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Nostalgia & Books


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The other night I was reminded of a book I read, and loved, as a pre-teen.  I could only remember some very basic details and nothing about character names or title.  Curiosity got to me and I googled away until I finally found it!  The Starlight Crystal!  I felt giddy!

 

This has happened to me a few times, my son is currently reading a childhood favourite of mine, Rowan of Rin.

 

What books tug on your nostalgia strings?  Have you reread them or passed them on to your kids?  I'm a huge book sharer though, if I love a book I annoy my family and friends about it!

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I felt the same way about a piano piece that was used as an introduction to a radio program that I listened to. It took me years to find it - Novelette in C Major by Poulenc. It was like finding a long lost friend.

 

But I feel the same about some books - especially the Melandy Quartet, King of the Wind, Eight Cousins, and A Little Princess.

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I completely understand. I didn't have the best upbringing and often was the one that read to my little brother. He loved the book Piggle A Homer Story . Last year they adopted a little girl and as a gift I purchased the book for him. He loved it. I also purchased myself a copy to read to my kids.

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A Little Princess was my very favorite (along with Little House). I was thrilled when dd wanted to read it.

I was also so happy when Little House in the Big Woods was her first chapter book!

 

I always recommend Chancy and The Grand Rascal--It is a wonderful, funny book, but the memory of my brother laughing hysterically as he read it on a long car trip always makes me smile--it is one of my most tender memories of him. 

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I've done the same thing with several books. Off the top of my head:

 

Understood Betsy

Ballet Shoes

the very 70s-looking version of The Little Engine That Could (not the one with the new illustrations!)

We Help Mommy

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself (with the cover I grew up with, not the new one, of course)

Impunity Jane

A Family Apart

Raggedy Ann in Cookie Land

Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales (still haven't found the perfect version, but at least I have most of the stories)

 

I've shared most of them with DD, but finding a few of them with just some vague elementary-school-aged memories was an effort.

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I have a copy of the first chapter book I really remember - The Spartan Twins by Lucy Fitz Perkins.

 

I have a few teen/ young adult books that I looked up a few years ago and bought through Abe Books, and another that I read in my early 20s and never forgot.

 

I undertook a few projects in the year before I turned 40, and tracking down those books was one of the best things I did.

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When she was a teen, I introduced my daughter to some of my old favorites.

 

The Little World of Don Camillo and its sequels by Giovanni Guareschi

 

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.  (My daughter so enjoyed this that she read about six more in the series.)

 

And some Star Trek novels:

 

Yesterday's Son and Time for Yesterday both by A.C. Crispin,

 

Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan,

Ishmael by Barbara Hambly,

 

The Kobayashi Maru by Julia Ecklar,

 

and Doctor's Orders by Diane Duane

 

Regards,

Kareni

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I love hearing these stories!  Thanks for sharing everyone!

 

I also introduced my DD to Alice in Wonderland last year, I loved that book, and have a special edition copy my parents got for me.  She also loved it, and we had an awesome Alice themed birthday party for her last year.

 

 

It was also partly the being able to find it that added to the giddiness, I really had a very very vague memory of 1 part of the storyline, so it was a lovely surprise to be able to find it!

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I almost squealed when I saw that our little town library had the Dorrie the Little Witch books by Patricia Coombs. We would practically fight over them at the library when I was a kid. (Incidentally, I don't remember any parents freaking out and trying to have them banned, though I suppose they weren't anywhere near as popular as Harry Potter.)

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Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm

The Tawny Scrawny Lion

Search for a Living Fossil: The Story of the Coelacanth

Reader's Digest: Animals You Will Never Forget

 

And a scratch-n-sniff book with the most wonderful scent imaginable. Even if I could remember the name and find a copy I am sure the scent would be long faded. :-(

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My sister and I had a favorite picture book growing up, The Story of the Fourteen Bears by Evelyn Scott. It told the tale of a family of 14 bears, mostly girls, who all lived in different tree houses and had different personal styles (we always liked figuring out which tree we would want to live in). It went out of print, could never find it. Then close to 10 years ago I found out that it came back in print, only now it included two stories, The Fourteen Bears in Summer and Winter. We had never seen the Winter book before. I bought one for myself and had Amazon deliver one to my sister as a surprise, both of us with small children at the time. She was thrilled and it became a favorite for our kids. She used to buy it for baby showers for her friends. Alas, it has gone out of print again--copies at Amazon marketplace are $145-199. My sister has told the people she has given it to that if they ever want to get rid of it, give it back to her! 

http://www.amazon.com/Fourteen-Summer-Winter-Deluxe-Golden/dp/0375832793/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393015292&sr=8-1&keywords=the+fourteen+bears

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Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever. I found one in a used book store with the original cover mine had as a child. Now it's one of my boys' favorites. 

 

There was one about a red wagon. And farm animals. I loved, loved, loved that book as a child but I can never remember enough about it to find it again. 

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My sister and I had a favorite picture book growing up, The Story of the Fourteen Bears by Evelyn Scott.

 

Yes!!!  This is one of my absolute favorites!  I checked it out from the library all the time.  I have one old copy and one of the reprints. 

 

"Then the fourteen bears walked home paw in paw through the forest.  And the birds sang, and the breeze blew, and the sun beat on their ears."  :)

 

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The Secret Language, Baby Island, No Flying in the House, The Plain Princess, The Witch Family, and Beauty [Robin McKinley].  I could tell you the exact location on the Casa Verdugo Library's shelves for each of these books when I was in elementary school.

 

And now I own all of them. :thumbup1:

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Two Are Better Than One 

 

Any number of girl-and-her-horse stories, such as the Bonnie books, Spurs for Suzanna, and The Black Stallion and the Girl

 

They'll Never Make a Movie Starring Me (a wholly forgettable teen novel I must have read 300 times; I loved it beyond all reason)

 

And for some reason, when I was a kid I was really into Peg Bracken's housekeeping and etiquette books. 

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The other night I was reminded of a book I read, and loved, as a pre-teen.  I could only remember some very basic details and nothing about character names or title.  Curiosity got to me and I googled away until I finally found it!  The Starlight Crystal!  I felt giddy!

 

It's a Christopher Pike book! I used to read SO many of those - I just loved them. (Although I never read The Starlight Crystal.) I wish I still had them.

 

 

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