Wow! Mrs Piggle Wiggle was my favorite!!! Wish I could help you remember the others...xO

*WERE* a weird child?!?!

mmm books.
I'm afraid I don't know what the titles of the stories you're searching for are.
I can't tell you how hard it's been for me to find that my own daughter has no interest in Little House on the Prairie. Just a travesty. Instead it's Mary-Kate & Ashely crap. EWWW

How about Pippi Longstocking - or Mr. Poppers Penguins - OR what about the kids that run away from home to live in the history museum (From the Mixed up files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler -I think) GREAT BOOKS

I know just what you mean. I read a book about a boy that fell into a jar of jelly (please don't scoff-it was facinating at the time)-that was 50-gulp-years ago and I still remember how much I loved it. I hope someone can help you (well, with the books, anyway).

Okay, I don't comment on here like ever...but I sneak around and read all the time. You have many of my neurotic tendencies but you word them in much more entertaining ways than I ever could (probably the reason why you have a blog and I do not). Anyhow, while the descriptions of the books you are searching for do not ring any bells for me at all I just wanted to let you know that you are not the only one who wants to have in her possession all the books you loved as a child. I too had (have) a passionate love affair with all things written and have kept most of my favorites throughout the years. I don't have any bookshelves in my crummy apartment so they are all packed cruelly away in cardboard boxes. However, my husband (who believes I'm completely insane for keeping stuff like this) is well aware that when we finally get a house [fingers crossed that'll be this fall] there will be bookshelves everywhere and all of my faves will be on display for everyone to enjoy! Okay, my husband may think I'm nuts because books are not the only things I've kept forever, and perhaps I do have way too much "useless crap" that I just cannot part with, but he loves me anyhow.

I could go on about books from my childhood All Day Long! And I loved The Grounding of Group 6, too! I wish I could help you with your two mysteries, but no bells are ringing; so sorry!

It's great that your mother stood up for you. I like to think that today, the librarian would just be glad that you were a child who wanted to read, it might not be true but I like to think so.

Now I want to go home and re-read Campion Towers or The Innocent Wayfaring.

I have the four book Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle set, the Madeline L'Engle Wrinkle in Time set, Oz books and others that I read as a child and bought as an adult. I too have books somewhat remembered but don't know the names of. I wonder if the librarian in the children's section could help?
Bought Mr, Popper's Penguins at the penguin exhibit at Sea World...

I also love books that I had a as a child, and now that I am buying a house, I feel good about loading up. Your books do not sound familiar, though. Although I hope you tell us what they are when you find them, because maybe I will read them.

(Also - I once dated a bad Australian. I met him at a bar in Culver City and he swept me off my feet with his accent. But, he was an unemployed cokehead who kept getting kicked out of hostels for not paying rent. I was cool with that until he tried to convince me to be a cokehead - and buy the coke - by telling me that I would be much skinnier if I took up cocaine. Also, there was the credit card fraud. The rest of the Aussies have all been great, though!)

"the kids that run away from home to live in the history museum" Oh my GAAAWWWWD I loved LURVED that book and read it all the time! Couldn't tell you the name if my life depended on it although the one she gave sounded close?

For me it was Sue Barton and Cherry something nurse books. I SO wanted to grow up to be Sue Barton.....can't find the books tho - although I've tried.

Good luck on yours!

Brandy, "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler"????

I have a website that might be able to find your books for you.

http://loganberrybooks.com/stump.html

You send them your memory and they'll try to find it.

PS I loved your blog so much I started my own.
www.spasticchit-chat.com

Mrs Piggle-Wiggle! I'd forgotten all about that book! And, I was convinced the books were my friends too. Sorry, can't help you with the mystery books.

First time poster, but long time lurker. I think the first book you wrote about is Rise and Fall of a Teen-Age Wacko, by Mary Anderson. I just found this website the other day, and you can find all sorts of old books that you can only vaguely remember! Click on "stump the bookseller" or "solved mysteries." I have wasted a lot of time with this one today...

http://loganberrybooks.com/solved-qr.html

P.S. Your cat Sobakawa reminds me of my Devil Cat (also known as Anya)!

Don't remember the ones you're talking about, but I do vaguely remember Lloyd Alexander books, and I got on a kids-book kick myself recently. (Why are kids books so much better than grownups books?) On my nightstand right now is The Bridge to Terabithia (never read it!), Eragon, a couple of Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and Big Girl Knits. Now I just need to go find some Lloyd Alexander and I'll be all set. And maybe I should reread (again) the Sword of Shannara.

I've got bupkis for you, dearheart, regarding those books.

However, you are *not* crazy as I had been on a quest for a certain edition of the story "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse." It took me four long years, and a tidy sum of money to alibris, but I got the book!

Go get those books! And while I love knitting, my first love is books (http://bibliovixen.blogspot.com/)!

I love my children's books. I have Colors of the Dreamweavers Loom and Feast of the Trickster and a whole lot of others that I have scrounged for. I want a few others, but some of the really out of print things are just prohibitively expensive (or hard to find).

Anyone have any of the Serendipity books? I loved those as a really young child.

I was SUCH a reader as a kid, too - took books with me everywhere, even to restaurants, and my mom would have to wrestle it away from me to get me to eat.

The only time I ever stole from my mom was to snatch money from her wallet for the book fair. She seemed very angry at the time, but years later she confessed that she was really just amused that I was nerdy enough to steal for my book fix.

Sorry, Laurie--I think I'm too old to have read those, or I would have. I read voraciously as a kid (still do when life allows). When my sister and I moved out and split the childhood books between us, we each immediately ordered several of the ones the other one got. When I pick up my copy of "A Little Princess" inscribed to me by my grandparents one Christmas, I'm 9 and very happy all over again. I really hope you find your books.

Seanna Lea: YES!!! Every last one of them, in a huge storage box under my bed!

I totally remember book 2! I can't remember the title and I just did a search for all the titles I could think of, but nothing came up. I hope you find them both. Post the titles if you do would you? Now I'm going to be obsessing about Book 2.

I remember loving that people who had a pet that they took care of were spared and the main character's little brother was turned into a cactus. They were so freaked out when they watched him drink a glass of water with his fingertips. I was all smug and thinking I love my dog so I would be spared. Ah, the pre-teen years.

i am compelled to comment (imagine).

first, scholastic books. book delivery day was like christmas.

second, i found an old children's book that called out to me "millions of cats".

I still have my copy of "Shadow Castle", which was my mom's in her girlhood!

I went on a kick where I am also getting the books I liked as a kid - well the ones I did not keep (such as the mixed up files, mentioned above) - so now I have the full colored eds of such books as Pippi Longstocking, Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, the Little Princess, and the Borrowers.

This is pretty much the sole reason why I refuse to let go of my pt bookstore job.

Brandy: That one about the kids that run away and live in a museum!! I remember that one! I think it was an art museum though ... cuz weren't they trying to solve a mystery about whether Michelangelo or some other famous artist actually made this one scuplture? WHAT IS THE NAME OF THAT BOOK?

And PS ... sorry CAP, I don't recognize the ones you are looking for ... but I do empathize with your search ... I always remember bits and pieces of plots of books that I have read but can't remember the names. (But I do the same with books I have read as an adult, too.)

Oh, I've been doing the same thing...except for the books that went from my parents' bookshelf to my dorm in college to my apartments in LA to my current place in Berkeley. Those always find room on the shelf, wherever I am. My Betsy Tacy Tib and All of a Kind Family and Peach Tree Island and Half Magic and Little House on the Prairie and my favorite, Little Witch. Yeah, I was an "eat lunch in the library" kind of elementary school kid.

I do the same thing with movies too, though...like Teen Witch. If you haven't seen it, SEE IT NOW! It will make you revel in 1980's magical glory! Also, I recently acquired the Shelly Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre boxed set on Amazon. Robin Williams as The Frog Prince? Priceless.

KATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think you are right, I think it is Rise and Fall of a Teen-Age Wacko!! I am getting it on amazon.com RIGHT NOW. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and some other faves...
"On to Oregon" (used to be titles "Seven alone")
"The Endless Steppe"
And all the Betsy books ("Betsy and Joe")
"Yours 'Til Niagara Falls, Abby"
anything by Judy Blume...

Oh, it's so awesome to meet other folks who were bookworms as kids :)

Laurie,

Readers Rock!!! I say that too my kids all the time....I too am a bookworm till this day I sometimes get so caught up in my reading that when I remember stuff from my past I can't remember if I actually read it or if I actually lived it....Does that happen to anyone else? Weird Huh?

Anyway the book that stands out the most in my mind from my elementary schools days if "Forever" by Judy Blume...I learned about "frank" and what sex was by reading that BOOK!!!!!!!

Sorry, neither book sounds familiar, but you do make me recall some of my childhood favorites, including:

*From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (every kid's fantasy)
*every Nancy Drew book ever written
*The Island of the Blue Dolphins (Caldecott medal winner, I believe)
*A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'engle (does that woman have an imagination, or what?!)
*The Secret Garden

and many others, whose titles I've forgotten....

Oh, and I LOVED the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books. And the Encyclopedia Brown books, too.

Memories......

Neither one sounds familiar to me, but that sure doesn't mean they don't exist. Basil & Jessica: The one about the kids who run away to the museum -- From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I just checked that one out again. LOVED IT!

I loved Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. And this post helped me to remember Gone Away Lake, and Return to Gone Away Lake. Loved those books.

Does anyone remember The Five Little Peppers series?

I loved to read as a child and still enjoy finding a book that is so good, I stay up all night reading it.

I still have all my books! I am putting the finishing touches on my craft room in the basement, and the paperbacks are finally coming out of the boxes. My kids, 10 and 12, have just discovered Madeline L'Engle. I tried not to be smug as I pulled the sequels off the shelf.

Lloyd Alexander is there, too, but I have to find book 1 again. And Susan Cooper's series, including The Grey King. And a series on dragons, The Dragon Riders of Pern, and all of Anne McCaffrey; and the Trixie Belden series. The heck with the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.

When I went with my Mom to a department store, I would bug her and bug her until she agreed to buy me a book or two.

I agree, books are great friends! Yay books!

I have loved books all of my life and as a kid I also read obsessively and frankly, my mother grew a little concerned by it. In recent years, I have been reading classics I missed as a child, such as Anne of Green Gables (I know, I have no idea how I managed to grow into a respectable woman without having read that book as a child).

For the folks wondering about about the kids who ran away and lived in a museum, it is _From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E.Frankweiler_ by E.L. Konigsburg as cursingmama said. I loved that book, too!

Dorothy B, THANK YOU for confirming that I am not crazy! (Well, at least not about this!) YES! People who loved animals were spared the horror of turning into cactus!!!

And I also loved "From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler" (!!!)

I forgot to say.... I loved Scholastic. It SURE was like Christmas. I am trying to get my kids into the habit of bringing that flyer home..I always wind up buying JUST way to much but it brings back so many memories that I buy books, stickers, bags and whatever else they might have....He always gets a certificate for having the biggest order in his SCHOOL!!! LMAO

The one that plagued me for years and years and years was this book about a psychic cabbage patch doll (no, for serious!). I could describe the characters, quote dialogue, describe the front cover, but I could NOT remember the name.

