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| Chris bought me the first Harry Potter as a present when I got induced, and that's what I read while we waited for Jack to arrive. And this is the best picture I have that actually includes me and the book. This is the best one, you guys. Labor. |
I read The Indian in the Cupboard when I was in the second or third grade, and (racially insensitive title aside) it was the first book to give me that thrill where you just have to know what happens next. I was reading in my room, and my mom called me to dinner right after Little Bear shot Boone with an arrow. I remember being so swept into the story that couldn’t bear the thought of leaving it behind for a minute. It was exhilarating.
At that age, I hadn't felt that page-turner feeling before, but I still loved reading. The summer before, I remember sneaking into the kitchen to have one little spoonful of brown sugar during the “sugaring off” in Little House in the Big Woods. I don’t know what maple sugar tastes like, but the way she describes it melting on her tongue is so vivid and delicious. I figured having a little brown sugar would make me part of the party too. A few years later I probably read Ella Enchanted a dozen times in a row. And, of course, there was every single page in all of Harry Potter.
Those first few books are so significant to me, but I own almost none of them. Do you own any of yours, or they all in your parents’ basement like mine? Anyway, I want our kids to have a small library of their parents’ childhood favorites so we can all read them together. The To Buy list right now includes:
- Peter Pan
- So much Roald Dahl
- Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic
- A few of the Garfield comic books
- Every single Calvin and Hobbs comic
- The Wayside School series
- The Little House series
- The Anne of Green Gables series
- The Boxcar Children series
- The Lord of the Rings series
b perry
