We were at the library today and borrowed our usual glut of books. When we got home and were unpacking the bag, this book fell out from between the pages of a large board book. My squeal of delight could’ve been heard in Perth, I reckon.
This was one of my most adored books as a child (if you can’t read the title very well, it’s called “The Biggest Sandwich Ever”). When Adam read it to Keira, I listened in the background with a smile on my face I frankly haven’t used the muscles in creating for a long time now.
What’s better (or worse, if you have a bigger sense of ownership than I do) is that the book isn’t a library book. Some poor bugger has lost it. I might sleep with this baby under my pillow for a few nights before, reluctantly, taking it back to the library and putting it into the lost property box.
Your sense of smell is linked directly into the centre of your brain, bypassing all other ‘functional’ and ‘rational’ sectors. Surely the memory of a favoured child’s book does too.
What book did you cherish as a child?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
“Country Bunny and the little Golden Shoes”. If I borrowed that book once frm the library as a child. I borrowed it a million times.
For some reason I thought of that book a couple of years ago, but couldn’t remember its name, but I remembererd its bright pink cover withthe bunnies on it. I found it, but it wasn’t available in Australia anymore.
My husband was going to Canada for the job interview he ultimately got, and I asked him to see if he coudl get it there, and low and behold – Yes.
I read it immediately when I got home, and was fascinated to discover that it was more than a book about the Easter Bunny, it was about prejudice, and racism and realising your potential despite ones circumstances or heritage or gender. I love that book to this day, not only for its importance to me as a chld, but for what it stands for in its essence.
“The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins,” by the great Doctor Seuss. I was lucky enough to own a copy as a child, and I read and re-read that sucker until the covers literally fell off. I’m not sure why I was so smitten with that book, but it began a love affair with all things Seussical…and might explain why today, as an adult, I own more hats than any one man can wear.
strauss – I’ll have to look out for it! I’m intrigued.
D.Paul – Be thankful it wasn’t called the 500 Ferraris of Bart Cubbins
Saved you some money!
The Paperbag Princess– mainly because it was princess called elizabeth, but I now love it as a ‘woman-hear-me-roar-esque’ style of literature, turning tradition on its head…
Wow, I loved both “Country Bunny & the little Golden Shoes” & The Paperbag Princess too, but there’s so many more…
Who could go past…
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Magic Faraway Tree
Tidalick
My Cat Likes To Hide In Boxes
I still have many of my childhood books and often find myself buying kids books for our daughter (but they’re secretly for me!)
Oh shishyboo. I loved “The Magic Faraway Tree” too. I forgot about that one.
Wow – shishyboo you’ve given me an idea for a post series “Books I bought for my kids but are really for me”. I have tonnes here!