Then I remembered the miraculous invention called google. It's "Jeeter, Mason & the Magic Headset" by Maggie Twohill.

And I used to go crazynuts in libraries as well. When I was 8, I racked up $20 in overdue fees. I made $1 a week in allowance. I was heartbroken. Good thing my dad is a sucker who encourages me reading and paid for it.

Cherry Ames, Nancy Drew, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, all bring fond memories of hanging out in the shaded hammock on a hot summer afternoon.

You must go to Australia. I went (by myself) in 1986 for three weeks. I went from Sydney to Melbourne, to Adelaide, to Coober Pedy to Silverton and back to Sydney in that time and I've never met any group more friendly, outgoing and eager to help you out or take you in. I love Aussies! And the guy from Melbourne who sat next to me on my flight back to the states wasn't too shabby either ;)

OH, and did anyone else have The Horse Years permanently inscribed on their childhood reding memories?

Misty
Misty of Chincoteague (sp?)
Misty's Twilight
Justin Morgan Had A Horse.....

Does anyone remember the "Half-Magic" books? I think there were only 3 books total. Children find a magic coin that grants wishes...only by half. Love those!

I too have gone on quests for the original version of Rudolph Red Nosed Reindeer (found it) and Socks the Cat (found that too!).

Loved to read and still do--always have a book in my purse. Right now I'm lugging around a hardback.

Mary Downing Hahn ring a bell for anyone? My 5th grade teacher read us Wait Till Helen Comes and I remember going to the library after that and getting all of her books to read on my own. I'll have to do that again and figure out why I loved her so much!
Thanks for this post!

Laurie, sometimes you are almost the same person as me and it FREAKS ME OUT!!

I can't remember either of those books, but I was a c-r-a-z-y reader as a kid. My mom alwasy said there was no use in punishing me because I preferred to be alone in my room, away from the tv, with nothing but my huge collection of books. Not that I ever did anything wrong! ;) I read all night until "lights-out", then I got under the covers with a flashlight I had snuck from the kitchen and read until morning. No wonder I slept through grammar school!

I started recreating my childhood library a few years ago since the originals were mostly lost in floods (I'm from Louisiana..hi!) I got the Eloise books and the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. Next, I plan on getting the Lois Lowry set of Anastasia books. I really need to make a list of the others because there are TONS I want! I used to drool over the Scholastic flyers too, like Homer Simpson over donunts!

Good luck finding your books! Let us know when you do - I want to read them!

Sorry I can't help with the books you're looking for, but books you read and love as a child definitely become good friends. I just did a post on this a couple days ago, about my good friend Nancy Drew!

Oh, Betsy-Tacy-Tibb! One of my very favorite series. I must add those to my collection again.

Kellie and Dave are lovely -- it was so good to meet them! Thanks for sharing them with us.

OK! Me TOO!
Susan Cooper (Dark is Rising series)
Oz books
Anything by Lois Duncan
Tamora Pierce (Alanna - Lady Knight series)
I hate to say it - Sweet Valley High
The Chrestomanci (the Enchanter) books
M. L'engle books
And then anythign by Anne McCaffery and Mercedes Lackey. Dragons and talking horses RULE.
Trixie Belden Books
Walter Farley books
Marguerite Henry books (Stormy, Misty, Justin Morgan had a Horse)

ah. Those were awesome days. Life was so much simpler then.

Oh my god--Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle! I sucked down all those books. I also survived childhood and adolescence locked in my room with a pile of books. I hope you find the books you're seeking!

Don't recall either of those books but they sound fabulous! When I would go home to my parents house during college I would read my old books---Judy Blume, etc. So much fun, and I could read them in about an hour! A few years ago my cousin gave me 3 of the Little House books in a hardbound vloume together with the original illustrations--it was an AWESOME gift!

oh dear god, i'm so glad i wasn't the only book nerd child. i seriously slept with my books when i went to bed at night, and carried them around like linus' blanket.
in elementary school, we had a reading team, we each received a list of 100 books that we read over the summer, and then competed with other schools through the year... i was on that team every year of elementary school.
and i got nothing for you on the quest for the remaining book, but good luck. i've gone backwards too, and bought a bunch of my fave. childhood books.

i have walter farley's autograph thanks to a librarian long ago and far away. talk about a horse geek!

Hi, I'm new here. Was the 1st book Nantucket Summer? I remember getting it from the Scholastic book drive as a kid. Ours came as the bookmobile.

AMEN!! There are others who loved the Misty books too!! I swear I used to dream of digging my toes in wet sand and looking for clams even though at that time in my life the closest I had come to wild ocean shorelines was, uh, probably galveston beach in Texas ;) And I had never even seen a clam.

And I LOVED Lois Duncan, too!!

My mom sold most of my childhood books in garage sales (and I've never let her off the hook for that!) I did manage to keep Charlotte's Web, my Little House on the Prairie collection and the Judy Blume books though....

I had never really thought about collecting the books again though....great idea! And I have gone to that Loganberry Books site and the flashbacks are incredible. I had totally forgotten about the Betsy books....

Did anyone here ever read the Bobsey Twins books? They were a family of twins and they solved little mysteries. All the books were yellow. Loved them!

I hate that I have a horrible memory and cannot remember most of the books y'all have named. I am a voracious reader and always have been. I do remember loving to read the Boxcar Children series and all of the Ramona the Pest books. My niece is now reading Ramona the Pest so I am glad to see that these books "stand the test of time".

Ohh, as the granddaughter of a librarian, and a mom who was a school librarian then an English teacher, I was destined to be a big reader. (my entire family is, except my sister, she refused to learn how to read because she thought she wouldn't be the baby of the family anymore....)
My mom bought us books all the time, except for Babar, she hates Babar..... I recently got all of my boxes of books out of my parents' house. I have pretty much all of L. M. Montgomery's books in paperback. (Anne of Green Gables author) Lots of Louisa May Alcott too.

In middle school or early high school I went through a Kurt Vonnegut phase. Now those were some odd books!

Glad I could help! My favorite book from back then is The Secret Garden. And the Misty books...and Madeline l'Engle...and...I could go on and on! I loved those Scholastic books! Have fun re-reading them!

The comments are almost as fun as the post. I was a voracious reader, too. I rescued most of my books when my parents moved and have recently had them returned to me. Unfortunately, they all sort of smell like old books and are making the guest room smell. I'm refusing to think about it.

I was particularly fond of The Silver Crown. I felt that Ellen was the most like me of any children's book character I had encountered. Also, Ellen is my middle name, so it was perfect.

I've been going through a similar thing, requesting all of my favorite books from the library to see if they hold up. I just read a bunch of John Bellairs books (The House with a Clock in Its Walls, etc.) I've been meaning to reread all of the Little House books too. I may have been a wee bit obsessed with Laura myself.

Laurie, you are a girl after my own heart. I loved the Scholastic Book faire. I read the horse books and the Little House books and anything by Beverly Cleary or Judy Blume. Good times. And no, you're not weird for going back to read them now. I loved the Anne of Green Gables books so much as a pre-teen that now I collect early editions. Since they were written from the 1900-1930s, it looks like a grown-up collection, but it's really just my adolescent yearnings coming back. Thanks for making me remember all those great books!

Yes! Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle... I loved her! I have to find those books for my daughter, thanks for reminding me.

And did anyone else read the Boxcar Children series? It might have been an even older series that my mom got me to read, but very good!

Small town girl with nose in book all of childhood here too. My faves were the Judy Blume books, Ramona, Christopher Pike, RL Stine, the Babysitters Club, Nancy Drew.... I ran across Judy Blume the other day and almost got weepy. "Are you there God? It's Me Margaret" was so loved and read the spine almost fell off. :)

Embarrassingly enough, I was also a HUGE fan of the Wildfire Romances series.

There was...

"Dreams can Come True"
"Senior Dreams Can Come True"
"I'm Christy"
"Beautiful Girl"
"Christy's Choice"
... etcetera

The "Cheerleader" series and of course, Sweet Valley High!!

Alas, nothing on those two... Although I do know "The Day the Earth Stood Still" as the title of a *movie*; 1951, starring Michael Rennie, and it's a classic SF B-movie. ;) Good luck with finding 'em; I remember plots much better than authors, too, when it's been a long (very long for me) time, and man, is it hard to track books down that way!

But Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, oh yeah; and from a PNW author, yet! Betty MacDonald, also author of The Egg And I, which became a movie then began a whole string of Ma and Pa Kettle movies in the late 40's. She wrote some other good autobiographical books, too, which are all pretty hilarious, even the one dealing with her having tuberculosis. Back to kids books, there's Elizabeth Enright's books about the Melendy family, which are wonderful; Rosemary Sutcliff's books about Roman-era Britain; Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile SF books; Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series; Edgar Eager's books, Weekend Magic, Half-Magic, and a bunch more (holy cow, Amazon has 'em!); and The Lost Queen of Egypt by Lucile Phillips Morrison, about Anksenpaaten, the wife of King Tut - which despite having gone through a gazillion reprints a couple times a *year*, for umpteen consecutive years in the 30's, is rare as hell and if you ever see a copy, runs around $120-$180 or so. (Eep! But someday I'll have saved up for it... So what if that's more than my food budget for a month?) And yeah; I bounced around a lot from juveniles to young adult books, no matter what my age, and was reading from the adult section by 3rd grade. [g] Fortunately, despite not having a degree in it, Mom got a job as a librarian when I was in 2nd grade and I had access to The. Whole. Library. System. Of. Portland. And we have a *good* one. ::swoon:: I'd walk over after school when she was working and sit in the teeny little lunch room or outside in the back lawn of the library and read until she got off work. Heaven! And she never said zip about me reading the Mary Renault books about ancient Greece she brought home, which deal openly with homosexuality. (If not graphically, as they were printed mostly in the 40's and 50's.) I had a cool mom. ;) She very carefully didn't discuss those with him, LOL.

Hee - is there anything like a book nut, once they get going on the subject? I had a couple thousand by the time I got married, then we got poor and had to sell them at Powells for a pittance. (Yes, *that* Powell's, City of Books in Portland, and Laurie, if you've never run across them - altho I can't imagine a reader who hasn't by now - it's powells.com. Biggest used & new bookstore in the world. Period. They give you a map. Used to live 10 blocks from it. *sigh*) I'll *never* remember all the titles. But I'm building 'em back slowly. I've really gotta get more of the children's books... Hope you find 'em, Laurie!

I have two bookshelves full of my childhood books. I even have the fondly remembered library editions that smell exactly the same as they did when I read them as a kid.

And I have 10 other bookshelves full and overflowing.

I. am. a. total. bookworm. I rejoice when there is nothing on TV to watch as it means 4-5 glorious evening hours to read!

There's a bookshelf (already counted) in my bedroom stuffed with books waiting to be read!

you should try this website:

http://whatsthatbook.com/

you submit all the information you know and knowledgeable people try to help you figure out the title.

I wish I could help with the title, but my searching skills aren't coming up with anything yet. I will keep looking.
I just want to say that as a librarian I am filled with seething rage whenever I hear a story about a library employee telling a child a book is not appropriate for them. That is the parent's job, not mine. I'm so sorry that happened to you.

