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When I was growing up, I led an exciting life.
I was a lonely orphan with curly red hair that was always in the depths of despair.
I had an little accident involving my magic crystals and a peach tree.
I lived on the prairie and the grasshoppers ate our wheat crops.
I shared a red Fiat with my twin sister and wore a kicky gold lavalier while eating at the Dairi Burger.
And my adventures? Well, they were made possible by the local public library.
Every other Saturday, my mother would load us up, my sisters and I, and drive off to the library. Our family home was on a farm out in the country and making the thirty minute drive into town was one way my mother tried to bring flavor to our small town lives. I mean, we lived so far out in the sticks we couldn't even get a satellite dish, we had FOUR television channels. We would take turns looking up books in the card catalogs (it was the 80's people) and running down the aisles to find them on the shelves. We were allowed to check out as many books as we could carry. I remember the clerks at the library making a fuss over us one by one and taking the time to stamp our due dates into the front cover of each book.
Now that I have children, I take them to the library. They each have "library bags" that they decorated and they love to fill them with books of their choosing.
My only hope is they grow up and remember, like I do, their first taste of adventure, the ones brought to them by the pages of a book.
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Wanna win $100 Visa gift card? You know you do. It's simple, leave me a comment and tell me what was your favorite book to read growing up, your reading flavor. That's it. A winner will be chosen May 31.
And be sure to check out BlogHer's official rules and stop by the round-up page for your chance to win $500! There are 9 other bloggers also giving away $100!
****The winner was Adriane. Congrats, dude.****
And be sure to check out BlogHer's official rules and stop by the round-up page for your chance to win $500! There are 9 other bloggers also giving away $100!
****The winner was Adriane. Congrats, dude.****
152 comments:
My favorite books as a kid were the Boxcar Children series.:)
Jenny B
jennyhasquads at yahoodotcom
"A Wrinkle in Time." It inspires me to this day!
Three Musketeers :)
ann.altima at gmail dot com
I didn't really like to read when I was a kid (now I devour books!) but I did love Betsy, Tacy and Tibb!
Hmmm...that was a long time ago. LOL I always loved Pippy Longstocking books. I was very much into "funny" and still am. I also loved the V.C. Andrews series (Flowers in the Attic, Petals in the Wind, etc.) and Stephen King.
The Giver. And Judy Blume, of course!
I loved the Disney books and Hank the Cowdog books.
LOVED/LOVE reading! Hank the Cowdog, Babysitter's Club, Boxcar Children...anything and everything.
I love this. Hoching products.
Ok my favorite books growing up were THE BABYSITTERS CLUB. I mean boy crazy stacy? Does it get any better than that? I would read that shit now if I could. I think I can.
http://ellievseleanore.blogspot.com/
As a red head myself, (ahem: we ROCK!) I was in love with L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. She was cute and sassy and imaginative and I still want to be just like her. And live on Prince Edward Island. And have a husband with beautiful brown locks named Gilbert Blythe. Think my husband will change his name?
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I loved all his books of poems, but that was my favorite.
tuneyouxout(at)aol(dot)com
The most favorite book I have ever read is Christy by Catherine Marshall and of course the Laura Ingles Wilder collection.
One Monster After Another. I think it's out of print now, but I still have my original copy.
I found my friend's big sisters copy of "The Outsiders" three years before I was supposed to read it in school. It was the first book to make me cry and I still love it to this day.
My favorite was "A tree grows in Brooklyn".
My favorite was The Man Who Loved Clowns
I loved ANYTHING Babysitter's Club. I was certainly going to start a club in FL. I kind of wish I still had those books. - Kristen B
My FAVORITE book as a child was "No Flying In The House." I have no idea who wrote it but it was about a little girl who had a tiny dog that flew. I loved it!
shutterboo at gmail dot com
I loved the Baby sitter's club books and the little house on the prarie books...my mom bought me the entire boxed set, it was a prized possession. I just love to read anything...anytime!
