#TopTenTuesday: Top 10 Books From My Childhood

 Top 10 Books From My Childhood That I Love To Revisit

I stuck with books that I read before age 5, because my childhood was littered with books too old for me and there's something precious about Children's Picture Books that always draws me back in when I get the chance to revisit them. My children are now too grown to show that they like my nostalgic meanderings into the picture book realms. So when they find me in our library picking through these books... because the only two from this list I do not own are that version of Cinderella and Fair's Fair, they end up on the floor beside me just as happy to re-read these favorites. 

My mother has a copy of Fair's Fair and gets it out whenever I visit which is usually at Christmas time so that's all good too. She doesn't need an excuse to read picture books since both my little nephews live down the street from her and she uses them as an excuse to read Where The Wild Things Are and Little Bear over and over again. My two all time favorite books to have read to me when I was little.

Is Milton Missing? by Steven Kroll, illustrated by Dick Gackenbach
Cutest story about a missing Great Dane with a surprise ending. My copy has my little kid handwriting in the front saying this book belongs to Beth's Library. 

William's Doll by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by William Pene du Bois
My parents were pretty strict fundamentalist with divisive views on gender. The one positive to their intense upbringing was that girls and boys were not really different in how they played, at least when they were young. So playtime did not have parameters on it and my mom loved this book because she took a lot of heat for how she was raising four girls to think they could do anything a boy could do and better. And she'd always fire back that little boys should learn how to care for babies too.

The Jolly Postman and Other People's Letters by Janet & Allan Ahlberg
I loved getting mail because we moved all the time and it was the only way back then to communicate if you were a kid with friends in other states. These letters were too delightful and it was rare to find an interactive book back in my day.

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, illustrated by William Nicholson
One of the first books to ever make me cry and think life just is NOT FAIR. Lovely story that still rings beautifully about the love of a child for their toys.

Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper interpreted by Charles Perrault, illustrated by Walter Crane
I loved the illustrations of this book more so than the translation, however it is a good one. Every library visit for at least a month (we went every week), I checked this book out until my mother who thought fairy tales were not healthy reading, refused to allow me to get it again.

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
This house and I were kindred spirits. As a child who moved nearly every six months and would move from city to country and back again... I'd miss the sites and sounds and quiet of the country until I got older and could bask in the beauty and nightlife that comes with city living.

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson
How Ferdinand was bullied was my first real righteous anger reaction. I don't even think my parents called it bullying back then. It was simply being picked on. However, this story is a good look at how expectations of who we are should not be defined by how we look. I totally got that when I was two or three because of the beauty of this story and Robert Lawson's excellent illustrations.

Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness
Girl, cat and mouse and the way words have multiple meanings. I LOVED THIS BOOK as a child and my parents hated it. I don't even know why they did because it totally fit into every lesson I was suppose to be learning about how adults know best. Ha!

Cross Country Cat by Mary Calhoun, illustrated by Erick Ingraham
This book was something that as soon as I started my library, I went looking for a copy. Interestingly enough, later in life as an illustrative representative, I would have the chance to work with Erick Ingraham who is just as lovely as his illustrations. If you are a cat lover, how could you not have read this book yet?! 

Sam & the Firefly by P. D. Eastman
P. D. Eastman wrote some of the bratty characters who just would not learn until they had near death experiences. His vibrant illustrations and contrast of coloring in this book attracts my attention like very little else. It's a fun book to read, with a lesson that many kiddos should take to heart and wildly obnoxious art.

BONUS BOOK: Fair's Fair by Leon Garfield, illustrated by S. D. Schindler
Such an amazingly detailed book from the nooks and crannies of every illustration to the descriptions of what is happening. I will not ever stop longing to read this aloud every Christmas. It's a tradition ingrained into my bones.