My ultimate one-day dream is to pull a Larry McMurtry and open up a bookstore in some out-of-the-way place that people will go to just to browse and read and find new and old books, and if they are desperate for something not on the shelves they'll tack up cards with their names on it if they are looking for a book... and if some patron sees it and has the book to share, they send it to the person... and also there is a place for knitting and there are shopcats.

Ultimate. Bookworm. Dream.

and of course, the chronicles of narnia.

No, you're not alone. Several years ago I went on a wide search to find, of all things,

"Mr. Grabbit the Rabbit" for my sister for her birthday.

I finally found it. We are all delighted.

When really young I loved the book called "Little Horseman". About a boy who takes horse back riding lessons and at the end his dad buys him the horse (brings a tear to my eye! heh!). My friend and I used to look through it obsessively and point out all the horses we liked. In fact, I still own the book .... all tattered and torn!

As I got older I really liked the Little House on the Prairie books as well as The Hardy Boys series. Oh, oh ... and anything to do with animals like "Where the Red Fern Grows" (which scarred me for life ... damn book!!) and "Black Beauty", etc!

Ahhhh ... memories. :)

I loved the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books. I just got them for a future reader! And I read the Betsy-Tacy-Tib series and The Grounding of Group Six (which has SEX!) Thanks for the fun memory jogging there!

I am also obsessed with books from my childhood! Luckily I have found many of them.

My favorite childrens book was a Tell-a-tale" book called Clip Clop about a foal that overhears that he is going to get shoes. He then goes around the farm trying to find out what shoes are. Then he pictures himself wearing all the shoes he sees (cowboy boots, girls shoes, sneakers, etc...) and he is worried but when he finally gets his shiny new horse shoes he is happy because they make the sound clip clop.

I spent 20 years looking through childrens books at yard sales, flea markets and thrift stores and never found it. When I first heard about ebay that was the first thing I typed up and guess what? There it was and I bought it!

farmgirlnow

Oh, oh ... and the Pippi Longstockings series. And the Horse Years ones.

Sigh. Good times! :)

Ah, the joy of books! I was one of those weird bookworm kids who upset my parents because I'd rather read than play with my friends, but books always have and always will be my best friends. I, too, have been searching out many of my childhood favorites and some are extremely valuable and hard to find, such as Palmer Brown's Beyond the Paw Paw Trees. But I loved Nancy Drew and Laura Ingalls Wilder, wanted to be them in the worst way! Does anyone love the Melendy Family stories by Elizabeth Enright, or her award winning Thimble Summer? Are You There, God, It's Me, Margaret was THE book to read, actually made me want to get my period, amazing! The first book I remember coveting seriously was Charlotte's Web, and Harriet The Spy made me want to be a detective so I went around taking cryptic notes and annoying people. And for some reason I also developed a life-long obsession with all things English, starting with the Paddington books and then moving on to Enid Blyton's series.

I remember being a mature-looking 10 year old and sneaking into the adult section of our library and reading Forever Amber (quite racy for a novel written in the 1940s) and those dreadful Barbara Cartland novels where all the heroines are virgins....like I knew what that was!

Every now and then, I just have to dig out the old favorites and read them, oddly comforting even all these years later. Thank god for books!

Ok, for all you crazy book lovers out there (and how, how did I ever forget Trixie Belden - I loved those books) - www.librarything.com as the ultimate online tool to catalogue your books. I was referred by a friend and now I love it. Also, if you are more technologically mobile than I am, you can access your catalogue while standing in a bookstore and asking yourself "do I have ____?"

ask.metafilter.com is a great place to post questions like these (actually, all kinds of questions). It costs $5 to join (one-time fee) if you want to post questions and answers, but is free to read. I must warn you: it is addictive. The questions like yours about books, short stories, music, and movies (some info, no title) are usually answered very quickly.

I am so glad I am not the only one who read the Diana Wynne Jones books (the "chrestomanci" books posted above). My mom bought me one of hers when I was way younger, Tale of Time City, and it is still my favorite childrens book. The cover and spine are in pieces, i've read it so many times. Most people here don't know of her because she's a british fantasy author (and some brits i know have never heard of her either!) The first two Chrestomanci books are fab, tho the later ones aren't as good. Ah well. She's written a ton of others, including Howl's Moving Castle, which was made into an anime film.

when i was little i loved a book called The Forgotten Door about a boy who falls to earth from another planet. It is AMAZING!

O M G. I never went anywhere without my Ramona Quimby books. I've read each of them like 20 times. I found "Socks" while cleaning out my mom's basement and I was in heaven.

OMG!!! Knitters and readers!!! I have found MY PEOPLE!! lol

A few that stand out simply because I checked them out from the library MANY times

Who put the Hair in my Toothbrush
The Three Investigators series (kids book written by Hitchcock!)
Long Live the Queen by Ellen Emerson White

And of course ALL of Judy Blume and Lois Duncan and Julian F Thompson!! oh and Nancy Drew!

Sigh, The Black Stallion and the Misty books, just loved those. Always wanted a black as midnight horse with a white star on its forehead.

Wow, memory lane.

I love your blog.

My Dad was in the Army and all those characters in the books were the friends I would carry with me base to base (unless of course we were over our weight limit, then I had to choose.)

I have enjoyed revisiting many of those books with my son.

I hope you find your books and any of the others readers are making you remember, as there is nothing like being able to visit with an old friend again.

Thanks once again for making me smile.

Yes -- readers *and* knitters -- I believe I have found my planet ;)

I wish I could find that cactus book. IT IS DRIVING ME CRAZY. I need to get some work done, instead I am obsessively googling, and hoping someone here knows that book LOL.

OH! And I loved the narnia books, too, smokey joe. Also, does anyone remember becoming obsessed with the book "Go Ask Alice" by Anonymous? I remeber thinking, oooooh, a book by an anonymous author! It must all be TRUE!! I loved that book. Very racy for a young teen.

Rete, Yes the Boxcar Children!
I was kind of feeling old because I didn't remember some of the others. I must say I totally "Love my Mom" for always letting me order the Scholastic books. We were not rich but she always let me get the educational stuff. I still have some of my paperbacks and I kept some my brothers and sisters books too. It was also a great joy to relive book ordering with my boys during their school years. Mom rubbed off on me and I always let them order too.

That's it ... I am going on a book shopping spree this weekend. Must start collecting my old favorites! I want to re-read them! Everyone is bringing up such great books that I had totally forgotten about!

the forgotten door?

O.M.G.

i must read that again.

i think i have just found my inner child.

I, too, love children's books. I could blabber on and on on this topic (as with most topics!) but in particular, in my early reading days, before I started reading "chapter books, I LOVED Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. My other favorite, is a rather obscure book, called Tikki Tikki Tempo and no one ever seems to remember it but me. I remember the opening part of the book (maybe not the very first sentence but...) it starts out:

"In a small mountain village there lived a mother who had two little sons. Her second son she called Chang, which meant 'little or nothing.' But her first and honored son, she called Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo, which meant 'the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world.'"

Have you ever heard of this book? The older son falls in a well and nearly dies?....(this is the point where people usually look at me like I've been smoking my yarn....)

For any body with small children, I love the book "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon, that my boys ordered when they were very young. It is about a bat that is separated from it's mom and a bird adopts her and the illustrations are amazing. I love books.
Not so much doing my taxes which I have been working on all day. Why did I wait so long?

My love of books is why I work in a library! I just love watching my students faces when I start going on and on about a favorite book! I finally got a group of girls hooked on the Betsy-Tacy books. I am on a listserv of other librarians and I'll post your search there. They have great memories for stuff like this!

Now you have me thinking of books I read and loved as a child. There was one I have been trying to think of the title to - a girl takes piano lessons and isn't going to do well at her recital, so her piano teachers climbs into the piano and plays for her. Hmmmm....

The Christmas I was in first grade, my parents bought me the first 3 Bobbsey Twins books. I loved them!

I have an actual steamer trunk filled with books that have no shelves in this house. It's a nightmare to move... LOL!

I feel so sorry for people who don't read. I read to my daughter and enrolled her in a book club before *I* was ever a member in one! She inherited my childhood collection [The Little House boxed set... bought a nice one from Reader's Digest--worth every cent!] and my granddaughter is turning out to be a voracious reader, too.

I can die happy.

Harriet the Spy and her tomato sandwiches....still love it!

Psychomom, I love Stellaluna too! And I love the illustrations in "The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake." They are amazing and that book makes me tear up, everytime.

Here's a site for finding fantasy/sci fi books you can't remember:

http://www.allscifi.com/default.asp

under the books column you click and then fill out all the details you can remember.
It's a bit fiddly but I found the name of a book I'd read when I was a kid and had searched for MANY MANY years.

I LOVE reading and knitting too!!

I was a huge bookworm as a kid, too (still am). My mom took my three sisters and me to the library for events or just to pick out books just about every day in the summers. I swear I've read every fairy tale book that existed in English at that period in history. My favorite was Moss Gown, by William H. Hooks. I just got it out at the library. :)

When I was in Kindergarten, Scholastic held a book fair for us and I bought Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, by Verna Aardema. It is my favorite book ever. Yeeeeeears later, at my first job out of college (at a certain children's publishing company that we all know and love), I met the editor who worked on the book! She told me of how Aardema would call her in the middle of the night to say she'd come up with new sounds for the various animals, and new ideas for illustrations...it was a budding editor's wet dream...

Children's books are awesome.

Crazy? I guess we're both crazy then. I have a soul-satisfying collection of Little Golden Books, Rand McNally Elf books, Wonder books and Bonnie books from the 1950-60s. Also I was lucky that my mother saved a number of my favorite hardbacks. I love finding nifty old oversized kids books from antiquity at garage sales and other random places.

Oh man, I don't remember either of those, but I was a Scholastic Junkie, too. I read every single stinkin one of the Nancy Drew books, and then for some reason I read up on hallucinogenic drugs (?) and got into a huge obsession with ghosts/poltergeists/paranormal what-have-you.

You brought back major memories with Miss Piggle Wiggle, also one of Bossy's favorite books. Bossy was just thinking, though, that these days poor Miss Piggle Wiggle would probably be arrested for pedophilia.

I don't recall that book, but maybe try this site - they have a "stump the bookseller" section where you put in what you remember and they try to help you. I looked up "cactus" there and didn't find anything that resembled your description though...

http://loganberrybooks.com/stump-form.html

Hi Laurie, you are my hero! We started our blog because of you: Pollyanna Rainbow Sunshine and the Needles of Doom. (Knitting and quilting needles, folks!)

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I too was a book geek as a child, and still am.

I love all these books, and my son was raised on Pooh Bear and Babar and Dr. Seuss. I still love Madeleine L'Enge, and I actually met Anne MacCaffrey at a book signing (sigh). Ya'll have to try Terry Prachett; he writes very cool stuff!

The weird one from my childhood that was about a purple ceramic mouse whose tail was broken - my mother remembered reading it to me, but couldn't remember the title. Haven't found it again. I think it was a chapter book.

I actually write children's books now (trying to geek-ifying a new generation!) and write a column reviewing new kid's books for a local magazine - hey, I should ask if I can review a classic each time... hmm...

I met Kellie & Dave on Saturday at Yarnzilla (in Minnetonka, MN). They mentioned they had a plan to have dinner with you. The world is small...

