Childhood favorites with my twin

My friend and fellow writer, Kimberley Griffiths Little, suggested we do a twin blog about favorite childhood books. Sounded like a great idea to me! (Be sure to check out Kimberley's favorites.)

Her suggestion was a result of my post about one of my all-time favorite books as a kid, The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink.

I read a lot, but didn't read many of the classics (Roald Dahl and Madeliene L'Engle and such) until I grew up. The only classics I remember reading were Little Women and Black Beauty. A relative gave me Treasure Island for Christmas one year but I only looked at the pictures. (I think that was the same relative who gave me underwear and socks, too.)

A bookmobile came to my neighborhood every two weeks and I crawled along the dirty floor to comb though the children's books on the lower shelves, pulling off whatever caught my eye. (Dogs and horses and mysteries always caught my eye.)

I devoured all of the Trixie Belden books - loved 'em, loved 'em.

I read most of the Nancy Drew books, but didn't love her as much as Trixie.


I actually read Grimm's fairy tales, Aesop's fables, and Uncle Remus.

I also had this great big, beautifully illustrated book called Shirley Temple's Fairy Tales. I loved it so much I took it everywhere with me. When I was about 8, it was in the back seat of my dad's car when a service station guy drove the car to be serviced and had an accident. When I got the book back, it was all banged up and had little shards of glass in it. I was thrilled. I dramatically showed it to all my friends, who were also impressed. (I still have that book - minus the glass.)

I read this book over and over. ??? Not sure why.

I read Babar a lot because it was the only book my grandmother had.

The Bobbsey Twins and Five Little Peppers (that really dates me, huh?)

I also vividly remember loving The Water Babies. Now I have a feeling I adored the illustrations more than the story. In fact, I may not have actually even read the story. But, oh how I loved those illustrations - those adorable little babies swimming around like that!

I read a gazillion comic books. (Does that count?) Casper, Archie, Little LuLu, Nancy and Sluggo, Donald Duck, Baby Huey.

Mad Magazine, of course!

And this may not count, but I found these two books in a junk store once and had a heckuva deja vu. I had these as a very (very) young child and adored them! They actually had words, but mostly I loved the illustrations.



Fun with Decals actually had decals in it, which my mom put on a stool just like in the book.


Now scoot on over to Kimberley's blog and read about her childhood favorites.