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[CCBC-Net] Books that changed my life
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From: Susan Daugherty <susaninaruba>
Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 10:25:07 -0700 (PDT)
Like several other people who have written, I don't feel that any one book I read changed my life. I've read so many and have loved huge numbers of kids' books since I was little. And I am amazed at the similarity of choices among women of a certain age.
My mother, a librarian later on, marveled at my listening to the whole Poky little puppy at the age of about 1, which was a very long book, for a toddler. I found that out when I tried reading it to my daughters, and I realized it wasn't exactly great lit. Maybe they had better taste than I did!
Many of my favorites didn't stand up to rereading as an adult, I found, when I became a librarian and wanted to recommend titles to children. Worst written books I loved were The Boxcar children, Big Red, Nancy Drew. It didn't matter at the time though. They enthralled me along with all the horse and dog books in the library by Terhune, Farley, etc. My friends and I even wrote to Walter Farley, the only letter I ever wrote to an author.
In fourth grade in our classroom library I discovered some books about little girls in a loving family on the prairie. I told the teacher that I had realized belatedly that there was an order to the series. She was thrilled that I had made that discovery, and later in the year the class sent a birthday card to Laura Ingalls Wilder, who was in her eighties, I believe, and didn't live much longer. She wrote back. My mother gave me the new edition of the LIW books with the Garth Williams illustrations, which I treasure. I also loved the Helen Sewell illustrations, which I could never discard from any of the libraries in which I have worked. Some children would undoubtedly like to compare those editions like I did.
The other favorite series I have to second is the Lovelace Betsy-Tacy series. I still recommend those to second grade girls and hope they will one day go on to read about Betsy as she progresses through high school and out into the "Great World." There is a huge fan club for those books and comparisons of the books and the author's life have been written about, fascinatingly, for people like me.
Wait a second. Maybe those were life-changing, after all, as I write to you from Aruba, with plans to move to London in August. I'm not an author, like Betsy, but I'm the next best thing, a children's librarian and one who has found a way to do her job while exploring the "Great World."
Susan Daugherty
International School of Aruba
Soon to be at TASIS-England
--------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2?/min or less.
Received on Mon 29 May 2006 12:25:07 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 10:25:07 -0700 (PDT)
Like several other people who have written, I don't feel that any one book I read changed my life. I've read so many and have loved huge numbers of kids' books since I was little. And I am amazed at the similarity of choices among women of a certain age.
My mother, a librarian later on, marveled at my listening to the whole Poky little puppy at the age of about 1, which was a very long book, for a toddler. I found that out when I tried reading it to my daughters, and I realized it wasn't exactly great lit. Maybe they had better taste than I did!
Many of my favorites didn't stand up to rereading as an adult, I found, when I became a librarian and wanted to recommend titles to children. Worst written books I loved were The Boxcar children, Big Red, Nancy Drew. It didn't matter at the time though. They enthralled me along with all the horse and dog books in the library by Terhune, Farley, etc. My friends and I even wrote to Walter Farley, the only letter I ever wrote to an author.
In fourth grade in our classroom library I discovered some books about little girls in a loving family on the prairie. I told the teacher that I had realized belatedly that there was an order to the series. She was thrilled that I had made that discovery, and later in the year the class sent a birthday card to Laura Ingalls Wilder, who was in her eighties, I believe, and didn't live much longer. She wrote back. My mother gave me the new edition of the LIW books with the Garth Williams illustrations, which I treasure. I also loved the Helen Sewell illustrations, which I could never discard from any of the libraries in which I have worked. Some children would undoubtedly like to compare those editions like I did.
The other favorite series I have to second is the Lovelace Betsy-Tacy series. I still recommend those to second grade girls and hope they will one day go on to read about Betsy as she progresses through high school and out into the "Great World." There is a huge fan club for those books and comparisons of the books and the author's life have been written about, fascinatingly, for people like me.
Wait a second. Maybe those were life-changing, after all, as I write to you from Aruba, with plans to move to London in August. I'm not an author, like Betsy, but I'm the next best thing, a children's librarian and one who has found a way to do her job while exploring the "Great World."
Susan Daugherty
International School of Aruba
Soon to be at TASIS-England
--------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2?/min or less.
Received on Mon 29 May 2006 12:25:07 PM CDT