Wish I could help you out on the book, but it doesn't sound familiar. Watership Down was one of my favorite books when I was in 2nd grade. It was the thickest book I could find at the school library. I read it several times.

yep, you're crazy. but in the good way! i have a rather large collection of childrens books.

oh, and... when i was in ireland last fall, that was dangerous. it took me everything i had to keep my panties on every time a waiter took our order... le sigh.

Ah, another book person! When I was in fifth grade I had gone through just about every book in the "children's section" and Miss Ide, the librarian, walked me through the adult portion of the library and introduced me to the staff. I was told I could read anything I wanted. The Sisters didn't care for a 7th grader doing a book report on Gone With the Wind, but they only objected that one time. I think Miss Ide and my mother talked to them :)

Good luck on finding the "lost book" title. Don't forget to search it out on Alibris.com. Some pretty good used books can be found there.

*Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle*

The Never-Want-to-go-to-Bedders

Also, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was a Plus-size woman, and she was GREAT!

Wow, I'm so glad to be here with all you hot reading and knitting girls!! We ROCK!!!

I can't count the number of times I read some of my favorite, mostly Judy Blume books (hello, "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret?") and Beverly Cleary and I can't remember all of them there were so many!!!! I need to go raid my Mom's bookshelves because most of them are probably still there....

And Kate, I remember the Tiki Tiki Tembo book too, it was great!!!!!

No, you are not the only one, but I think I went further back than you. I bought the Little Golden Book "We Help Mommy" and Dare Wright's "Take Me Home." Also, I had to have "From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler." I don't know why. Comfort I suppose.

i promise, this is the last one. i'm a little hopped up on this blast from the past...

from my mom's era: cherry ames, ann rutherford and ann sheridan. how cool is it that the actresses were stars of their own mystery books? and cherry ames, nurse.

Thanks to your readers I've found a book I've been searching for, for longer than I care to mention! I was a Scholastic Book child too; "mommy, why can't I buy ALL the books in the catalog?!?"

Now if only I could find a book of classic poetry, meant for children, published in the early 60's, containing such classics as "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and "The Children's Hour".

My biggest problem these days (ok, maybe not THE biggest) is whether to read or to knit. I haven't yet figured out how to do both at the same time. Probably poke my eye out with a needle!

Kristy - I remember that book! Now I have the name! I was trying to describe it to someone once as "that book where the kid has a really long name and he falls down the well and nearly drowns because his name is so long". Everyone looks at me funny.

Gosh, I wonder what happened to it (and all my other books...)

ooohhhh, Tiki Tiki Tembo was one of my favorite books to recite as a kid. Not a favorite to read, but there is something about that name. I have met many people who knew that book- and pretty much my entire elementary school class. It was a maurice sendak book I think. Along with Chicken Soup with Rice.

I haven't read the 100+ comments above mine, but I'm certain it's obvious that "favorite books from childhood" is a topic that resonates with many, many people.

Mine was an old, old (circa 1965 or so - as old as I am anyway) book called "Johnny Go Round." My twin brother and I made our Gramma Fran read that to us 5 times a day, I'm sure. I still have parts of it memorized. "Johnny Go Round is a tan tomcat. Would you like to know why we call him that?"

I was telling a co-worker about it one day at lunch, and she found it online (alibris.com, I think). I called the used bookseller who had it and had it set to me overnight mail. When that oh-so-familiar book was in my hands, I just sobbed.

I wish I could help you think of the other book. And as a youth services librarian (sadly, an unemployed one), I'm cheesed that any library personnel said you weren't old enough to read those books.

I'm a total book junkie. Loved the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew (I had my mom's copies of these), Little House, Trixie Belden books as a kid. From the Mixed Up Files...one of my all-time faves! I'm starting to collect them to build a collection for my kids. Oh-and the horse books! Loved the horse books! And the Scholastic Book Fair! And Judy Blume! Although now, Go Ask Alice (and all her other equally crappy and fake books) makes me want to pull my hair out-even though it freaked me out in 7th grade.

My people!! I am home at last!

Kristy, I believe that book was called "Rikki Tikki Tembo". (I can still recite his entire name). The younger boy with the short name ("Chang") falls into the well, but the Old Man with the Ladder rescues him before he comes to any harm. But when the oldest son falls into the well, it takes so long to say his name and get the Old Man with the Ladder to come rescue him, he gets very chilled and is sick in bed for a long time. The moral is that people should name their kids short names, in case they need rescuing (well, not exactly, but it's close!)

Susan Cooper, Narnia, Lois Duncan, Lloyd Alexander, M. l'Engle, L.M. Montgomery ... someone mentioned The Forgotten Door, which I've been looking for for ages, and was beginning to wonder if I'd just imagined that one.

There was a book called "Star Girl" that I read over and over when I was in about 4th or 5th grade, about a little girl who came to Earth and made friends with some children, and her parents come to rescue her and give the children who helped her a diamond necklace. Can't find that one anywhere either.

I loved reading my old favorites to my older kids (my daughter is now 21), and I am looking forward to reading them again to my younger two (5 and 3 right now).

Oh. Sorry, Laurie, I don't remember the ones you're asking about. I'm a fair bit older than you, though--maybe they were new when you read them?

Oh, and I will be in L.A. early-ish on Thursday the 19th, but I won't have a car. My hotel will be in L.A. Do you have any ideas about how I could get to SnB and back without causing a lot of kerfuffle? My traveling buddy has meetings that night, and the car is hers.

Good news for Edward Eager fans, the books have all been re-released. I bought 'em all: Half Magic, Magic by the Lake, etc. (I love the one about "thyme" travel.) I am #3 in my family and we had a lot of 50's books, Bobsey twins, Nancy Drew, even the 5 little peppers books. I have to admit, some of them I read now and gag a little. Like my huge collection of Raggedy Ann books, love the illustrations, not so sure about the morals anymore!

I was the same way about books as a kid. And now I am obsessed with knitting, I garden and I have 2 cats. Coincidence?
I worked at Borders for 8 years, and was able to get my kid lit fix on. I now have a 9 year old daughter who is reading Harry Potter. This makes me very happy.

I had to come back and read the additional comments, and see what other books people mentioned that I read. I'm ashamed to say that I would have added "Cherry Ames" and the "Bobsey Twins" books to my list, but was too embarassed. Thanks to everyone who wasn't embarassed to list them! :-)

And I'm back for my second comment.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "The Story of Ferdinand." Well, it's for younger readers than a lot of these mentioned.

Anyhoo. Ferdinand the Bull loves smelling flowers. Bullfighter dudes come looking for bulls and see Ferdinand right after he sits on a bee (accidentally), so they think he's the fiercest bull in Spain and take him off to the bullfights. When Ferdinand gets there, all the ladies are wearing flowers in their hair, and he just sits down in the ring and smells the flowers and refuses to fight. All the bullfighters storm off in a huff and Ferdinand is sent back to his field in the country.

My husband loves Ferdinand! And the one about the little lighthouse.

Madeline! Another one of my faves!

I could do this all night.

Laurie, do you have any idea when the second book was published?

Oh, and Judy Blume. And Beverly Cleary.

Just found this website:

http://www.logan.com/loganberry/stump.html

For 2 bucks, you can submit what you remember & they'll see if they can find it.

Oh, Island of the Blue Dolphins. . . LOVED that book. NOW STOP DISTRACTING ME!!!!

I came back to give you this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/opinion/06druckerman.html?th&emc=th

Particularly interesting (and counter-intuitive, given what I've read about their sexist attitudes), "Australian men, at 2.5 percent, are among the world’s most faithful"

Hi Laurie!!

Try this for the cactus book "Midnight Cactus (Paperback) by Bella Pollen (Author)".

I did a google search and this is what came up with this in Amazon.

I so enjoyed Enid Blyton (clearly not popular in the US): The Farawy Tree series, Secret Seven, Famous Five.

NEVERMIND...it totally isn't the book I found online...but I so wanted it to be, for your sake.

Have a great weekend Laurie!

Sorry Laurie, I dont remember the title of the one you're still trying to find.

But, the person who mentioned the story about some kids who ran away to a museum and were trying to figure out if a statue had actually been carved by Michaelangelo... That's "The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler", which there have been two movie adaptations of.

The first one came out in 1973 and starred Ingrid Bergman and Richard Mulligan (Bert in the tv comedy "Soap") http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070079/

and a remake in 1995 that starred Lauren Bacall http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113126/

One of the stories I loved as a child was the book "My Side of the Mountain". It's a story about a boy who wants to prove that he can live on his own. So he runs away to an area of the Catskill Mountains, there he builds a house inside a dead tree that he hollows out with fire, trains a baby peregrine falcon (named Frightful) that he took out of a nest so that it would help him hunt for food.

I loved that book. The movie wasnt too bad either.

And I just found out there are sequels to that book! yay! An excuse to go to the bookstore!

I've been reading this for a few months now and I love it, but I think I just fell deeply and truly and without recourse in love with you with this post. I grew up as the same kind of kid, my parents and I had regular fights about me going to sleep vs me staying up all night to read "Starring Sally J. Freidman As Herself" for the 3rd time. But they were also very open to let me read anything I wanted, which is how I attempted "The Red Badge of Courage" at age 7 (I failed, but they let me try, you know?). It's a quality I only appreciate about them now that I am getting older. To this day I'm a compulsive and greedy reader. I wish I knew the books you were talking about so I could help you, because I feel your pain there. And I still have my one and only Mrs. Piggle Wiggle book. Good luck on your search! You make me want to seek out the first book I ever read on my own. (It was Richard Scarry's Busy World). I love you! :)
Bea

OMG... I forgot... there's ONE book I keep in my cabinet where I have a lot of my crochet thread stashed...

Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

I read it a lot. Still. The illustrations are just the best!

Of COURSE you're not weird... at least not for wanting to find those childhood treasures. I've done a lot of that lately (I'm collecting Newberry winners; the school I attended 2nd through 4th was very big on Newberry winners).

I was all geeked when I first saw the previews for "Bridge to Terebithia," which was one of my favourites because it didn't have a happy ending... it says a lot about where I ended up, literarily and culturally, as an adult. Admittedly, when I saw the full preview for Bridge, I was pretty sure they'd ruined it, but it still inspired me to go out and get it and read it again.

Onward with the quest!

About 20 years ago I collected all my favorites of childhood into a little library. I shared them with my own children, and even now I like to re-read some of them. Amazing how we're so influenced by literature when we're young. Some of my faves (I'm older than you, dearie) are Loretta Mason Potts, The Best Loved Doll, most Beverly Cleary books, The Mysterious Christmas Shell, A Spell is Cast, Adopted Jane, Blue Willow, Black & Blue Magic, Blue Willow, The Velvet Room, and The Borrowers.

Ah, books. Can't get enough of 'em, never could. My mom has started buying our childhood favorites for us as gifts, and often buys some of HER favorite children's books for my boy. Dh has started reading the Three Investigators books to him at bedtime, even though at five, they tend to be a little over his head.

My aunt gave me a boxed set of the Chronicles of Narnia series for my 21st birthday, and Mom got me the Wrinkle in Time boxed set for my 30th. Other favorites include Pickle Chiffon Pie, Dooley and the Snortsnoot, My Daddy Has a Mole on His Nose, all of the Frog and Toad books, and Alexander and Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.

