Oly Reads discussion

Is there a book that really stuck with you from your childhood? Tell us about it!

Pippi Longstockings....not only did I look like her, I was all about doing whatever I wanted!
The One Hundred Hats Of Bartholamew Cubbins, by Dr. Suess. I was a slow reader and this book was one of my first real "reads".
Anything by Dr. Suess really...I loved the pictures.

I love Pippi, too. I always felt an affinity for her. The character I related to the most as a child was Harriet the Spy. She was so refreshingly real to me. I even kept a notebook for a while until I lost interest. Other books I loved: The Doll's House, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, and Little Plum by Rumer Godden (they played into my fantasy that all of my dolls came alive at night while I slept), A Wrinkle in Time and all the rest of that amazing Madeleine L'Engle series, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and everything Judy Blume and Norma Klein.

I love Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards (yes, Julie Andrews!). It is one of those orphan stories, like The Secret Garden set in picturesque England, and it can still make me cry.

Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, a kid picturebook by Alice and Martin Provensen. To this day I still want to live on a farm like that.

Of course there's also Tomie de Paola's Clown of God which has been quickie'd by me here.

For chapter books Blue Willow by Doris Gates has made me long for a Pastoral life that pretty much never existed - especially in the time and location it takes place in.

"Clown of God?" Something about that title is... disturbing. I'm going to have to find it at the library now. I think I read Blue Willow too, but it was such a long time ago that I can't really remember it. Another series of books I really enjoyed from childhood: Captains of the City Streets and the other Cat Club books by Esther Averill. I love the way the social challenges between the "street" cats and the domesticated cats are explored. The illustrations and overall graphic quality of these books are great. Plus, Jenny Linsky the black cat wears a red scarf all the time. How can you lose?