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[CCBC-Net] Favorite books
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From: angelica carpenter <angelica>
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 11:23:06 -0700
Dear all,
Can a book be life-changing if you read it at age 7? In second grade I got in trouble for reading Ozma of Oz during class, even though I had finished my assignment. My mother went to school and told Miss Spitzer to let me read Oz. That is my first memory of an Oz book, but as the third-generation Oz fan in my family, maybe I was already headed for an Ozzy, bookish life. As president of the International Wizard of Oz Club, I am still involved in Oz, every day. Luckily my job accomodates this interest.
My other favorites were The Secret Garden, the Little House Books, the Betsy-Tacy series, and books my great-aunt read to me, from her childhood: The Little Lame Prince, Down the Snow Stairs, the Hollow Tree stories, Dotty Dimple, the Little Colonel, and many more. She read to me until I was 14 and I loved it.
Now when I need some comfort reading I go back to the older Betsy-Tacy books and to another series that belonged to my great-aunt: the Patty books by Carolyn Wells. This is one of the sappiest, girliest series ever written--I wonder if anyone else has read them or still reads them. When I moved to Fresno, I reread Betsy-Tacy and Patty. When I came back from a sabbatical, I read them again. When I was sick this winter, I read them again. I've probably read them each book 20 times or more and I'm rereading Patty now for an article comparing the Patty books to the Aunt Jane's Nieces series by L. Frank Baum (writing as Edith Van Dyne). I can recite parts of Betsy's Wedding by heart. Her wanting to become a writer, and her belief in her own ability, did influence me: I remembered Betsy's self-confidence that she could write as I began writing biographies in my 40s.
So I don't know if your life can change at age 7, but wonderful books recommended by loving family members (not librarians--they were intimidating women who had rules to keep me from doing anything I wanted to do) certainly shaped mine and continue to do so, as I write biographies of Victorian authors. I have very much enjoyed this topic.
Ozzy best wishes,
Angelica Carpenter, Curator Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature California State University, Fresno
Received on Tue 30 May 2006 01:23:06 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 11:23:06 -0700
Dear all,
Can a book be life-changing if you read it at age 7? In second grade I got in trouble for reading Ozma of Oz during class, even though I had finished my assignment. My mother went to school and told Miss Spitzer to let me read Oz. That is my first memory of an Oz book, but as the third-generation Oz fan in my family, maybe I was already headed for an Ozzy, bookish life. As president of the International Wizard of Oz Club, I am still involved in Oz, every day. Luckily my job accomodates this interest.
My other favorites were The Secret Garden, the Little House Books, the Betsy-Tacy series, and books my great-aunt read to me, from her childhood: The Little Lame Prince, Down the Snow Stairs, the Hollow Tree stories, Dotty Dimple, the Little Colonel, and many more. She read to me until I was 14 and I loved it.
Now when I need some comfort reading I go back to the older Betsy-Tacy books and to another series that belonged to my great-aunt: the Patty books by Carolyn Wells. This is one of the sappiest, girliest series ever written--I wonder if anyone else has read them or still reads them. When I moved to Fresno, I reread Betsy-Tacy and Patty. When I came back from a sabbatical, I read them again. When I was sick this winter, I read them again. I've probably read them each book 20 times or more and I'm rereading Patty now for an article comparing the Patty books to the Aunt Jane's Nieces series by L. Frank Baum (writing as Edith Van Dyne). I can recite parts of Betsy's Wedding by heart. Her wanting to become a writer, and her belief in her own ability, did influence me: I remembered Betsy's self-confidence that she could write as I began writing biographies in my 40s.
So I don't know if your life can change at age 7, but wonderful books recommended by loving family members (not librarians--they were intimidating women who had rules to keep me from doing anything I wanted to do) certainly shaped mine and continue to do so, as I write biographies of Victorian authors. I have very much enjoyed this topic.
Ozzy best wishes,
Angelica Carpenter, Curator Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature California State University, Fresno
Received on Tue 30 May 2006 01:23:06 PM CDT