My mom also trucked me into town once a week during the summer to load up on library books! I still remember the quality of the light coming thru the wall of glass blocks and the way the wooden floors creaked, and the pine/old paper smell in the upper stacks. 'heaven'
I remember and enjoyed the Boxcar Children series and secretly wished to live like that (sorta) but my absolute favorite, defining book that set the tone of my reading for the rest of my life was Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising".
I'm pretty sure I'm going to show my age, but I adored the Little House books. I swore that I was going to be Laura Ingalls when I grew up!
Now, I go a bit darker in subject matter but still love great fiction!
As a kid, I loved anything James Herriot; in fact, I still have my original hardcover copies of all his books. I worked my way up from there pretty quickly, but I still remember those fondly.
Mr. Popper's Penguins & PEOPLE. I was fascinated by the differences found in each person and each culture.
I read a lot and it's hard to pick just one but if I had to choose it would be The Giver by Lois Lowry. I read most of her other books as well but The Giver was definitely my favorite!
My favorite book as a kid was Corduroy. I picked it every night as a bedtime story and even though I'm in my thirties, I still remember.
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews. If you haven't read it, you should. It's seriously awesome.
Wait, I can only choose one???
Umm... Where the Red Fern Grows. That's when I learned that a book could make you cry and cry and cry. (In that cathartic good way of course.) Or Summer of the Monkeys. Or Over Sea, Under Stone; cause history is way cooler when you travel back in time. Also, A Wrinkle in Time. Although I was fed a pretty steady diet of The Babysiters Club which filled me full of wild ambition to babysit every child in a 50 mile radius. Of course I wouldn't have been readinbg those books if I hadn't cut my teeth (literally) on pretty much anything by Eric Carle. And Maurice Sendak, because Where the Wild Things Are, I was. Of course, where would any of us be without Ramona Quimby, Fudge, and Harriet the Spy - or even (Are you there God? It's me) Margaret. Roald Dahl gave my imagination steroids and technicolor. Dicey Tillerman helped me to see that just because you're young - or female - doesn't mean you can't have responsibilities and adventures.
Wait, I have to choose just one? Well... then Harry Potter. It may be cliche, but I want to read them, and read them and keep reading them forever.
Thanks for this trip down memory lane. I think I'll go visit the library again!
Wow - you had a real library? We had to meet in a parking lot for the bookmobile to show up like every fourth Thursday from 1-3pm.
As a child, I remember sneak-reading parts of my my mom's books, like The Happy Hooker.
The Ramona Quimby books!!! (Jesus, Beezus!)
Shel Silverstein- without a doubt.
LOVE your blog. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
I loved Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt.
urchiken at gmail dot com
Not very original, but I loved The Giving Tree.
I loved books by Judy Blume. They made me feel so mature and grown up.
I love this - and I love that you take your children to the library. This made me well up - it's either PMS or I was truly touched. I think it's the second option.
My favorite book growing up was Corduroy. I read that story about that bear a million times and I even had a teddy bear, in overalls made of red corduroy who lost his button. It makes me all happy just thinking about it.
Growing up? ANY Babysitter's Club book I could get my hands on. I was obsessed. :)
We had a bookmobile come to Granny's (my grandmother) country store about once a month. I got to go inside and pick out all the books I wanted them to leave until the next visit. I can still smell the inside of the bookmobile.
They still don't have cable TV there.
I loved all things Laura Ingalls Wilder and have passed that love onto my 10-year old daughter. I also loved the Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew. Anybody remember those?
Hope S.
"Are You There God? It's Me Margaret" pretty much changed my life. Other than that, I still dig Shel Silverstein.
