Sunday, November 11, 2007

Children's Book Week Nov. 12-18th :: My Favorite Books when I was a kid

I love books and reading. One of my best memories from childhood was when I had won a poster contest...I had to draw a poster about reading. I drew a picture of a lion with the words " Roar Through Reading!" Because I won in my age group, I was awarded $75.00 to the Tattered Covered Book Store...my fifth-grade self could not have been happier with that prize. I remember coming home so excited about the books I had purchased with the $75...I think I read all summer long.

I still love children's literature. I love the kids section of the library and book stores. My favorite class in college was Elementary Curriculum in Reading and Language Arts because we were able to learn about all sorts of children's books. I actually considered going back to get my masters so I could be a reading specialist. I just love reading.
This week is Children's Book Week. Since 1919, educators, librarians, booksellers, and families have celebrated Children's Book Week during the week before Thanksgiving. During this week, I am going to post some of my favorite Children's books. Enjoy.

Favorite books when I was a child:
Miss Suzy is a little gray squirrel who lives happily in her oak-tree home until she is chased away by some mean red squirrels. Poor Miss Suzy is very sad. But soon she finds a beautiful dollhouse and meets a band of brave toy soldiers.
Life is delicious in the town of Chewandswallow where it rains soup and juice, snows mashed potatoes, and blows storms of hamburgers--until the weather takes a turn for the worse.

The poor mother of seven children, each named for a day of the week, goes off to market promising to return with individual gifts that each child has requested and admonishing them to lock the door to strangers and not to touch the fire. The gullible children are tricked into disobeying their mother by the witch, Heckedy Peg, who turns them all into various kinds of food.
One day, the wife of an illiterate man needs to leave town and she tells her husband what he will need to purchase at the store while she is gone. He heads off to the store and when he gets there, he does his very best to purchase what his wife told him to purchase, but instead of reading the labels (which he obviously can't do), he purchases products that "look" like what he is supposed to buy. Instead of spaghetti, he brings home wax paper. Instead of sugar, salt. Instead of regular milk, he finds himself drinking the (dreaded) buttermilk. Needless to say, he has a miserable time while his wife is gone (and he is starving when she gets back) and upon her arrival home, he insists that she teach him how to read.

More books to come!

2 comments:

tracy hanson said...

I remember Them Oh so Well!!

Courtney O. said...

thanks for the book ideas! i love getting books for brooklyn and she just LOVES to read...i'll be looking at the library soon!