Wild Things: YA Grown-Up discussion

If any of you are like me, you have special memories attached with a certain book/series or author from your childhood/young adulthood..or you might just have special memories from reading in general as a young child.

So..what are all of your special memories?

I'll share:

Nancy Drew books..they were so special to me. My mom (who passed away about 3 years ago) totally got me into the Nancy Drew series. She pulled out some old books from the attic and gave them to me. They had been hers as a child and I think passed down from her mom. I devoured them. I absolutely loved Nancy Drew..but it was even more special because my mom and I could talk about all the books. I treasure my Nancy Drew books that my mom gave me so much..they would probably be the first thing I grabbed in a fire.

Also..I have very vivid and special memories of being read to as a child and spending significant time in the library with my stepmom picking out huge stacks of book once a week. There was nothing better than playing outside all day in the summer and then my step mom saying that she would take us to the library! The funny thing is I used to think that library was HUGE..like a castle..and now when I go back to that town as an adult..it is such a dinky library..but I sure loved it.

ALSO..did anyone else do Book-IT in their school?? I remember reading books and getting stickers on my button and when I filled up all the spots I got a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut!

My children all participated in Book-It and we got countless free personal pizzas! Nice prize.

Richard Scarry and Dr. Seuss. My mom and sisters read TONS of those books to me when I was little. I was always a reading bug.

I would read aloud to my children as I nursed. I never worried about content, just that they hear me READING. I read all but the first of my favorite series (The Masters of Rome Colleen McCullough) that way. I have re-read them since, and certain scenes in the book will bring a memory of a smile or touch from one of my babies. I bet that contributes to my love of the series.

As they grew older, I read all of Roald Dahl's books out loud while nursing, and there were many times their laughter got in the way of their meal! Again, I can't read those books without re-visiting that bell-like laughter or hearing that sweet baby gurgling.

I was a Trixie Belden fan myself. I remember my mom & dad taking me to the house of friends of theirs for an evening one time. They had grown children so there was no one for me to play with. I think they offered me some old toys to play with but I was most intriqued by a box of books. I ended up going home with about 10 old books, including the first 3 Trixie books. Another favorite from that box was The Pink Motel. I've shared that one with all three of my kids through the years and still love it.

I remember being in 4th grade to 6th grade and every night my sister and I sat on either side of my Mom as she read us a chapter of Little House of the Praire. I can still see it in my head. It is one of my best memories... Definitely something I want to do with my kids when I have kids.

I read a lot of Babysitters' Club and Boxcar Children, though Boxcar was THE series for me. I don't know why haha. But what I most remember is not the actual books but how I'd read them. Every time I got a new one, I'd read it right away, but we had to go to bed at a certain time and my parents made me turn out my lights. So I'd use the light from the hall, which was terrible for my eyes but I didn't care. When my dad called me out on it I'd say something like "But you always tell me you wish I'd read more!" I soon got to the point where I was unable to use that excuse anymore haha.

Oh yeah! Trixie Belden, I read those too! And I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - I so wanted to go there and eat everything!

YUM

I had another memory pop up. When I was in 4th grade, my best friend, her sister and I all got chicken pox at the same time. They came and stayed at my house during the day while their mom went to work. My mom would read to us until her eyes would get tired. My favorite book was 101 Dalmations by Dodie Smith (I Captured the Castle). It was amazing how much better it is than the Disney movie. I think that was the first I remember thinking that a book could be better than a movie. It was not long after that than my mom lost most of her sight. I treasure that memory!

My memory and reading always involved my mom. As soon as Barnes and Noble opened up in our community we spent one day a week there browsing through books and reading. We continued doing it til she moved away from San Diego and then I continued to bring my niece with me.

I have always loved to read. Growing up, I had an early bed time, but wanted to read. I tried the hall light for a while, but my parents caught on, and always made me shut the door. So, I would put two blankets over my head and read with a flashlight for hours. After I burned out the batteries in every flashlight in the house (my parents couldn't figure out why none of them worked the next time we got ready to go camping... hehehe) I would hold my alarm clock over the pages, and read by the glow of the numbers!
I will always remember Where the Red Fern Grows. That is my favorite book of all time. My teacher read it to us the first time in 4th grade, and I remember going to the bathroom for a tissue because my 'allergies' were acting up. My parents were always excited that I loved to read, and my dad had a copy of that book he let me read, and I have read, and reread that book over 50 times, and I cry every single time! Definitely my favorite, and a book I think everyone should read!! I have so many awesome memories attached to that book!

My memories of reading as a child include my father. We were very close. First of all, my mom worked nights for awhile, and he was the one getting me ready for bed and reading to me. He would read to me from Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. Each night he would let me pick 2 or 3 poems for him to read to me. He read one of them so often that to this day, I can recite it. When my father passed away, I handwrote that poem out and folded it and tucked it into his suit pocket. That was between us.