Omigosh, it's so difficult to choose one! How about anything to do with Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Narnia, Famous Five, Naughtiest Girl in School, and Trixie Belden? For a start?! :)
Oh wow. Where do I start? They are books that I am THRILLED to now be sharing with my children:
the All-of-a-Kind-Family series by Sydney Taylor
the original Boxcar Children books
anything by Laura Ingalls Wilder
But most especially, a book that has been out of print for as long as I've had it (mine was a castoff from the library, they weren't even going to put it in their used book sale, they were going to throw it away and my aunt saved it for me)...The Pink Maple House by Christine Noble Govan. I get to introduce my 7 y/o daughter to this book, probably this summer. I cannot WAIT! :)
I loved Nancy Drew. I had the whole hard back collection. I named my first dog Trixie.
I loved the mandi series, it was a christian youth book series, about adventure and mysteries....loved it!
Goodnight Moon was my favorite kid's book
blogged:
http://bluegirl1423.blogspot.com/2010/05/win-100.html
My absolute favorite books growing up were the Anne of Green Gables series. My name is Anne (with an E!) and I'm redheaded...so I can completely identify with her. :)
Great post! :)
I couldn't get enough of Nancy Drew. And I'm a redhead, too!
I LOVED the Nancy Drew series. One year for my birthday my godparents got me the first four books--yellow binding with the original illustrations on front--and I DEVOURED them. I read every single one. Such fond memories!
I cannot remember reading much growing up except Highlights for Children, cover to cover the day it arrived. My life has been and has never left the fast track.
My favorite books as a child were adventure stories.
i loved the books my sister read...sweet valley, babysitters club, and i always loved a good choose your own adventure :)
I'm not sure if I was supposed to leave my email in my blathering response above (05/04/10 6:26pm), or if you can just click my name. anyways, it's hagan dot jm at gmail dot com.
and i second the boxcar children, tuck everlasting, corduroy and anne. And pretty much everything else in print. I'm loving this topic of conversation!!
My fav book to read growing up was the Flowers In The Attic series. I love suspenseful, mystery-type books.
My favorite book when I was young was Black Beauty. I guess thats where my compassion of animals came from. It wasn't the first book I read, but it was one of the first I recall rereading. I also was very fond of the Velveteen Rabbit- altho rereading that I 'got' that one more in my 30s than as a child!
baypayments@yahoo.com
My favorite books were Pippi Longstocking--my reading flavor was adventure!
junkforcarmen at gmail dot com
My favorite books growing up were R.L. Stine books. I LOVE the Twilight series though :P
I loved "Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade".
mami2jcn at gmail dot com
My favorite books were the any and all the Nancy Drew Mysteries... "Mystery of the Spiral Staircase" and my favorite flavor for my coffee is CHOCOLATE!! Yum!
Judy Blume!
bacurrie@acsc.net
I always had my nose in a book... but hands down, when I was a girl - Nancy Drew Mystery books. The McCullums lived across the street from me, and their mom had purchased the ENTIRE series of books over time. Every last one of them!!! I was in heaven, she allowed me one book at a time, just as soon as I finished that one book (which was usually within a day or two) I was back for more.
Also the Little House on the Prairie series, Little Women - oh my I'm smiling now just thinking about it!
Oh, when I was a kid, summers we'd do the "reading around the world" at our local library, we'd collect stickers and prizes for each book we read. It was great.
livelaughlovecj (at) g mail (dot) com
Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. Then they went and made it into a crappy movie. I was ticked.
I was a major fan of the Baby Sitters Club, but I rarely got them at the library, cause it was my goal to own EVERY BSC book ever written.
This drove my Mom crazy since I went through a book in about 1.5 days!
I loved the Baby Sitters Club as Kristen above said and I also loved the Goosebumps books...
Just one? My favorite was A Wrinkle in Time. But, I loved Sweet Valley High as I got a little older. Jessica and Elizabeth were always into trouble!
Island of the Blue Dolphins. Oh, the wonder!
The Mouse and The Motorcycle
I was a Nancy Drew fanatic. To this day I still love books that solve mysteries. Always been my thing.
