What was your favorite book as a child?

Victor's Favorite Childhood Book

I’ve mentioned before that I belong to a book club that exclusively reads children’s books. I’ve belonged to that group for eight years and they existed several years before I joined. It’s a serious group, we actually read and discuss the books and our conversations often lead us back into the books to support our answers. I think its success results from a number of factors:

1.     We all love children’s literature.

2.     Each meeting is followed by a meal and we each contribute something to that meal (wine (which we open before we eat, salad, main course, dessert, bread).

3.     We meet every month except during the summers. If you can’t make it, you are still responsible for your part of the meal (although in an emergency we cover for each other).

4.     While we all love children’s literature, we come from different fields—an author, a librarian, classroom teacher, and university faculty.

There’s an entire ritual and routine to the group and when a member leaves it’s usually because of a move. We’ve read a lot of books over the years and how a book gets chosen is for another post. Let’s just say it can become quite complicated and sometimes I get to a point where I have to read a “boy’s” book, fantasy, or non-fiction. I can only take so much contemporary realistic fiction which seems to be a favorite genre of this group.

For the past few months, we’ve decided to read each other’s favorite books from when we were kids. We’ve read Judy Blume’s Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, E. B. White’s Stuart Little, the Box Car Children, and a Nancy Drew (I think it was The Secret of the Bell). This week we are reading two Newbery winners, Strawberry Girl and King of the Wind.

Next month, it’s my turn to suggest a title. I’m having a hard time deciding between Little House on the Prairie or Island of the Blue Dolphins or Gordon Korman’s This Can’t be Happening at McDonald Hall. Do I want to cry or not?

Which makes me think—do we like to read the same stuff that we read as children? Or are there things that we admire about books. I’ve already pointed out the connection for me between food and books—I will always remember a scene in one of the Little House on the Prairie books where she talks about eating cookies or cake and the lemonade being so sweet but not sweet enough. And, I remember the use of music in books—such as the Sibelius Symphony Number 2 playing from an overturned car. When I pick up a book on my own now, it’s more than likely a memoir, one with rich scenes of food, food preparation, art, or travel. I don’t know where I picked up my habit of reading self-help. It must be because I still desire to be Nancy Drew, that perfect teenager who was absolutely great and confident at anything and everything. Yipes, this is a little too self-analyisish for me.

What does your favorite childhood book say about you? 

Victor's Comment:

My early reading experiences were comic book and the funny pages.  The first “real book” I remember reader was a novel called Star Ka’at. I was 8 or 9 years old and I remember my father giving me a copy because his girlfriend at the time (my parents are divorced) owned cats who were models for the book’s illustrations.  To be honest, I don’t remember much about the book … not the plot … not the characters.  I didn’t even remember the author was the well-known Andre Norton until I just looked up the book on Amazon a few minutes ago.  What I do remember is that the novel set me on a reading path which took me into the genres of science fiction and fantasy.  So … the story?  I guess it was good. Who remembers?  But its influence was profound as it guided my reading for decades.