Childhood Books

Inspired by Simmy's post at Echoes of a Dream, I've taken pictures of my own bookshelves

You may be able to identify Harry Potter, The Chronciles of Narnia and The Little House books sitting on the shelves. Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service is also sitting there, along with my very favorite books by Zilpha Keatley Snyder





The colored set to the left is a duplicate of a set I owned as a child. I've been putting it together with volumes found at thrift shops. I think I may be missing a few. The Oz books and the Mary Frances books are reprints. There is also a Mary Frances Knitting book that I don't own.


Craft books and Japanese books


Some more old favorites


The My Bookhouse and the red Story Hour set with black trim are things I discovered as an adult. The orange childcraft setis similar to the volumes I would check out of the library as a child.


Old schoolbooks


The copy of Sara Crewe was probably the first nice antique book I treated myself to as an adult. Most of the children's books I own are library cast-offs, many of the libraries around here have big sales yearly. I was also an out-of-print children's book dealer for about 6 years, from when Miranda was a baby until recently. It got harder and harder to find time to scout for books, as well as simply getting harder and harder to find good books--too many people in the business these days. But the bulk of my books were found during those scouting sessions.

I read so much as a child that I would neglect my schoolwork. At one point, as punishment for bad grades, I wasn't permitted to go to the library for pleasure for one entire grading period. It wasn't too bad--I liked to read non-fiction as well, so I would make-up reports I was supposed to be working on, and take out books on that subject. I would also bribe my younger sister into picking out books I would like to read. Once I even snuck off to the library and smuggled home some books. Both my parents loved to read as well, family trips to the library were a frequent activity, as well as my dad bringing home bags of books from library sales for us. But they had a strict sense of how things should be done, and schoolwork took precedence over "pleasure" reading. I remember how much I was self-educating myself as a child, and some of my frustration over those memories has shaped my attitude in unschooling my own children. Not to mention the pleasure I still get when reading while eating--another forbidden activity when growing up!