Top Ten Tuesday, a concept started by The Broke and the Bookish, is a themed post that connects bloggers to bloggers, bloggers to readers, and readers to readers. Every Tuesday has a special topic, and this Tuesday is Top Ten Tuesday REWIND! Pick a Previous Topic. I’ve chosen “Childhood Favorites” for today!
I’m not sure where to start my childhood favorites (do I go all the way back to picture books?) but I can definitely say it will end with Jane Eyre at age 14. That was probably my defining coming-of-age/adulthood book.
1. American Girl: Molly — She was WWII, which we hadn’t covered yet in 3rd grade, and she had glasses, which I predicted I’d need sooner or later because my parents are practically blind.
2. Dear America: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie by Kristiana Gregory — Not sure what it was about this book, but I was definitely in a pioneer/wild west phase at some point. Might be due to the amount of devotion Mom had to Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
3. Sugar Snow by Laura Ingalls Wilder — The original books were good…but man, the illustrator for the picture books was phenomenal!
4. Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley — One whole summer I devoured the pre-Laura and post-Laura books. This was my favorite, set in Scotland!
5. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans — I don’t know if it was a favorite when I was younger, but now when I see it I feel all nostalgic for the stories.
6. Harry Potter series — Nana said I couldn’t have Thanksgiving mashed potatoes till I read the first chapter of the first book. I didn’t have mashed potatoes because I was too busy trying to finish the book.
7. Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick — I distinctly remember the author visiting my school. Not that I didn’t think authors were real people, but it definitely blew my little 6-year-old mind that an author would actually visit the readers and sign their books.
8. American Girl: Kit — She was from Cincinnati (where Mom grew up), lived during the Great Depression, and she was the first American Girl to have short hair. That was revolutionary then! I even went to the children’s museum in Cincinnati with Nana to meet Valerie Tripp (also the author of the Molly books).
9. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging — I was intrigued by the very English title, and entirely amused by the strange story. Georgia’s life was just so outrageously different from mine.
10. Jane Eyre — And the birth of my Victorian England literary love began.
What were some of your childhood favorites?