Judy Blume, Boxcar Children, Roald Dahl, Charlotte's Web...
I loved The Secret Garden as a kid, and still think of it when I tend to my tiny little patch of dirt as an adult.
I see Roald Dahl in your pile of books...I just started reading his autobiography and wrote a mini review about it: www.emuf.blogspot.com.
babysitters club!
brady.nicole.m@gmail.com
Sweet Valley & American Girls books. Love love love.
I practically devoured the library's old Nancy Drew books - It wasn't just the intriguing mysteries that NEVER got predictable ;) or Nancy's PG relationship with her beau/co-investigator Ned Nickerson, but also the tattered old hardcovers and the indescribable old-book-smell that drew (haha) me to them again and again.
And I agree with Emily (3:03pm) - the Secret Garden was the sh*t!!
Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House On The Prairie. I SO wanted to be her!
I read a LOT when I was younger. Nancy Drew...Babysitter's Club...and it wasn't long before I was borrowing from my mom's Stephen King collection!
My favorite series of books was Little House on the Prairie. Then later in high school I really got into Stephen King books.
amycastellano74(at)hotmail(dot)com
Yeah for books, libraries, and mothers who take their children to them! Oh, AND to redheads, gingers though they may be to some. My favorite books, as a redhead, growing up in India, were the Enid Blyton books, most especially "The Adventures of Mr. Pinkwhistle".
Anne of Green Gables
loved the Nancy Drew series!
James and the Giant Peach will forever be my favorite book!!!!
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, it was so awesome that it was one of the first books I bought my son...then I realized it's not really a book for a 6 month old.
I loved Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs & Ham!! Actually, I still love it. I love it here or there, I love it everywhere, LOL!
Thanks for the giveaway!
email in blogger profile.
I WAS going to say that my favorite book was Understood Betsy... but I don't remember anything about it so it couldn't have been THAT good. So the next thing I can think of is Baby Island. Somehow some teenage girls got stuck on an island with twin babies. One of the babies got pinched by a crab, so that's how they could tell them apart - by which one recognized a crab. For some reason, I found that incredibly fascinating. But later on when I was volunteering at the school library, the librarian told me that that was one of HER favorite books, too!
When I was little I loved the Babar books. Then the Bobbsey Twins. Then gothic novels. And now anything. But it definitely started with Babar.
My favorite book growing up was always The Very Hungry Caterpillar
oldnavyash@aol.com
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I used to read that book over and over.
The old "Nancy Drew" series (the same ones my mom grew up on not the cheesy new ones they came out w/ in the 80's) The Babysitters Club series anything by Judy Blume and "To Kill a Mockingbird" were my favs growing up. We too were out in the sticks in a small town but lived close enough to ride our bikes to our tiny local library. We'd make trips out there at least 2x a week during the summer Then my sister and mom and I would bike home and read and read and read. Then my mom would start shouting and swearing that my father would be home soon and we had to quickly get the house picked up and dinner cooked. I still love reading today.
Hmmm, that is a tough one! I would say probably the Little House on the Prairie series, or any of Roald Dahl's books, especially The BFG. And I was also waaaay into these Betsy-Tacy books that were written in, like, 1945 and had all sorts of dated views on women's place in the world (kitchen, having babies) that gave my mom hives, but I loved them :)
My favorite book--I cried and cried--was E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. Has anybody NOT cried when Charlotte dies?
Love this giveaway (from a fellow reader). Thanks!
I loved the "Little House on the Prairie" books.
psmomreviews@gmail.com
"The Amazing Vacation" By By Dan Wickenden. I read it, my little sister read it, and my daughters read it. This book is ultimate. It still is a good read today, but only if you are sipping scalding hot coffee flavored with coffee mate.
I adored reading Anne of Green Gables - I couldn't get enough of that entire series and read them over and over again!
winnieayala at yahoo dot com
Freddy the Pig books, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Charlotte's Web and Uncle Tom's Cabin. I also loved a series for young readers that were biographies of famous people like Daniel Boone, Harriet Tubman, et al. We were stationed for a time on an Army base in Germany and I lived for the weekly bookmobile visits.
