Thursday, September 2, 2010

Passing on the reading gene

I love to read; I always have. I remember being a wee little one, even before kindergarten, sitting on the laps of my grandparents while they read books to me.    My most dominant memories from both second and third grade are of my teachers reading books to us young pupils. 

My mother has always been an avid reader, and fortunately she passed that love on to myself and my sister.  During summer breaks we used to trade books every other day.  We read just about every young adult fiction series there was:  we started out with The Babysitter's Club and Goosebumps, then moved on to Fear Street, Sweet Valley High (followed by SVU), Love Stories, Christopher Pike's Chain Letter books, etc. 


Eventually, as I got older, my tastes matured and I began to delve into deeper subject matter, but these series established a love of reading in me, and I hope my daughters will one day look back and have the same sense of affection for similar book series.  Of course, it all starts with the "baby" books....

These are some of my most treasured books from early childhood that I have already purchased in the hopes that my girls will love them as much as me:


The first book I remember being read to me.



As a first grader, I thought this was the funniest book in the world.


I don't know anyone who doesn't remember this one fondly.



My third grade teacher read this to my class on the first day of
school, and we begged for it every day for the rest of the year. 



I always thought Alexander was being a sissy.



I loved this little bear, and I thought it was amazing when they made a movie version of the book.


I wanted to go there, so badly.

The hubs isn't much of a reader, but his parents read him all of the Dr. Seuss books, which he still loves (and Mimi hopes our girls will love also).



What were your favorite books as a child/young adult?



9 comments:

  1. The Stinky Cheese Man!! I almost forgot about that book!

    We liked a lot of the ones that were your faves, but we also loved Harold and the Purple Crayon, Small Pig, and Rainbow Fish. By the way, I don't use the royal "we," I have a sibling!

    Yay for reading!!!

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  2. HAHA! That's so funny, I read every single Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley Twins/Teens/High book there was!

    I also was really into this YA Horror series that I *think* was called Nightmare Hall. I tried googling "YA horror novels" and Twilight comes up at the top results. I don't think Google knows what "horror" means :)

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  3. Holy cow the memories are flooding back I loved goosebumps and RL Stine and every single book you mentioned, sooo good thanks for the memories...

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  4. Great post!
    I loved reading from a young age also, and remember the Dr.Suess books being favs.
    I liked Babysitters Club and RL Stein also.
    I have a few of my books from the 80's. Its hard to believe those books are sooo old...lol.

    My kids like to read too, especially my daughter.
    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

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  5. THE LITTLE PRINCE!!!!! by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

    i dont know if it's considered a child's book or an adult book because of the graphics.

    but it teaches a lot for adults!!
    "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."


    "Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?". They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him."

    I really love little prince :)



    btw jess, i have to correct you... i love sushi but not really the raw ones.. well.. i know it wont be sushi if its not raw. lol

    but you know what i mean.. only the cooked rolls. lol

    http://imissyouhotcakes.blogspot.com/2010/08/80-sushi-bar.html

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  6. i wasn't really born to be a reader. but when i read. those books really mean a lot to me :)

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  7. I used to read the R.L. Stine books too as well as the Judy Blume ones: "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge". I was thrilled as a kid when they made TV shows out of BOTH of those book series. I also used to love "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" when I was in kindergarten. I love that Kohls always has kids books like those for only $5, with all of the money going to charity!

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  8. My dad was in the miliarty and every time he had to go away, he would bring me home at least ONE Goosebumps book. I had the whole collection by the time I was too old to really enjoy them anymore. Remember the ones where you got to choose where the story went?

    Where the Wild Things Are was also one of my absolute favorites. Have you seen the movie?

    I also loved the Amelia Bedelia. I loved how she took everything so literal.

    Great post, Jess.

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  9. Ahh, I loved all of those books! Last time I was at Half Price Books, I was perusing the Young Adult section and it took everything I had to not start purchasing all the Nancy Drew, Babysitter's Club, and Sweet Valley High books they had for my future children.

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