It's not the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, is it? The second book you're looking for, that is...

I still love Arthur Ransome books, very English, lots of people this side of the pond don't know them, though they should.

Crud. I read that darned cactus people book too. Now I can't remember the title either! I'm almost thinking it was a short story...I seem to remember thinking it really wasn't "sci-fi" enough to be in the book....but that may be just me. I think the commenter above who said something about "Cactus at Midnight" may just be right...keep us updated if/when you find it!

I remember the cactus one. Clearly, except for the title.... I remember it had one of those cliff-hanger endings, like the kid discovered his skin turning green.

Its not invasion of the body snatchers, but its definately a derivitive work. I swear it was one of those Scholastic books from the flyers teachers were always sending home.

OH, and I just dug up a bunch of my old favorite books and bought them from AbeBooks.

Ha. You think Aussies are charming? Wait until you meet me and Nathan. Then you will revise your ideas! ANyway, you've met two of my non-virtual, real life friends now :-) I've known Dave for 20 years!
OK, book series - first books - Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree. Later Black Stallion, Misty, My Friend Flicka, Bobsey Twins (LOL), Chalet School, Dark is Rising, Narnia, Patricia Wrightson (Aussie writer, loved her stuff), Silver Brumby (Elyne Mitchell, ditto), pretty much anything fantasy published before 1980, Scholastic books - gosh I got some good stuff out of that three monthly newletter... age 15 - Star Trek (tos) and hard SF, Clark, Asimov, etc.

I've only skimmed the above comments, but no one seems to have mentioned "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." That is totally an awesome book!

Sorry I can't help you in your search but I had to chime in. :)

No, you're not weird at all. I will not rest until I find a copy of "Pookie, The Rabbit With Wings."

I was a major bookworm when I was a kid (still am actually) We never really had the money for books and with as much as we moved got rid of much of what I had, so the library has been one of my best friends since I could read. Unfortuniately I have read so much that remembering titles and plots is impossible. I read for the sake of reading. I remember when my aunt would take me to the library, I'd leave with at least 20 books (the max at our library) and read um all before they were due, begging to go back to get more! Now I only check out about half that amount, the books are bigger man! hehe

Good luck in your search, neither sounds like books I read

I love books too! I've been browsing the childrens' section at the library and rereading some of my childhood favorites. Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, Little House, and Sweet VAlley High, to name a few. I'm scouring eBay for the Girls of Canby Hall books. I just picked up several of the Ruth Chew "Witch" books. Fun, fun, fun!

waitandsee...I LOVED the Three Investigator books! Are the ones your mom is buying the newer ones, or the originals with the introductions by Alfred Hitchcock??? (the Hitchcock ones are out of print now I think)

Anyone ever read the Tom Swift stories? They were produced similarly to how they do/did the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries. Tom Swift was a teenager who was a genius inventor. He was always creating new inventions and solving mysteries.

One of my favorite books as a child was "In A People House" by Dr. Seuss. I still have my copy (with all the crayon scribbles in it) When I was taking sign language classes about 10yrs ago at the local community college, we had to do a sign language presentation of anything we wanted to. So I picked that book because it was very easy to memorize so that I didnt have to read the book while I was signing. I did get someone in the class to hold the book up so everyone could see the pictures...and my 3yr old self's scribblings :)

The books that turned me into an English major, from 4th grade on:

The Twenty-One Balloons, William Pene du Bois

Charlotte's Web, E.B. White

The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton

The Mouse on the Motorcycle, Beverly Cleary

Where the Sidewalk Ends - by Shel Silverstein
(Sorry, I can't resist!)
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She'd scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her daddy would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Gristly bits of beefy roasts. . .
The garbage rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall. . .
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold french fried and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That it finally touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,
"OK, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course, it was too late. . .
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!

You don't know me because I've only recently found you but...the second book-I don't remember the title either but was there something about a peculiar green glow before the townsfolk got swallowed up by the cactus roots? It's coming back. I'm going to go read the comments and see if anyone remembered the title.

I remember the Go Ask Alice book. Didn't she have a bad trip or something? Maybe I'm confusing it with Jefferson Airplane - LOL. I did read the book but it was eons ago. Hope you find your mystery titles.

I just wanted to let you know that at work yesterday someone showed up in a men's shirt and a belt, with no pants! I thought of you when I heard.

I am always on the lookout for things from my childhood! Old books, music I liked, TV shows/Cartoons on DVD, and anything else that takes me back to that time. I'm glad to hear that you do this, too!

A few years ago I paid a bunch of money for my girlhood favorite Benjamin the True about a boy that befriends a witch and she takes him on adventures.

I've been trying to find another book....Main character a girl, funny things happening like a cascade of bubbles in the house, etc.

Another one has to do with finding the alphabet...The Night They Stole the Alphabet or something, she's fighting with a lady at a flea market trying to liberate the "p" and "q".

The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E.F. LOVED it.

Right now I'm reading Watership Down to my 6 year olds. Too old for them, but they love it, too.

Laurie,
Someone has undoubtedly sent this link to you already, but try the "Book Sleuth" at abebooks.com. It's a forum just for this sort of thing, where you can't remember the title or author:
http://forums.abebooks.com/abesleuthcom

Katie

Katie, I just posted to that forum and I hope someone canhelp me! fingers crossed! Thanks everyone for trying to help. You know how something like that can just drive you nuts until you find it...

And what's so funny is I will one day find that book and feel like I found a HUGE treasure.. and the book itself will probably be just so-so, but I'll be darned if I won't jump through a bazillion hoops to find it LOL.

I love finding books from when I was a kid, too. Maybe your Australian friends can help me. I read this book as a girl that was about an australian girl whose parents were like seasonal workers and all she ever wanted was a home of her own and to settle down in one spot. She finds this cool old house in the woods that is supposed to be haunted and of course in the end the mystery is solved, her dad fixes it up and they're all happy ever after. I think it's called Gilda and I can't find it anywhere. Help!

My mother nearly had a similar argument with my 7th grade teacher as your mother had with the librarian: What on earth are you doing telling my daughter that George Elliot is BORING? Recently, I've been fairly obsessed with remembering and re-gathering the books I loved when I was little. For me, it has also taken the form of making sure my friends' children have all the best. So I can't help with those particular books, but I feel you with the book-love!

Are you sure you didn't watch "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" while taking a trip to Arizona with the family -- and imagined this story?

Am delurkig because of Books Books Books. Have always loved the Betsy-Tacy books and a few years ago went on a search to buy them. In the process found out that there is a Betsy-Tacy Society and they are restoring the house that Maud grew up in which was Betsys house and the house that was Tacys has been restored which are in Mankato, MN. I noticed that noone has mentioned the Trixie Belden series
which is one that I loved and have reread over the years. Another one that was mentioned was the 2 Gone-Away Lake books which are great but I have always enjoyed anything by Elisabeth Enright. Nancy was good too. Does anyone remember books about the Lennon sisters? I have one where Janet is a camp counsler. I was lucky and my mom made sure I kept my books and I still have most of them today. I was always allowed to purchase from Scholastic and when my son entered grade school, he was also encouraged to choose books. I believe that my love of books has one of the reasons that I read so much now - mainly mysteries and if written by women all the better.

Laurie I have enjoyed your blog and your view of the world and all of your trials and tribulations. Divorces are a bitch but there is always something good that comes out of it, mine was my son. Keep reading and knitting.

Laurie,
yes, do come to Oz where we shall make you queen of everything :), we will spoil you rotten, make no mistake there :)

You know you want to, we know you love holidays :)

I too have been collecting books from my misspent youth, recently re-acquiring the little prince among others :) I keep loaning that one, and having to find a replacement with the old translation.. the one with the lyrical text and the whisper of not being literal... :)

oo controversial! :)

for book hunting i use
ebay ebay ebay ebay ebay ebay evilbay..oops.. :-)

Cat

Oh! Oh! Oh! Betsy, Tacy & Tib are the best! I belong to the Maud Hart Lovelace listserv and BTT fans are just as wonderful as knitters. Since I'm a BTT fan and a knitter, I wonder what that makes me?

LOL - glad to see I'm not the only double-poster today. Er, tonight. Just remembering more books, but first a link some of you bibliophiles may never have run across. If you don't mind electronic versions, there's the Project Gutenberg site at: http://promo.net/pg/

*Out of copyright* books. Free. Totally. Absodamnedlutely. Free! Covers everything from the Bible, Hindu and Buddhist religious texts, The Tale of Gilgamesh and other ancient poetry/myth/ whatever, Greek and Roman classics, Irish and Welsh mythology, medieval histories, Sun Tzu's Art of War, Budge's archaeology books, Japanese literature, travelogues from the 17th and 18th centuries (the ones on America are frequently hilarious, esp. by British authors), Jane Austen, early Westerns, mysteries, 'modern' classics, French literature, children's, Kipling, Edgar Rice Burroughs... anything and everything. If it's out of copyright, they're working on getting it up there. Ongoing, permanent project with contributions worldwide. Goal: Get every out of copyright book in existence saved in electronic form. Something like over 6,000 books or so by now. They started out with all txt files, now a lot are also HTML. You can find an incredible number of old favorites there. (For instance, 17 of Edith Nesbit's childrens' books.) Personally, I was overjoyed to find many of the Flying U Ranch westerns there, by Bertha Muzzy Bower, an early 20th-century writer of Westerns who was - gasp - a *woman*! (Which was why she published under B.M. Bower.) Mom introduced me to those, with Chip of the Flying U. Great stories, set in Montana for the most part; meant for adults, but I sure enjoyed them as a kid. Not all of her books were about the Flying U cowboys, but those are what she's most famous for. Esp. since for a while she was a neighbor of Charles M. Russell and he illustrated her first few books. Also collectibles nowadays, so it was wonderful to track down Chip, Weary, Andy, Pink and the rest of the Happy Family for free!

And more kid favorites... Of course the Walter Farley books, being a horse nut. (Did any other Farley reader think it sucked they made Alex a *young* kid in the movies? Bleah.) Eloise Jarvis McGraw, an Oregon author - Moccasin Trail; Mara, Daughter of the Nile; Sawdust In His Shoes, and umpteen more - wonderful. Robert Lawson, great humor - Mr. Revere & I (narrated by his horse); Ben and Me (narrated by a mouse who lived in Ben Franklin's fur hat [g]); Rabbit Hill, more. Daughter of the Mountains by Louise S. Rankin, about a little Tibetan girl who follows her stolen dog all the way to India. The Silver Pencil (I think), *not* the 1991 book by Alice Dalgleish, whoever she is, but an older one set in England which was some sort of mystery, I think, with a bit of fantasy tossed in. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, a retired British Navy admiral, first of a wonderful series about kids and sailboats (one of which has one of the best titles ever: We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea). A book I can't remember the title of, but a young woman goes to stay at an old house and starts meeting ghostly ancestors from the Revolutionary War and hears their stories - in fact, I think she re-lives some of them, if I remember right. (Hm. I have a reprint of that buried somewhere...) Anything by Andre Norton; not only the SF/Fantasy, but also the few historicals she wrote, like Scarface, about a pirate ship's cabin boy in the 1600's in the Caribbean. (Any fan of Pirates of the Caribbean should search this out. [g] Although it doesn't have the humor, LOL. I just snapped up a 1949 copy, I couldn't help it.)