The Chronicles of Narnia made my imagination go into 3D.
I was so excited to see someone else said the Boxcar children books - The Boxcar children was my absolute favorite book - thinking back on it makes me smile!!!
katy no pocket and scupper's the sailor dog
I loved the Trixie Belden series!
Lynn
lyh0825@aol.com
I loved ALL books growing up! From Nancy Drew to the Oz books, I read them all. One that really sticks out in my mind after {mumble-mumble} years is "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years" by Rachel Field. An absolutely wonderful book that any little girl would love. :)
When I was younger, I always enjoyed getting the Nancy Drew books from the library.
I probably read A Wrinkle in Time 100 times before I was 18. And I've read it quite a few times since then. Not a big fan of the rest of the series, but that one has always really resonated with me.
Thanks for the great giveaway!
shawna at couponladyonline dot com (transposed characters last time, ugh, clearly I need some more coffee!)
Cinn. Bun and Vanilla nut are great but I LOVE the seasonal Caramel Apple the most!
I am a member of the brew crew team and I add flavor to my life each day with a cup of coffee flavored wet coffee mate hazelnut or French vanilla. While drinking a cup of coffee each day flavored with my favorite coffee mate cream I get a lot of energy to complete my morning exercise using my stationary bike. Depending on my mood I have many flavors to choose between using the coffee made flavored creams.
Judy Blume, cause they were like, sexy kids books. I totally got in trouble for reading Forever.
I liked reading Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby books. Those were such fun kid books!
My fave book when I was a kid was A Dog Called Kitty.
I use to love reading the babysitters club books! I think I read most of them growing up.
shopgurl101 at gmail dot com
I loved the Nancy Drew Mystery books
The black stallion series hands down.
I loved Little Women
amiedanny@msn.com
I have to pick just one??!! lol
I think it was a toss-up between The Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew. I wanted to be them!
i loved the sweet valley high series
Oh, I'm such a book lover. And my kids are already little book worms too. So, my favorite book growing up was the Ramona Quimby series. Loved, loved, loved those books. Can't wait to read them again with my littles in a few years time. Thanks!
jjertl_at_gmail.com
I was a Nancy Drew girl....I had them all and each was read and re-read!
I read like crazy when I was little. I loved the Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan, The Hobbit, anything by Beverly Cleary...and I could go on and on. They all hold a warm spot in my heart- even after all these years!
I loved "Where the Wild Things Are" and had it in hardback if that tells you how old I am! LOL
Angie
one 4 earth at aol dot com
I loved to read anything by Judy Blume.
I really did not have a favorite book when I was a kid but I loved looking and learning about all the pictures in our set of encyclopedias! Yes...I was nerd! LOL
Scott
nynekats at aol dot com
My favorite books were the Berenstain Bears books and the Nancy Drew Mysteries.
Oh my, I read everything I could get my hands on...from Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys , Happy Hollisters..Life Magazine lol
aunteegem@yahoo.com
My favorites were the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary :) So fun!
Sarah
untenuredteacher at yahoo dot com
Wow. My fav book. There were so many but I know I always came back to "The Hobbit" so I'd say that.
My favorite books growing up were without a doubt The Boxcar Children books.
sonie1459@gmail.com
I'm a huge bookworm, and I always lived in books as a child, thats probably why I am a writer today too. As a kid I adored Roald Dahl (so excited to see some of this pieces in your book photo) and I've always loved Shel Silverstein. I always loved Labyrinth the book, too. Pippi Longstocking was another fav, I actually was adamant about changing my name to hers after reading it...mom and dad didn't buy it, surprising huh? ;) Anyway, those are all still books that I adore even now. Thanks for the chance to win!
shevilkenevil1 at aol dot com
I love little house on the prairie and treasure island. those were my reading flavors!
dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume was one of my favorites. Actually I loved all of her books!
runningmatey at hotmail dot com
my favorite books growing up were by Roald Dahl-- i still remember reading The Witches for the 2nd time as an 8 year old and getting scared!
