My favorite book I had to read for a class

#10Days10Books 

Day 2: Best book I had to read for a class

I thought about this all day long today, and I decided that there wasn't really one best book I had to read for a class, but that there was one best category of books I had to read for a class.

As I mentioned yesterday, I didn't actually read a lot of kid lit books when I was a kid. When I was about eight someone made a comment to me about reading a Nancy Drew book. (Which was entirely appropriate for an 8-year-old.) The commenter felt like the comment was teasing, but in keeping with research that shows that teasing is usually not enjoyed by the recipient, for sensitive 8 year old me the comment felt disparaging. And so I stopped reading kid lit. There was a bookmobile that came to a park near my elementary school, which meant  I got all of my books during that time period unsupervised by any adult. Somehow I migrated towards completely inappropriate adult books, and that's what I read from about 9 years on. And no adult paid attention to what I was reading, except to be impressed that I was reading adult books. 🤦‍♀️

As part of my elementary education program at BYU I had to take a children's literature class. I wasn't very excited, I had decided that children's literature didn't have much value. And so I was very surprised to find out how much I absolutely loved it. I read all of the books that were required for my class and many many more, and that was the start of an adult life of loving kid lit.

So thank you to whoever designed that education program for reintroducing me to the books I should have been reading all along. I wish I could go back to 8-year-old Cindy and give her a hug and tell her to keep reading things that are fun. So glad I finally got back to them. 

(Although A Taste of Blackberries is hardly fun, it's gut wrenching. As was A Bridge to Terabithia which I also just remembered that we also had to read.)

Little Women

#10Days10Books

Day 1: My favorite childhood book

I don't have a lot of memories of childhood books despite being quite the reader. Which is a story for a different time. But one book I do remember and still have is this edition of Little Women. 

I learned to read in 1st grade and whatever reading system they were teaching (I'm pretty sure it was phonics) really worked for me. I quickly became an excellent reader. 

One day when I was still 6 my dad took me to the library and picked out an enormous book for me to read. I told him that I couldn't read it, that it was far too long. He asked how I would read a smaller book. I said "one page at a time." He said that that was the same way that I would read this huge book. 

And so I read Little Women. I was so young that I'm sure much of it went right over my head (Pilgrim's Progress, anyone?) but what I understood I loved. I especially loved the romantic story of Laurie and Amy falling in love in Europe, and the beautiful illustration in the book. 

When I was done reading the book I loved it so much that I wanted my own copy. I had saved up enough money to be able to buy it, and my dad said he'd take me to the bookstore. 

But the bookstore near our house didn't have the right edition, the one with the beautiful picture of Laurie and Amy, so we went to the next bookstore. And the next, and the next. We ended up having to go to another city, probably almost an hour away, to find the right book. 

As an adult I've had some feelings about my dad handing a 6 year old a copy of Little Women and expecting her to read it. But I've always remembered that my very busy father did what it took to find the right book for me, and that means a lot.