Bookworm

Today I was talking with my boss about her kiddos and how much they love to read.  She asked for some suggestions of books that they might, and that got us started talking about books we read as kids.  I read a LOT growing up.  My mom used to read out loud to us before bed pretty much every night.  She read all kinds of things...Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Berenstein Bears, and everything in between.  I also read a lot on my own.  The worst punishment was mom taking my flashlight away; I would stay up till all hours reading under the covers.  I even remember a couple of times she took the lightbulb out of my lamp so I would go to sleep.

My reading habits once even started a feud between my third grade teacher and the school librarian.  The library books were shelved according to grade level of the books, and my teacher would only let us pick books off the 3rd grade shelves.  Well, at this point I was reading on like a 7th grade level (thanks to my mom) and I had either already read the 3rd grade books, or they were way boring.  The librarian knew me pretty well, and tried to get my teacher to let me pick from the older shelves; he refused to let me.  So the librarian would let me come back after school and check out harder books when my teacher wasn't around.

The books we read as kids are so important; they can either suck you in and make you a life long reader, or not.  SO... this weeks top ten is a list of the most influential books from my childhood. (You can read about my favorite big-kid books here.)

1) The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.  Such a sweet story!

2) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  I totally related to Scout.  It took me a while to get what this story really was about, but it is so good.  This book is what first sparked my interest in social justice and what that meant.

3) The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.  I kind of wished that me and the bros could live in a boxcar in the woods like them.

4) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  I love the imagery in this book.

5) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  Jo is still one of my heroes (or should I say heroines?).  She is so strong, but loving and kind at the same time.

6) The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein...along with all his other poetry.  The Giving Tree in particular struck a chord in my young, burgeoning environmentalist self.

7) The Nancy Drew mysteries by various ghost authors.  Nancy was another one of my heroines.  I always wanted to be as smart and brave as she was.

8) The Giver by Lois Lowry.  I think this reading this book (one of the ones I took with out permission from the 6th grade shelf) was the first time I realized that authority could be wrong.  And that sometimes it was ok/necessary to stand up against them.

9) Anything and everything by Dr. Seuss.  Confession: I still break open my copy of Sneeches and Other Stories every once in a while...again with the social justice!

10) The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.  I know, I know... cliche.  But these books permeated my childhood and adolescence.  The details and the way everything fits together is so cool; every time I read them I make another connection.  They are just good!