And I *still* have my original Scholastic Books copy of Black & Blue Magic! ;)

The Betsy Tacy books were the best! I loved, loved, loved them! And all the LIttle House on the Prairie Books, too.

But the best was "The Outsiders." I still remember reading it for the first time, and how hard I cried when Johnny died and Dally went on his insane rampage to get murdered by the cops. My 13-year-old son's class had this as assigned reading recently and it's the ONLY time he's ever told me to "Go away, mom. I'm reading!" I was thrilled.

How cool is it that S.E. Hinton is on the state's REQUIRED READING LIST? That is so awesome.

Second funny story: A precocious reader, I checked "The Scarlet Letter" out from our small school library in fifth grade. Trouble was, I didn't know what "adultery" meant and no adult would tell me. Why I didn't look it up in the dictionary, I have no clue, but it sure made that book confusing! To this day, I'm still not sure why Hester Prynne was an outcast. (Joke!)

I am a huge book whore, so of course I had to chime in...

I always loved Cherry Ames and collect them now. The only places you can get them are antique stores and eBay, mostly.

I loved the Girl of Canby Hall series by Emily Chase. They made me want to go away to boarding school too!

I also loved the books by Betty Ren Wright...The Dollhouse Murders, Ghosts Beneath Our Feet, A Ghost in the House.

Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy was AWESOME!

I liked the Lurlene McDaniel books about kids with illnesses (Six Months to Live, Saving Jessica, The Girl Death Left Behind...any wonder I am a nurse?).

I also loved the Baby-Sitters Club and Nancy Drew. And those Norma Klein books that were about REAL and CURRENT TEENAGE ISSUES (they seemed very scandalous in my early high school years).

Hmmm...what else? Oh, a book I LOVED was called Maggie, Too, and it was apparently by Joan Lowery Nixon, according to Amazon, although that is not who I thought wrote it.

You have inspired me to perhaps start buying up some old favorites for when I have kids someday. Many of these favorites are no longer in print, so they may be hard to find...better start now!

My heavens! You had some WEIRD reading material girl!

I was *obsessed* with the James Herriot books (All Creatures Big and Small, etc), Laura Ingalls, especially books that told of her life cause things were more interesting than she led on, and just about anything else I could get my hands on. My obsession is finding a book I read all the time from the school library called "Ghost in the Swing" which was a fantastic story ("Underneath the hollyhocks, where a head received some knocks...) but unfortunately is so expensive second hand that right now I have no hope. someday I'll be able to afford it.... Good luck finding your books! I know what an obsession it can be to find those ones you remember....

I was the same way with books, especially when I was younger. The Laura Ingalls Wilder books, Louisa May Alcott and Beverly Cleary were a few of my favorites...oh and then there were the animal stories! The Black Stallion series, Mish Mash, Flicka and also Trixie Belden Mysteries. I have re-collected some of them but I think I'd really like to try to find the horse stories again...
I did try a Google search with some of the words in your cactus synopsis, but haven't had any luck...oh and thanks to you, I spend money yesterday on herbs and stuff to plant tomatoes...and did I mention I have a black thumb...?

Hey, Laurie - Coming out of lurk mode here in Houston. Yes, I was a horse obsessed reader, too. In fact, there was a time when if a book did not have a horse in it, it went right back on the shelf! When my daughter was about that age (and she was an avid reader, too) I tried to get her to be interested in the horse books. I always got the "pity look". Her taste in books was totally different from mine in school. And I, too, always read way over my age. When I was in high school, I started reading Valley of the Dolls and it mysteriously disappeared. I found it years later stuck in the back of a box where my dad kept house plans. I guess he thought it was inappropriate and hid it. What he didn't realize was that when he hid it, I was on like the LAST page! LOL

Good luck in your book hunt. (Oh, and good luck on your okra plants. They do love the heat and sun. And have the most amazing yellow flowers like hollyhocks.)

I see I'm not the only one who identifies with your rediscovery of your childhood reading. I have be rediscovering and discovering children's literature for a few years now and am officially obsessed!

Not sure if anyone already posted this, but I highly recommend that you check out the work of Tamora Pierce. Specifically you should start with Alanna books (she writes 4 book series). They are all set in a somewhat Arthurian era and feature various heroines. Enjoy!

I, too, have been looking for a book from my childhood. I am 57 now and when I was 10 years old, the book was already kind of old. So that gives you an idea of the era. It was about a boy and his dog who ran away from home. If anyone remembers a book like this, let me know.

Hi Laurie,
I knw you're looking for books, but I just know you want to know about this. That Patons UpCountry yarn you love so much? It's on sale right now at Smiley's. Here's the link:
http://www.pagelinx.com/cgi-shopper/loadpage.cgi/smileysyarns/ezshopper?user_id=id&file=iriot.htm

Sale price is only $3.99 per ball, but the shipping is kind of high. HOWEVER, they do have it! I've bought from them and had no problems.

Off to think about my fav books from my childhood, which was some time ago. Your mom and I might have some of the same favorites, that's what I'm sayin.

Delurking....Love the topic. How cool it is to see that other people grew up like me--loving, reallllyyyyy loveing books. Readers, readers, readers. I escaped an alcoholic home with horse books, sci fi and fantasy, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and more horse books. I remember "working" as a fourth-grader in the school library in the 70's and pasting the little card thingies in the back of new Black Stallion books. Knowing I was the first person to touch the books was a spine-tingling thing for me.

Lucky for me I became a teacher. A third-grade teacher. Every day I get to see kids read....and change. I KNOW what books can do to a kid. They shape lives. How cool it is to have a JOB in which I MUST read children's books, and MUST read them aloud, and MUST do the things which inspire children to WANT to read. If I can get one kid to get in trouble for reading under the covers at night, I've done my job well.

:)

Honey, you can take a girl out of Louisiana but you can't take Louisiana out of the girl. You said "light bill." ;-}

I lived in Bookland, too, as a kid. It was also an escape, and I am SO GLAD I am old enough to have had books and a neighborhood public library which was in a rambling Victorian mansion ... instead of 500 channels of cable TV and gameboy to escape into (in that case I might actually have grown up to be an axe murderer).

In the summer I would ride my bike to the library and stay there till I got hungry and then I would ride home all wobbly with my knapsack full of books. I also knitted when I was a kid. The library had window seats with ancient velvet cushions, and I would sit there and read and pretend that the library was our house and pretend that my parents were famous scientists with thousands of books. In fact, that is the library where I met Elizabeth Zimmermann's first book when I was 14.

My Mom was like yours, she let me read almost anything I wanted.

You are not alone! Since Katrina, I have begun to retro-book, although I am older enough than you that I had a Monkees lunchbox in 6th grade.

I still have a handful of childhood books which followed me away from home. I went off to college with all my H.P. Lovecraft and Dr. Suess and the Jungle Book and a few others. Unfortunately, Nancy Drew and everything else from Scholastic books had gotten boxed up and was still in the attic when Katrina hit. But I digress.

I would love to replace "The Velvet Room," a story about a little girl in the Depression whose family are itinerant farm works who pit peaches for a living. She finds a grand old abandoned house full of books, and she is so happy, and then she solves a mystery too.

I would also love to replace "Hold the Rein Free" which is a book about a little girl out West who befriends a little Mexican boy and together they save the life of a wild mustang.

And also "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH."

There's another book I really loved, too -- the title evades me but it was about a little girl who discovers a Loch Ness type creature living off the Orgeon Coast, and nobody believes her at first, and all her adventures. The author's name was either Cameron Something or Something Cameron. Or maybe Cameron was someone in the book? I would LOVE some help with this one! Books whose name I recall, I can find!

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" is a classic sci-fi movie in which aliens land in Washington DC with a message of peace. The ambassador is a guy named Klaatu, and he has a protector-robot with awesome powers named Gorp or Garp maybe? But of course they are greeted in ultra-friendly US Army Cold War fashion, so the robot has to use his powers of melting tanks with his eyes before Klaatu even gets to say, "Hello, we come in peace." Anyway, it's really a great Sci-Fi movie, but it's not about deserts or cacti. Wish I could be of more help! HOwever I know exactly the sci-fi genius to call and ask, so I shall return.

I've never met a bad Aussie either, and I still puddle up when I think of Steve Irwin.

I have no information on the books you seek, but I have to flip out about Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle BECAUSE I LOVE THOSE BOOKS. They were in constant rotation when I was younger, and I'm hoping to snag the set for myself soon.

That's funny, because I was just thinking about the "Never Go To Bedders Cure" today. Ah, childhood books.

Oh, and I forgot, "Where the Red Fern Grows," which is a book about a boy and his two coon hounds and the ending is SO sad.

You know what the best part of being a teacher is? Every year I am "forced" to re-read my old favorites and to discover some new ones along the way.

No classroom is complete without a class library. These are generally books the teacher owns. Do not ask how many children's/adolescent books I own. Some highlights are From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Westing Game (My class loved that one so much when I read it to them this year that at least two-thirds of them own it now.), The Chronicles of Narnia, The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper, the Lloyd Alexander series, the Artemis Fowl series, The Series of Unfortunate Events, various books by Lois Lowry including one of my all-time faves The Giver, Harriet the Spy, His Dark Matters series by Philip Pullman, various Beverly Cleary books, all of Shel Silverstein's works (You must check out Runny Babbit. Too cute.)... Well, you get the picture. It doesn't hurt that I get at least three different flyers from Scholastic each month. And I get a discount at most bookstores for children's books.

My new great love is The Sisters Grimm series. They are now second to the Pullman.

I refuse to bring in my Little House series. They are the books that I have owned since age nine and I would die if anything happened to them. I recently gave my Nancy Drews to a family friend.

And now whenever I think of Babar, I think of the book, Should We Burn Babar?.

A possible title for Book 2 is "Desert Magic and Other Stories" by Mark Aulls. It's available on www.abebooks.com for as little as $7.50 US. I have Googled the hell out of the title and authour and can't find any information on what it's about or even a picture of the cover. It was published in 1971 and re-released in 1988 so it fits the time frame for us to be in our pre-teens. It's a Scholastic title and since I live in the middle of the crack of nowhere, that's about the only source of new books I would have been able to find at the time. Thank you God, for the internet! I really can't think of anything other than Desert, Cactus, or Plant People that would have been in the title.

:wild applause: We are ALL birds of a feather here; perhaps there's a connection between the passion for knitting and reading - and child lit is the absolute BEST. My favorites are too numerous to mention, and I'm OLD and have my childhood set of "My Bookhouse Books" (Prince Harweda and the Magic Prison); my all-time favorite was Wi Sapa by Lyla Hoffine about a Sioux Indian boy, published the year I was born (1943, just sayin'). "The Wonder City of Oz" by John R. Neil, who illustrated the early ones except the first, which was illustrated by Denslow. I've gotten copies of some of my treasured favorites on ebay and from Abebooks and Powells. My father (a journalist) used to say "Money spent on books is never wasted", which I quote to my husband when he reviews our groaning leaning bookcases. And I bought a little bookstand at Barnes & Noble and I *CAN* read and knit (at least if it's simple stockinette). I've so loved reading everyone's cherished titles and am going to root out some of those titles for rereading. Laurie - bless you for this fabulous bit!! Please do let us know the title of the cactus one, I'm dying to read it now! Also, my sisters and brothers: I recommend "The Birchbark House" (new, written by Louise Erdrich) to anyone interested in Native American history. (The sequel's a seamless continuation: "The Game of Silence"). The effects of my reading as a child: I am (as are all of you) STILL a wild reader, I've been a bookseller (woe betide my wallet), I write children's stories (with no idea how to get published, alas) and I'm a storyteller. Now, where's that bookstand? I'm reading Wi Sapa again...

