Fantastic Voyages of Childhood
I was getting nostalgic for the summers of my childhood, when I spent many an afternoon lying on my bed and escaping into fantastic worlds, and I thought I'd raise the question:
What were some of your favorite otherworldly places to visit in books when you were growing up?
I loved Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and other books in that series. I was also enchanted by C.S. Lewis's Narnia books. I was totally captivated by Sylvia Louise Engdahl's Enchantress From the Stars (I need to get myself a copy of that one. I was always checking it out of the library when I was a kid).
I loved any book about kids from our world getting caught up in a fantasy world, like in the Narnia books or the books by Edward Eager (I recently checked Knight's Castle out of the library, just for fun).
What's on your childhood flashback summer reading list?
Shanna
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8 comments:
Shanna, I LOVED A Wrinkle in Time when I was a kid. I tried to read it to my students in May, but got bored with it.
I read Trixie Belden books till they fell apart, the Little House books, and I'd spend tons of money on those Scholastic book orders. There were two books I had that I loved, and for the life of me, I can't remember their names. One was about these kids who moved into an old house. The children who lived there before were killed in a fire, and haunted the house. It was wonderful. The other one I remember was about two best friends writing a book, so it had a story within a story. All I remember is that they used the word "romantical" and had the Rhein River flowing the wrong direction. I sure wish I could find those books again.
Our school library would always open one day a week during the summer and my mom would take me. It was so neat going into the quiet school building and getting to check out books.
When I got older, my grandmother would take me to the five and dime and I'd buy Janet Dailey Harlequins.
Reading was always a huge part of my summer.
I was a big Trixie Belden fan, too. I also liked Nancy Drew, but I preferred Trixie. It was just harder to find those books, while every library seemed to have all the Nancy Drew books. I remember that I was always trying to find the LAST Nancy Drew book because I wanted to see if Nancy and Ned ever really got together at the end.
There was also a series of mystery books about Cherry Ames, a nurse. The series started when she was in nursing school, and then she seemed to go through a lot of jobs. She was a department store nurse and a military flight nurse (I think most of these books were written during WWII) and goodness knows what else -- one job per book.
Another Trixie Belden fan here! I like Trix a lot better than Nancy. Even as a kid, I thought Nancy got away with murder. Figuratively speaking. *g* That chick never got in trouble for anything!
I also love the Narnia books, Edward Eager, The Three Investigators, Judy Bolton, the Little House books, the Oz books, some of the Joan Aiken books, and there was some series I loved but all I remember about it now was some kids who met and had adventures with a family of aliens who lived in the tree by their house. :)
And I'm sure I've forgotten plenty that I adored as a kid.
Oh! Joan Aiken! LOVED her stuff. Black Hearts in Battersea was probably my favorite (I was in love with Simon), but I also enjoyed the rest of that series. Then, a bit darker but set in the same "universe," there was Midnight is a Place. I was so sad to hear recently that she'd passed away. I need to find her last book. Supposedly, Simon ended up becoming King of England!
I started collecting the Joan Aiken books awhile back, but haven't gotten that far along. I hadn't heard she passed away. And we lost Andre Norton not too long ago, too.
When I was in elementary school, the DC public library would drop off a library basket in each classroom and leave it for a month.
One month, when I was in 5th grade, I saw a book in the basket that I HAD to have. So I jumped out of my seat when the teacher said we could pick a book and dashed to the front of the room. That book was RED PLANET by Robert Heinlein. I loved it. And I was hooked on science fiction from then on.
I didn't read the Narnia books until I was much older--and read them to my kids.
I loved all the authors mentioned so far. I was such a book worm as a child. I liked Elizabeth Enright, too. Tatsinda! And Carolyn Kendal.
This summer I am rereading Andre Norton. When I was a kid we collected all her paperbacks. Ad Astra!
Yes, I should be writing the Dreaded Synopsis -- or at least filling out worksheets to cut the working synopsis down to a submission size, BUT.
Loved, Andre Norton, Mary Norton (Bedknobs and Broomsticks). REALLY LOVED Lloyd Alexander's Pyrdain series. Celtic. Hey, the name is Owens, what do you expect?
My Dad told me stories of Greek Mythology and my Mom read me fairy tales -- all those "colored" books. The green fairy book, etc.
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