family’s life on Ting’s Mom Blog. She also reads books for all ages and reviews them on her book site,Ting’s Mom Books.
I loved all of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books!
I think I read every one of those books! Loved to read them and children’s literature is still my favorite! Great post!
I’ve some of those books to my children and grandchildren! My mother read to us a lot and we then read lots on our own later. Winnie the Pooh and Uncle Wiggly were high on the list when we were small. I still have Uncle Wiggly and The Wizard of Oz she read to us.
I enjoyed the Ramona books, too. I had the whole set of Little House on the Prairie and loved reading them.
Mary Anne was my favorite! 🙂 I spent a lot of time with Frog and Toad, Paddington Bear, and Harriet the Spy. It’s so fun to watch Nathan graduate to the chapter book age – I find myself wanting to read his books more than my own! Great post, Karen!
My family went to the library every week and brought a giant stack of books home with us! Apparently when I was very young I even made my mom and sister read the copyright page, because I could tell there were words on it and didn’t want to miss anything! 😉
I read TONS of Babysitters Club, Trixie Belden, Boxcar Children and then the whole Anne of Green Gables and Wizard of Oz series. Childrens books are the best. I have boxes in the guest bedroom I saved for when we have kids one day. 🙂