Replying to ErinLindsey: the Three Investigators books we have are dh's from his childhood. I believe they do have the Alfred Hitchkock intros.

To Dez (and any other H.P. Lovecraft fans): you MUST come to Providence. For Lovecraft's birthday, the fan club does a walking tour of the neighborhood where he lived, ending with readings of his work at his grave.

The most recent out of print book my mom bought for the boy was one of my brother's favorites: What Makes it Go, What Makes it Work, What Makes it Fly, What Makes it Float. It's pretty cool to look at, but is VERY outdated... it includes schematics of rotary phones and reel-to-reel tape recorders!

"The Ghosts" was my favorite. I still have it and recently reread it. It's actually pretty creepy--not because of the ghost story but because the ghost is a kid who was murdered by his parent figure. Weird.

I've been looking for a book that I read when I was around 8. It was about a wizard that made a new breed of animals that were puppykittens. I know, it sounds a little goofy, but I'm dying to find it! I loved it so much!

I usually make sure to read the comments before posting, but so! many! today! That second book reminds me of "The Day of the Triffid" somewhat except for a few *minor* differences (ahem) such as 1. it's set in London, which is not known for its deserts and 2. nearly everyone has gone blind from watching a mysterious meteor shower(you would I think remember a detail like that). The triffids were sort of a perambulating cactus-like plant used as an ornamental garden plant with a poisonous stinger which the gardener would trim and render harmless. But with everyone blinded the stinger grew back. Rampaging cacti meandering through London, stinging and killing people.

It's actually a much better book than I'm making it sound. Really.

I forgot to mention, a few days ago there was a post about kid's books on The Panopticon (blog) and a lot of people wrote in with their childhood favorites. I think you'd enjoy checking it out.

Witchypoo, I used to work with a woman who married an Australian she met on a flight back to the States. So you never know what will happen. :) I haven't thought of The Best-Loved Doll in years, but I really enjoyed it as well as No Flying in the House and Magic Elizabeth. And Go Ask Alice scared the crap out of me, talk about being scared straight (even before you've done anything). And Sherlock Holmes and the Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K LeGuin and Tanith Lee and Roger Zelazny...I WILL shut up now.

Hellllooooo from another "not so bad Australian"

I am not sure how I stumbled across your blog but I've spent the best part of my Easter Sunday reading and giggling (WITH you - not at you!) and nodding my head with understanding!

I hope you find your books! I'm a book nut too and don't like to retire them once read - I have shelves and rooms full - my dream is one day to have a library - you know the kind with the movable ladder, big comfy chair etc...

I am so with you - I too have been trying to collect the books I loved as a child, because when I was little we didn't buy most of the books I read; we always went to the library; so I didn't own many of them.

I did have all the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books and many of the Bobbsey Twins. I loved Cherry Ames and Sue Barton (I think that they ignited my interest in medical subjects that I have till this day).

Among old books, I loved The Little Lame Prince, The Secret Garden, The Jungle Book, The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, and Heidi.

But my all-time favorites were by Elizabet Enright, particularly her series about the Melendy family: The Four Story Mistake, The Saturdays, Then There Were Five, Spiderweb For Two. I now have bought all of them and have them on my shelf where they belong.

I also loved Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle In Time as others have mentioned.

When I was a bit younger I liked the book(s) (there may have been more than one?) about kids who find a dinosaur that never died. I think it was called something like The Secret of Indian Spring. Anyone read that one?

I'm sure I'm forgetting some. I was reading constantly as a child. I wish I had enough time to read as much now as I did then!

Waitnandsee, thanks for the invite! I have heard of thatLovecraft event and have always wanted to go. I developed a deep obsession with ghost stories and paranormal when I was about 12, which was also when you got your Adult Library Book Card, if your Mom or Dad would come in and swear you were 12. That's when I found H.P. Lovecraft, the Middle Ages and science fiction all at once, as I was also a Star Trek (original) addict. Thanks to those who mentioned A Wrinkle in Time, as I had forgotten the name of those books! But it was predominantly stories of animals and dragons and sci-fi/horror that captured my imagination as a kid, as well as Adventures in Far Away Places -- Jack London! Robinson Crusoe! I think I read every kids' book ever made that had a horse in it.

How is it we never get enough of this? I grew up to work with animals, and last night DH and I watched "Hidalgo," and tonight he patiently endured me watching "Jeremiah Johnson" for the gabillionth time -- Robert Redford AND horses -- and a direct quote from DH -- "you will watch ANYTHING with horses and mountains in it, won't you?"

The big joke at our house with me is my "movie checklist." Horses? Check. Cloaks? Check. Swords? Check. (Ponchos and six-shooters can be substituted for cloaks and swords). I can be in another room, and Dave will call out, "Hey, there's a movie on with horses, cloaks and swords."

He's doomed. We are going to watch it. But in all fairness, I get my turn to be doomed if there is something on TV involving car chases, explosions and scantily clad female spies.

I was driven to find Three Billy Goats Gruff a couple of years ago. I also found a cross stitch pattern of the troll under the bridge at the same time. It was on a painted canvas. What was really wierd is that it was for sale in the shop of a woman whose brother was my classmate in Junior High. Small very strange and wonderful world.

Sorry to be back here, but I wanted to mention that if you don't have kids but would LOVE to pass on your love of reading in another way, Google The Animal Rescue site. They have a link there where you can click your way to helping a kid get a book of his own. [The Literacy Site.]

Also great if you DO have kids... LOL

[Click all the links for the six different sites--they are all GREAT causes! And it only costs a click!]

So we must be twins separated at birth! I thought I was Laura Ingalls Wilder!!

I also have an obsession to own all of the books I loved as a child. I wish I could help with that second one, but not familiar.

Do you remember the Happy Hollisters? I'm well on my way to owning all of them. My shelves (and boxes) are full to overflowing with books already!!

I loved your post and all the comments--find it fascinating how many of us love talking about our favorites, and how many of them are the same! What a testimonial to the importance of children reading! I LOVE E.L. Konigsberg; she's still writing I think, and her new stuff is good too, although nothing will ever match "Files"! Here is a fun website I found to share your opinions of Newbery winners: newberryproject.blogspot.com

I have been trying for years to remember a picture book I had as a child Help! Very cute illustrations about a girl with a large doll collection of dolls from different countries, that her father, a seaman, I think, brought her from his travels. She is waiting for him to come home, loading all her dolls in a wagon to walk to meet him, and when she meets him, curious about what type of doll he has brought, the doll looks exactly like her, right down to the green overalls! Does ANYBODY remember a book like this? I think it might have been a Golden book, but not a Little Golden book.
Trixie Belden books--I loved 'em and still have my collection. Would save up until my mom took me to 5 & dime to buy a book for $.89. Yes, some still have price sticker on them!

Oh my goodness, I have never met anybody else in the world who remembers "Secrets of the Shopping Mall"! I was fascinated by the extraordinary weirdness of that book. Teresa and Barney live in a department store! And the Mouth-Breathers! Thanks for sharing that memory with me.

Laurie, you said "And what's so funny is I will one day find that book and feel like I found a HUGE treasure.. and the book itself will probably be just so-so, but I'll be darned if I won't jump through a bazillion hoops to find it LOL.:

I had this happen to me recently ... the name of the book was "Center Line," about a family of 5 boys who run away from their abusive father in Indiana and make a better life for themselves in Florida. I loved it so so much at the time, but once I had it in my hot little hands it was only so-so.

You and any of your readers who loved Madeleine L'Engle's books may be interested in reading her journals - the first is titled "A Circle of Quiet" and just gives amazing insight into how those fantastic books came to be created. Plus of course she is a truly amazing woman.

I almost didn't leave a comment because there are nearly 8 bajillion comments already, but...

I AM DOING THE SAME THING. Revisiting books from my childhood, that is. Not flinging my clothes off at the slightest hint of an accent. I prefer to slowly remove my clothing. But I digress.

I haven't gone so far as to order any from Amazon yet, but everytime there's a book sale/swap/give-away, I HAVE to look for my childhood favorites.

Granted, I edit reading textbooks for a living, so I can chalk my craziness up to "research", but we both know that it isn't.

"Secrets of a Shopping Mall"? Is that the one where a girl discovers the mannequins come to life at night? And the girl eventually decides to live in the mall with the mannequins? If that's the one, it was utterly surreal to my 10-year-old self!

Been reading your blog for awhile, Laurie, and rooting for you, but apparently the topic had to turn to "Files" and "Beautiful Girl" for me to de-lurk. Hee! My favorites were ones that I don't think anyone has mentioned-- the elementary school versions of biographies of famous people? They were probably published in the late 50s or early 60s, and all had those pressed cardboard covers with really bad black and white illustrations. But the stories were amazing! That's how I learned who Babe Didrickson was, what kind of cake Dolly Madison made for her husband, and how Molly Pitcher got her name. I would love to have those.

I too am obsessed with restocking my childhood library, but there's one that has always alluded me. It's about two girls who look a lot alike, but one is rich and the other is poor. They meet at a train station just before WWII starts, and neither wants to go where she is supposed to (rich girl to relatives she's never met somewhere, poor girl to a foster home somewhere), so they switch places, thinking they'll be able to switch back pretty quick once the war is over. But of course the war goes on forever and they each end up living the other's life for years. At the end of the book, the (formerly) rich girl finds the (formerly) poor girl, and says she doesn't want to switch back, but the formerly poor girl pretends not to know who she is! I have been looking for this book for years, and I always associate the word "Columbia" with it, but no luck on google. If anyone knows the title, do tell! I'm def going to try that loganberry site, too.

Also, the last in ultimate book geekery-- I loved my elementary school librarian to pieces, and I'm still in touch with her after all these years (I'm 37). She loves knowing how much she meant to me as a kid (and now), so I encourage anyone who's able to get in touch with their old librarians to drop a line and say hi and tell them how much you love reading and that they were a big part of that. You might find out something really cool, too-- my librarian recently told me in all seriousness that she was a spy for the CIA in the 50s. Who knew?

I was a big reader when I was a kid and now my son is turning into a big reader. My husband and I saved all of our books from when we were kids so my son has a whole lot of reading to do and we are all loving it. He's read all of the Ramona Quimby books and now as a family we're working on the Indian in the Cupboard series. It's great fun to see him reading all the stuff we loved as kids!

Oooh, I was a Scholastic Book Club Magazine junkie, too. When I see the kids at my tutoring center pouring over them, I get a great reminiscent flashback.

Oh no, Erin: That book sounds familiar to me!And I want to read it!!!!!

