Memories about books
Posted by: Moot96 <Moot96@...>
I remember my parents reading "Yertle the Turtle" by Dr. Seuss to me long
before Kindergarten. Other similar books also - like "The Cat in the Hat".
I was a good reader quite young, and I remember having "Show and Tell" in 1st
grade and I brought a book called "The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings".
The teacher made a big deal about it and said "Susan loves to read SO much
that she bought this book with HER OWN money!"
I have my dad's Thornton W Burgess books from when he was a little boy (in
the 1920's) - there is a whole series of them - Paddy the Beaver, Reddy the
Fox, etc.
I remember reading the Carolyn Haywood books - easy chapter books on the same
order as Beverly Cleary but a bit more old-fashioned. I also remember having
some Golden Books, especially "The Pokey Little Puppy".
I was an avid reader as a child and I remember being so excited when my mom
decided that I was old enough to stay at the library alone while she went
grocery shopping - I was probably about 8 years old. I remember finding the
non-fiction books and I remember reading a couple books about animals as I
sat there, feeling very grown-up.
One of my favorite childhood books was "On Your Toes Susie". It was a
Scholastic Book Club book and it was about a girl named "Susie" who
was in a ballet class and she got the mumps (or was it measles or chicken
pox?) and couldn't go to her recital. I never took dance lessons, and this
book was fascinating to me. I also read Nancy Drew books, and some science
fiction (Robert Heinlein).
I don't have my childhood books - my dad passed away when I was 16 and we
moved from a house to an apartment and I think lots of things were left in
the attic or lost in the shuffle. 🙁 I do have the Burgess books, however.
My hubby and I started reading to our oldest daughter when she was just a few
months old. We took our babies to the library at about 1 week of age! We
always brought home PILES of children's books - sometimes we had 50-60 books
out at any given time. We have a really excellent library for the size
suburb we live in, but we also went to other neighboring libraries just for
fun sometimes.
Some of my fondest parenting memories come from taking the girls to the
library and getting a huge pile of books and we'd come home and make supper
or do something while they all sat quietly and "read" the books for a good
hour or more! My kids loved "Goodnight Moon" and the Shirley Hughes books
(the Alfie ones).
When our kids were little, we always went to church and taught them about
Jesus - the Christmas story, what He did for us on the cross, etc, but I
never had a hunger for God's Word and I didn't read many Christian books to
the kids and we didn't do bedtime prayers (true confessions here!). In 1989,
I bought "Sandi Patti and the Friendship Company" audiotape for my middle
daughter who was turning 8. The girls loved it and sang the songs memorized
it and would do dances to the music, etc. I became very sick in 1990 and
ended up spending 166 days in the hospital during the next 13 months.
It was during that time that the Lord used Christian music to draw me closer
to Himself. It was definitely a Romans 8:28 type situation. There were some
things they did find out that were wrong with me, but I had such an odd
combination of medical problems and we'll probably never know what all was
wrong. I went out and bought one of Sandi Patti's tapes and Amy Grant's "The
Collection" and I listened to that music on my tape boombox that I often hung
onto literally, I was in so much pain.
Gradually I started buying more and more Christian music (I'd get it in
between hospital stays!). So I first learned God's Word through the lyrics
of those songs (I'm not saying that's the best way - it's just what happened
with me). Then I started reading the Bible for myself and reading Christian
books. As far as my kids were concerned, it was awful for me being gone all
that time (although dear hubby and our parents took good care of the girls),
but it was God's perfect timing in other ways. They were about the age where
they were starting to listen to music and might've been interested in the
secular stations if I hadn't found better stuff. So they've listened to
Christian music almost exclusively for about 11 years now.
My husband and the girls all realize that if I hadn't gone through that
horrible time, we wouldn't be where we're at today spiritually (and of
course, the Lord isn't finished with us yet!).
I think I've chatted long enough... Would be interested in hearing others'
stories or your reactions to mine.
Your sister in Christ,
Susan