Well, an approximation of the list of books I can remember reading. And, of course, enjoying.
Let’s start with Phase One: Childhood.
My Dolly and Me (Patricia Scarry, Eloise Wilkin)
A delightful Wonder Book with lovely illustrations by Eloise Wilkin about a little girl who takes her doll everywhere she goes. I wanted desperately to be transported to her Victorian house, with its sweet front porch and rolling lawn. Written by the wife of Richard Scarry.
Mr. Pine’s Mixed Up Signs & Mr. Pine’s Purple House (Leonard Kessler)
A hilarious tale about what happens when the town sign maker misplaces his glasses. With humorous illustrations and an engaging, easy-to-read style that automatically made me want more. Luckily, there was Mr. Pine’s Purple House, which urged non-conformity, in the guise of one purple house on a block of many other colors.
Billy Brown Makes Something Grand (Tamara Kitt)
If there is one book that defines my early childhood, it is Billy Brown, who insists he will make his mother a birthday cake. Chaos ensues when he locks mom out of the kitchen and throws in everything but the sink, including – almost – the family cat. Like the Mr. Pine books, Billy Brown was an easy reader that used rhyming and word repetition to help children learn basic literacy skills. My father and I could recite lines from Billy Brown years after I’d stopped reading it.
And then Peanuts. I read the books, I had a stuffed Snoopy, and years later used said Snoopy as a teaching tool. Small children loved when I justified a classroom rule because “Snoopy says so.” As a child, my mother was horrified that I was reading Peanuts, not the classics. My argument has always been that I was reading so it didn’t matter. And I grew up and read the classics, as well.
A word about Richard Scarry and the Ramona books.
I somehow missed the Richard Scarry books when I was little, but when they entered the lives of my own children I could not get enough. Neither could they. Their favorite activity was identifying all the produce in the market in The Best Word Book Ever. This became a favorite activity in my classroom, as well.
And Ramona.
What can I say? Except that we read all the books, and listened to all the tapes where Stockard Channing brilliantly did all the voices in Ramona’s world. Whole car trips were spent laughing hysterically over Ramona’s antics, including the one where she sabotages her sister’s birthday cake by throwing her doll in the oven, after reading Hansel and Gretel.
Next week, the chapter books.