Also, my father would take me weekly to the library. We would spend a few hours there browsing and then go to get ice cream. I loved Saturdays for that!

Yeah my parent's both worked at nights so usually I fell asleep next to my night light reading and one of them (usually my dad) would find me and have to carry me to my bed. And then he would tell me the next day I would need glasses when I'm older because I'm not reading with enough light. And I'm 23 years old and I don't wear glasses, yet (and everyone in my family wears them)

My parents told me that too, Jennifer! Except I DO have glasses and my vision is horrendous. But I think that might be the fault of my DNA.

I grew up pretty far out in the country. It was a half-hour drive to the nearest bank/grocery store stuff. We didn't get out a lot, but on Fridays, after my mom got off work, we would drive out to the bank, then we'd walk across the street to our little library. We'd each pick out a nice, hefty stack of books and be set for the week. As I got older, my mom would let me stay in the car and read while she shopped for groceries. My first job was at our little library!

For some reason, I don't really have memories of my parents reading to us, but I know they did. I do have memories of all of us piled up around the house, each reading whatever we wanted. I definitely always remember my parents reading.

Lol, I got the glasses talk all the time too! As if the fear of glasses was going to make me put my book away. Right... ;)

my mom still gives me the glasses talk and even when i tell her my eyes are still fine she insisted i go to the dr for a check up...and i have awesome vision still, thank you very much

Fiona wrote: "My mum got me into reading but left me to it."

Same here. My mom taught me to read very early, so most of my memories of books are things I read myself. When I was a toddler I used to go to her graduate classes with her, and I was very good at keeping myself quiet and occupied. Once I learned to read I was never without a few books. I do recall a few particular picture books she really liked reading to me - Is Your Mama a Llama, Mother Mother I Want Another, Are You My Mother and The Adventures of Simple Simon. (You can see a theme with those first three.) However, most of my reading memories are of bedtime during the weekends at my dad's house. He'd buy these big hardcover books with gorgeous old illustrations to read from. (Vollund editions?) We had A Child's Garden of Verses, The Aesop for Children, The Peter Patter Book and a huge edition of Mother Goose I got for my first Christmas. He'd let me pick out tons of poems and rhymes and fables and read until one of us fell asleep.

Ashley wrote: "Lol, I got the glasses talk all the time too! As if the fear of glasses was going to make me put my book away. Right... ;)"

I used to read in the car at night by the light of the streetlamps and I'd get the glasses talk then. And you know what? It sure the hell did screw up my night vision. My mom was right. (Although it could also be the HOURS I've spent with my nose up to the computer screen doing artwork. Ten years of that has taken a toll, too.) But I don't need glasses. I've checked.

I used to do the hall light thing too! My house was old and creaky so I only ever got caught if I was too into what I was reading!

My mom was the children's librarian when I was growing up so she got to order the books and then bring them home to try them out on me and my brother. I remember being so excited when I finally got my own library card (you had to be 8 in my library).
I also remember Bridge to Terabithia being the first book that taught me that books could be more than just entertaining stories... I remember checking out Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret more times than I could count (my mom, as the librarian suggested I try some other books and let other people have a chance to read it)... Lots of good reading memories. :)

How wonderful to have a mom who's a librarian! You must have read the best books growing up and to get try them out like that!

Yeah, it was pretty nice. She started working at the library when I was 8 and my brother was 5, so she'd bring home good stuff for the both of us. I loved to read before then, but I really remember the three of us reading the latest silly story she brought home and laughing our fool heads off.

So Jennifer, you were depriving other girls of the wisdom within the pages of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret? ;) I'm kidding. I read that book countless times, too. Surprising that you had to be 8 to get a library card. At least you had your mom to bring home all the choice titles. I got mine when I was 4, right when we moved back to the Bronx. I was able to write my whole name so they let me have a temporary card, and when I turned 5 a few months later I got a real one.

That's the way they do it at our library: once you can write your whole name you can get your own card.

Alexis, I did the read-by-streetlamp thing in the car too!

I, too, did the reading-by-streetlights, and got the "you'll need glasses!" speech.

I have worn glasses since I was nine - I'm quite nearsighted. Interestingly, my night vision is pretty good. (One area where being highly light-sensitive probably helps.)

I blame the premie baby box I was put in after I was born; bad vision is apparently a known side effect?

I was not into reading all through my childhood. My mother kept bugging me to read my homework, and I would just read the cliff notes, if I read anything. I remember reading The Wind in the Willows at least six times. It apparently left a marked impression on me, because all I remember is that there was a Mr. Toad.