Awhile back I asked everyone to name a book that changed their life. Today I want you to remember a book that means a great deal to you. It doesn’t have to be the same book.
My mother will tell me not to let anything happen to Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories.
She’s been passing off lots of objects to me for some time. As I write this, I’m cooking dinner in her harvest gold crock pot from circa 1972. But she will not relinquish the Uncle Arthur books. I read her copies when I was little. The story I recall most is why every day can’t be Christmas. A child discovers the repetitiveness of every day being a holiday, and seeing people grow poor from too much gift-giving. I think about this story from time to time, for no reason.
I managed to smuggle my favorite storybook of hers (copyright 1948) out of the house, where it enjoys a home in my office. Let’s Pretend by Nila Mack, illustrated by Catherine Barnes is a book that I don’t want anything to happen to. When I was a child, I would open it to see the beautiful princess, and wish she had been drawn with blonde hair. Why couldn’t I wear a cool red velvet dress? I wanted to style my hair with side braids just like hers, although I probably never had that much hair. Thankfully they drew Cinderella as a blonde, increasing my enjoyment of that tale immensely.
Other books I treasure? My Mary Alice Jones Bible lesson books given to me by my grandparents.
Barbie Goes to a Party was a birthday gift.
I also have my grandmother’s Bible she carried to church in the 1930s as a bride, and a large print bible I gave my grandfather when he was in his later years.
I don’t want anything to happen to these books!
Your turn:
What books do you treasure?