Love, love, love the Enid Blyton books!
I loved R.L. Stine books as a kid. I must have read every book he had by the time I was 12. I loved sci-fi and mystery and it truly was such an adventure. I still have a deep love of reading. Thank you for this giveaway!
My favorite book was A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle. I re-read it every year or so. Thanks for the contest.
I loved the whole series of Laura Ingalls Wilder books!
I actually liked a book called Banner Year about horses . . . I can't believe I remember that!
cookiesandclogs@gmail.com
http://www.cookiesandclogs.com
Deals and reviews from a stay-at-home mother of 1
My fav was the Nancy Drew books. I was and still am a lover of mystery and adventure.
ShawnaMichelle@ymail.com
I loved Trixie Belden books! Don't know if ole Trixie is even still around.
mayacarpenter at verizon dot net
I liked Nancy Drew.
rhoneygtn at yahoo dot com
I loved Anne of Green Gables!
ajolly1456 at gmail dot com
Definitely the Babysitter's Club series, although as a kid, I read everything I could!
Misty of Chincoteague. Loved it!
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell.
Anything (everything) with horses in it.
A sci-fi book called DogStar about a star who came to earth as a dog.
I have loved loved loved to read my whole life.
monstergirlee at gmail dot com
I checked out and read the autobiography of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell so many times that they kept it at the counter for me. And somehow I didn't end up being a doctor. What's that about?
Favorite book was THE HAPPY PRINCE AND OTHER STORIES by Oscar Wilde. I am 52 yrs old and still have the book and have been reading it aloud to my grandchildren. I used to read with a flashlight in bed as a kid after lights out. I still to this day read every night in bed. My fav flavor is sugar free Caramel Vanilla.
granmahunny@yahoo.com
My favorite was The Chronicles of Narnia. My reading flavor is adventure.
charisscharity at yahoo dot com
The single greatest book ever is A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry.
The Little House on the Prairie series. I still read them every once in awhile!
spencer1953 at gmail dot com.
Amaretto for me!
Ok one more time.
My favorite WAS the Ramona Quimby books.
Lori
atwellsmommom@yahoo.com
Little House on the Prairie. And, I am now 37 years old and still read them every winter!!
Thanks for the chance!
Kristi McDaniel
myraggdyann at yahoo dot com
Aw man, I have to choose a favorite? Crap. Well, first one that comes to mind is "A Wrinkle in Time". But I could easily provide a lengthy list!
I loved reading the Baby Sitters Club back in the day, that and the Box Car Children!
My mom once yelled at me for trying to take to many books from the library. The one book that sticks out is "The Outsiders" it was the first book to make me cry
I love reading anything by Piers Anthony! scg00387 at yahoo dot com
Mine was The Secret Garden. I swear I wanted to be sent to the English countryside to live in a big manor house only to discover a fabulous garden that I would bring back to life with the help of my friends.
ANYthing by Roald Dahl. I read them to my students all year long, but the true fave is "Danny the Champion of the World".
k_lilly at yahoo dot com
Okay, I'm not interested in the giveaway, but I did want to say hi. (Plus it is too late.)
The first book that really stands out was "That was Then, This Now."
My first book I can remember reading was called The Hound Dog. I can still recite all of it since I read it so much. I must have been about 4 years old.
We would visit the library every week when I was growing up. I read so much as a child I never had a favorite book until I read Little Women in the 4th grade.
susan56bft at gmail dot com
"Yours till Niagra Falls, Abby" by Jane O'Connor.
kshansen at msn dot com
Sweet Valley High, I think I read them all, loved them...
tessigrl at hotmail dot com
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