When we were little kids, Dad would tell us stories at night. I think he made them up but we loved it. We would all lay in the same bed and he would regale us with the adventures of Reddy the fox, Jimmy the skunk and all sorts of animals in the Animal Club which we got to know through him. He would really get into it and laugh along with us. He had a series of tales of Agnes and Alice who were very poor and of course, they had some adventures too. Later, we asked him to write them down but he never would.
My mother was the assistant librarian in Laurel Springs. She worked every Friday afternoon at the Laurel Springs school cafeteria. All along one side of the room were enclosed book shelves. My sisters Addie, Jeannnette and I would go over after school and help her enter the new books. Of course, we would pick out a couple to read and take home. Books were very important in our house. I think we get our love of reading from our Mom and Dad. When my parents bought the house on Trenton Avenue, my Uncle John had used the attic for his bedroom. He had all kinds of books up there and we would pick out the latest edition of the Hardy Boys, some other mystery/thriller tales. My Dad liked haunted tales and would scare us about the ghost of Mary who lived in the attic. (He continued this with you as well). If my mother asked me to get something for her up there, I would dash up, grab it and run down. LOL!
Do you remember your favorite books when you were a child?
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9 comments:
That must be why Jane had a "Mary" in her attic. :)
I was really into the Bobbsey Twins myself.
I liked them too and after Nancy Drew!
I loved the Pokey Little Puppy and the Peppermint Kitten when I was really little. Grandmom and Grandpop gave me Peppermint Kitten. When I got older I really liked Sideways Stories from Wayside School. I got several nicknames from books I read. Mom called me Pokey, maybe from the book but also because I was pretty pokey and she called me BeBe from a story in Sideways Stories from Wayside School. I think that was the name of the book...
Anyway, I loved to read. I don't read very much now, but I need to make some time for it again...
Awww, your stories are so great, Gran! I didn't know your mom was the Assistant Librarian! I have always secretly wanted to be a librarian. :D Bonnie, my kids LOVE the Pokey Little Puppy! There are SO many wonderful new children's stories. I always find myself in the children's section of the library and in any bookstore I walk into...I loved the Wizard of Oz best although also adored the Bobbsey Twins (sp?) and Nancy Drew. Mom would read me a little bit every night, and I credit my mom for my love of reading; so I guess technically I can credit Great-Grandmom and Grandpop, eh?! :D
I always loved to read, too, and remember reading books at Grandmom and Grandpop's, digging through the many books up in the attic. I also remember Grandpop telling us stories when we were little. Mom used to read to us and we would even memorize poems when we were young and recite them to her. I loved going to the library, which was something we did pretty regularly after church on Sundays when we lived in Germany. I loved having my own library card! I could never just check out ONE book but would get a whole armload and then would end up renewing some of them the next week because I hadn't made it through them yet. The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew were also some of my faves. I then moved on to biographies and history and really liked mythology for awhile. I loved reading to my girls when they were little and taking them to the library from an early age. We'd go to the children's section and pick out books about once a week when they were small. We also always enjoyed the school book fairs. :) Kristinn, I also thought it would be great to be a librarian or own my own book store. When I first moved here, there was a library aide job available and I almost applied for it. :)
Interesting, I thought of being a librarian too. In fact, I thought of volunteering there but would probably get fired for reading instead of sorting/filing. LOL!
I remember Grandpop telling us stories, too. And I loved the books in the attic even though I was scared to death of the attic! My favorite books were dog books of all kinds and then the Laura Ingalls Wilder books (Little House on the Prairie, etc.). I loved Caddie Woodlawn, and around 5th grade I read everything Jack London ever wrote. I can still recite parts of The Call of the Wild! There was nothing better than reading to the kids, and already Aden and Abram have inherited the family love for reading, so I get to read to them. I'd love to read more to Gabe and Sofia!
Oh, I forgot about the Laura Ingalls Wilder books but I loved them, too. I also remember the school librarian in Germany reading us A Wrinkle in Time and I could never wait for the next part. And when I was in 5th grade, we read Helen Keller's biography (or autobio, not sure) and I got to read a lot of it aloud to the class because the teacher thought I was a good reader. :) That's also where I learned the sign language alphabet, which I still remember, and can sign "my name is Jane." LOL
I read A Wrinkle in Time to my sixth graders when I was on a split team a couple of years ago. I had liked it when I was a kid, too, but I was really amazed by all of the religious allusions as an adult. Didn't catch them when I was younger! Right now my 7th grader regular students are reading Nothing but the Truth by Avi- the Pre-AP students are reading Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and GT kids are reading Fahrenheit 451. What fun all of that is! I feel totally schizophrenic after a day of switching back and forth. At home I'm usually keeping up with 2 or three books at a time, and I do the same at school-though I've read my student books so many times, I don't have to do much in the way of preparation anymore!
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