But of course I am way stuck on my stupid Cactus Book quest to look for that too LOL :)

But it sounds so familiar... oooh... twitching....

My husband's favorite books from childhood were "Help, I'm a prisoner in a chinese bakery" by Alan King and "My life as a small boy" by Wally Cox. I'm sure these made him the smart alec he is today! Mine were "The Hobbit", "Gone away lake" and "Eight Cousins" which made me the knitter I am today!

"Midnight Cactus" by Bella Pollen mebbe?
http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Cactus-Bella-Pollen/dp/0802170315

Could this be it?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0531003809%3ftag=msdotcom-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26dev-t=D1KQJBNTALRLQH?
(The Plant People by Dale Bick Carlson)
The description looks like we may have found the book and then we can all stop wasting away searching…the internets. :)

I even went to Powells today to check out the kids books. Fortunately, I went to the smaller one in Beaverton instead of the HU-MANG-USH one downtown or I would still be there, going up and down every aisle. I did leave with some nice books that were on sale though…

Found this while looking for the elusive title:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=208x9121

I wonder how many hours that person spent trying to find this book?

On another note, Laurie have you gone to Old Navy? They have BABY DOLL DRESSES! Can I get an AMEN!?! These things are finally coming back! Empire waists and softly gathered fabric below to float gently over my (not so) lovely lady lumps! Woo hoo! They also have long tank tops and linen (wrinkly, yes, but sooo comfy in hot weather). Best of all, they don’t stop at a size 12. I have better luck finding things that fit at Old Navy versus Banana Republic even though they’re the same company. I guess this means I’m both poor AND fat. Too bad there isn’t a combination of both stores. They could call it Old Banana.

When I read your blog, it’s like getting a letter from a best friend. Collecting childhood books is something I’ve started doing in the last few years, too. I’ve even started collecting books that weren’t around when I was a kid (Spiderwick books, Series of Unfortunate Events, William Joyce- have you seen what he does to his house on Halloween? AMAZING!). I don’t have kids and don’t plan on having any- these books are just for me. They keep the magic in my life alive and well! It’s like vitamins for my spirit. Your blog is like my morning cup of coffee. :)

The book subject came up this weekend at my LYS.

When I was a kid we had tons of books around, but no TV so we read. I blew through what kid books we had and was reading Stephen King, Dean Koontz and anything else of interest when I was just a little kid. It wasn't until later that I realized it wasn't what most kids were doing. *L* Now when people ask me what my favorite book was as a kid and I tell them The Stand & Watchers people just look at me weird.

Hmmm I wonder if I could find that one book... A friend lent me a book when I was a teenager and I loved it, but I have no clue what it's called or who the author was. I'll have to go googling. :D

I was a Navy kid and loved my books who were also my friends. Read every single Cherry Ames book...and I am a nurse. I loved All of a Kind Family, More of a Kind Family, the Five Little Peppers and How they Grew, and on and on. Also found a book at Scholastic for my kids many years ago called, "Mary Alice, Operator Number 9" which for obvious reasons was a big hit at our house. Calling your mom by her first name is hysterical when you are 7. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

I heard on the news last night that author Johnny Hart passed away. I was sad because he wrote books of comics of my favorite characters, "B.C." and the the wonderfully crazy "Wizard of Id". I've pulled out my copies of "The King is a Fink", "There's a Fly in My Swill" and "The Peasants are Revolting" and today and will revisit the silly writings of Mr. Johnny Hart, RIP.

Agh! The cactus people book was bugging me but I'm sure Lisa K is right it's The Plant People. I remember reading that book from my library frequently.

Did anyone else enjoy Locked in Time by Lois Duncan? I loved that one so much

Also the Fabulous Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Once upon a time and long ago a man who still had his complete set of Chip Hilton sports hero books met a woman who quoted Pooh with alarming frequency. They lived happily ever after in a house full of books (and yarn).

What a trip down memory lane the comments are! Scholastic book paperbacks--My Mom had to set a dollar limit or I'd have ordered almost all of them. I spent hours adding up my totals and rearranging my list. Rereading is sometimes disappointing. Many of the books of my era are far more sexist than I remembered-how to be a "good" girl. sigh. Wish I'd had Judy Blume when I was a kid.

Michelle -- when you said "green overalls" the illustrations popped right into my head, but not the title. I know I had that book, but it's been a looong time. If it comes to me I'll post again.

I *adored* Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and Encyclopedia Brown, and The Phantom Tollbooth, and A Wrinkle In Time... yes, I know AWIT is preachy and very silly science and most of the characters are cardboard cutouts, so sue me, I loved it anyway.

I swear I was going to read all the comments, but there are SO many I don't know if I can!

Among others, I especially remember:

The Wrinkle in Time series
Mary Downing Hahn (previously mentioned, holla!)
Five Little Peppers
Half Magic
Little Witch (WAY before Harry Potter!)
Lloyd Alexander
Some book about a girl who goes out west with her mother in the late 19th century and falls in love with a cowboy
Some series of books about a cool old man who babysits a family, and his pipe creates magic
Rabbit Hill
The Dark is Rising series
Go Ask Alice (guilty pleasure)
Judy Blume, of course
Marguerite Henry
Another guilty pleasure: Lurlene MacDaniel, whom I had mercifully forgotten about until this day, but big memories!
The Babysitter's Club series!

More specific memories: I remember practicing my signature over and over until I could sign for my library card, I think I got it at five or six. (I could read, but not write.) My (younger) best friend at the time got hers first, and that lit a fire under MY butt.

Also, my very best girlfriend in 4th and 5th grade was also a book addict, and we read on the bus, sharing the book. I miss those books. (Just to point out: I still have most of them!)

I loved Betsy, Tacey and Tibb. And the Five Little Peppers. My Mom bought the ancient library copies of the Five Little Peppers when then were being withdrawn - it's so nice to have those books in my possession.

i love my parents for saving all my books. i'm 46.

re: Misty of Chincotague
in virginia, it's part of the school curriculum and i read it as a kid. when my son had to read it (about age 8? i think) we took a trip to chincoteague and saw all the ponies. they had penned them up for their annual health check-up and we saw the entire virginia herd. there's a movie theater in the little town of chincoteague, and when the misty movie was playing, they laid a new sidewalk in front of the theater and it has misty's actual hoofprints in it. also, a very excellent bakery across the street.

I don't know if anyone is going to read down this far... A wonderful source for rare, used, or collectible books is www.abebooks.com, which is a site where many of the used book dealers in the country hawk their wares. (A used bookstore owner told me that 30% of his sales were on-line, even though he only had 10% of his inventory listed.) Good for them, good for us.

I'm looking for a book entitled "Born To Eat Toast." It was a book of hilarious cartoons published in the 1970s and used to be in the Dallas Public Library. I should have stolen it when I had the chance since it seems to have completely disappeared from the face of the earth.

Wow! My mom had to have a little talk with the librarian, too. One certain librarian would not allow me to check out "adult" books when I was 10 or 11. I finally told my mom and she marched over there, had me point him out, and set him straight. He made a big deal about giving me an "adult" library card, but I never had problems again.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Lois Lenski (spelling?)--or maybe they have and my middle-aged eyes have missed it. I scoured the library shelves for all her books. I also have really fond memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Trixie Belden series, and a really nutty book called "Amelia Bedelia" that I lost on a family trip when my 8-9 year old brain thought it would be brilliant to turn the pages by holding it out the car window,

Laurie, between your on-target castigation of fashion designers and this post on childhood books, you've sure stirred up a lot of fond memories of reading and not-so-fond memories of clothes shopping. Thanks for the laughs.

Collecting kids books? It's probably a nesting thing :P

But seriously! I like collecting crappy old movies that I used to love as a kid. More often than not I'm surprised to find how adult some of them are, with themes that are waaaaay above the head of the 5-7 years old I was at the time! I'm also stoked to see all sorts of cool telly shows from when I was young being released on DVD, in particular Airwolf (Although I was probably 10 by the time that got to our shores!)

Retro collecting is the best... good luck with your hunt!

I read the cactus people book!! I was in 5th grade... I remember it was a hardback book, and I have a vague impression of a picture of some old lady's hand supposedly when she was turning into a plant maybe?? ropy gnarled hands, heavy veins, it kinda reminded me of a lettuce leaf of all things. How bizarre.

Yay! We weren't collectively hallucinating that book! I have to go buy a copy now!

I have been amassing books from my childhood lately, too. This is because I want to share them with my own kids, but just looking at them online and purchasing them got me all teary-eyed. I loved the Shel Silverstein books. Nancy Drew was great, too. Oh, and I did love Sweet Valley High.

Try looking around at Stump the Bookseller. They are v helpful and not expensive if you list your own query.

http://loganberrybooks.com/stump.html

Oh. My. Gosh. I completely forgot Winnie the Pooh! My mother read all of the A.A. Milne books to me when I was really little and then I read them myself when I got older. I have all of them of course, my original old dog-eared copies. We had not only the Pooh books but also the poetry he wrote for kids (Now We Are Six and When We Were Very Young).

I can still recite "James James Morrison Morrison, Weatherby George DuPree, took good care of his mother, though he was only three. James, James said to his mother, mother he said, said he, "You must never go down to the end of the town without consulting me!"

We liked the Vachel Lindsay poems too - "The Moon's the North Wind's Cookie" and "The Moon it is a Griffin's Egg" were two my mother used to read to me before bed.

Wasn't it wonderful to meet Kellie and Dave?! We had a great time here in Minneapolis.

Thanks for the flashback to some childhood favorites! Alas, those last two books sound familiar.

Did you ever read the book about the wicked pigeon ladies?

I remember going to the bookmobile in the parking lot of my elementary school and stocking up on Barbara Wersba books...it's a toss-up between Tunes For a Small Harmonica (appealed to my closet rebellious nature) and The Country of the Heart because it had real sex in it!! Between a young guy and an older lady...almost blew my mind at the time. Thanks for reminding me of old books I loved. Amazon, here I come!

Mary in Boston! Five Little Peppers! Oh, I didn't know it was a whole series! I have one of those that I won in 4th grade, runner-up in a class spelling contest and my teacher wrote a little comment in there for me. I dearly love it but I haven't read it in years. My daughter read alot, too, as a child and teen. I see others have also read Go Ask Alice. I still have a few old books from when I was young.

Not only do I use 'shoe number' in emails to the creator of the term, I now use 'shoe number' in my everyday knitting vocabulary. I get some strange looks, but I know in my heart that I am really cooler than them. Anyhow, the advice worked well. My attempts at making my own hat with out a pattern didn't work so well though. I unfortunately forgot that moss stitch ends up much wider than stockinette, so I ended up with this freakish mushroom-like thing that was masquerading as a hat. I was making the hat for my boyfriend, and unfortunately he was there when I finished it otherwise I would have hidden it away and made him a different and less terrifying hat, but he (being sweet) insisted that he loved it and decided to wear it, keep it, and not allow me to redo it. The awkwardness of the hat coupled with the fact that he is not a hat person (yet he asked for a hat, I said socks, he said hat) made for an interesting picture. Needless to say, I don't allow him to wear it in public.

I made a new one though, a basic one and used your shoe number and it worked perfectly. You rock.

Ok, I just posted that one the wrong blog.