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[CCBC-Net] Favorite Books
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From: Patti Sinclair <trishsinclair>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 18:07:00 -0700 (PDT)
Sometimes I think I am still making up for the fact that I missed out on so many children's classics as a child. Like Susan Daugherty, I vividly recall being read and then reading on my own, The Poky Little Puppy and adoring it. I remember being read or told lots of nursery rhymes and folktales -- The Old Woman in the Vinegar Bottle stands out--when I was very young and I remember my father making up stories at bedtime. In elementary school I recall reading Nancy Drew, The Boxcar Children, Girl in Buckskin (anyone remember that?) and anything that had been checked out by two smart girls (Carol Jedda and Gay Gustavasen) a year ahead of me in school (this was back in the days of signing out cards). And as a student at a Catholic elementary school with just a shelf of saints' biographies on the back wall, I do remember being quite taken with those martyrs and hermits and for a short while thought I might dedicate myself to God.
But three things stand out from later childhood and early adulthood: a friend of my parent's giving me collection of Grimms Fairy Tales and another of Andersen's Fairy Tales and in college, a boyfriend giving me a copy of Winnie-the-Pooh ,and my college roommate lending me her copy of Palmer Brown's The Silver Nutmeg. The fairy tales made a huge impression on me and I read them over and over. The fact that this really cute college boy would give me a children's book for my birthday--one that I had not read, or hardly knew about--just bowled me over. The Silver Nutmeg's whimsy just piqued my interest in children's literature. I went on to become a children's librarian, and although I no longer work as one, I continue to read, savor, devour, adore, and recommend children's books. I think the fact that people gave or recommended the books to me was as significant as the books themselves. There's something about someone you like, trust, respect saying "I think you'll
like this" or "This was one of my favorite books" is very powerful.
Patti Sinclair
Madison, WI
Received on Wed 31 May 2006 08:07:00 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 18:07:00 -0700 (PDT)
Sometimes I think I am still making up for the fact that I missed out on so many children's classics as a child. Like Susan Daugherty, I vividly recall being read and then reading on my own, The Poky Little Puppy and adoring it. I remember being read or told lots of nursery rhymes and folktales -- The Old Woman in the Vinegar Bottle stands out--when I was very young and I remember my father making up stories at bedtime. In elementary school I recall reading Nancy Drew, The Boxcar Children, Girl in Buckskin (anyone remember that?) and anything that had been checked out by two smart girls (Carol Jedda and Gay Gustavasen) a year ahead of me in school (this was back in the days of signing out cards). And as a student at a Catholic elementary school with just a shelf of saints' biographies on the back wall, I do remember being quite taken with those martyrs and hermits and for a short while thought I might dedicate myself to God.
But three things stand out from later childhood and early adulthood: a friend of my parent's giving me collection of Grimms Fairy Tales and another of Andersen's Fairy Tales and in college, a boyfriend giving me a copy of Winnie-the-Pooh ,and my college roommate lending me her copy of Palmer Brown's The Silver Nutmeg. The fairy tales made a huge impression on me and I read them over and over. The fact that this really cute college boy would give me a children's book for my birthday--one that I had not read, or hardly knew about--just bowled me over. The Silver Nutmeg's whimsy just piqued my interest in children's literature. I went on to become a children's librarian, and although I no longer work as one, I continue to read, savor, devour, adore, and recommend children's books. I think the fact that people gave or recommended the books to me was as significant as the books themselves. There's something about someone you like, trust, respect saying "I think you'll
like this" or "This was one of my favorite books" is very powerful.
Patti Sinclair
Madison, WI
Received on Wed 31 May 2006 08:07:00 PM CDT
