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?
Don’t Write What You Know
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Good Night Richard Rabbit and the book’s flipover story, Good Night Little ABC, bring back many good memories of childhood in Ohio. Debbie and her Dolls by Lois Lenski, although always borrowed from the small, community library, instigated my love of books. Also included on that list is a now well-worn brown NIV (’84) Bible, a high school graduation gift from my church. I love that thing!
When I was younger, I loved the Children’s Illustrated Bible Story book. The brilliant illustrations captivated me along with the wonderful stories of Noah, and Daniel to name a few. Another treasured book is the family Bible which is kind of an archive in our families history. It stays under the watchful eyes of my Mother and we get to see it when we visit back home. Thank you for bringing some great memories to light.
Tales of the Kingdom by David Mains and Karen Mains! https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Kingdom-David-Mains/dp/1584740507
My mother read it to me alllllllll the time.
I wish I had the childhood book that taught me to read. I don’t remember the name, but the first past read: A-Is for Adam. All the letters were Bible names. My favorite adult book will always be “Julie” by Catherine Marshall.
I have my dear mother’s Bible sitting in my living room. Also, I loved Nancy Drew and although we must have gotten rid of all the books we had as kids, I have a few Nancy Drew books in my office that I’m safekeeping! 🙂
It’s hard for me to pick a favourite, but up there would be my grandmother’s Bible. I never knew her, she died four months before I was born, but my mother told many stories about her. And her bible has many notations written in it by her [my grandmother]. Also a Children’s Bible Story Book, which I still have It has beautiful illustrations. One of my favourite pictures when I was a child was that of Daniel in the lion’s den. He was guarded by an angel, and this was no feminine, sweet, fluffy angel, but a muscular man of light holding a scimitar. When I felt afraid I would look at that picture. Other books I love to keep and reread…To Kill A Mockingbird, Georgette Heyer’s books [her romances…i never like her mysteries…too creepy], My collection of beautifully illustrated children’s books, including Ruth Bell Graham’s “One Wintry Night” a retelling of the Christmas story with gorgeous illustrations.
Oh, my! I love your mom! The underlying inspiration for my art and blog is Uncle Arthur’s Bible Book. In fact, I’ve even highlighted that spectacular book in my blog profile. So, I’m sure you can imagine my delight as I read the opening to your wonderful post! Love this. Thank you. I am so encouraged and inspired by your writing here. God bless you big time!
There are a few books that I treasure, but your post reminded me of recent conversations that I’ve been having with my children about the books I read to them when they were little. One of them that I’ve put away in a special place was ‘The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear’. My kids wanted me to read it so often that I had it memorized. I think I can still recite it after all of these years. 🙂
When I recently made a 4,000 mile move by airplane, I had to leave many special books behind temporarily. What I thought would be a four-month wait is approaching a year now, and I miss my books by C.S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Ken Gire, and Jan Johnson.
But the books that I would not leave behind but instead packed into a carry-on bag include: my great-grandmother’s leather bound New Testament with the finely crocheted cross bookmark, both given to me before she died when I was 10; Nana’s leather bound Bible; three of Grandpa’s elementary schoolbooks (dated 1887-1918 and bearing his boyish-to-young man signatures); Nana’s grade book from when she was a Music teacher in the public schools (she taught her future brother-in-law); and a beautiful, antique copy of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
The book I wish I had retained from my childhood is, I believe, a Golden Book called “A Penny for Pony.” It’s about a pony who inquires all over the farm asking what a penny is. Each animal gives him a different description leading him to think a penny must be the reflection of the sun in the pond and other incorrect items. One day, a little girl with red hair came to the farm looking for a pony to love. Her name was Penny, and the horse finally had a “Penny” of his own.
I have enjoyed reading each and every one of these responses. We are all so different, yet have so much in common. Love my blog readers!
I am saving two brand new copies of BETTY BUNNY LOVES CHOCOLATE CAKE to give to my daughters when they are adults. I, on the other hand, will always treasure our worn copy.
As a little girl, I received a birthday gift of the Vintage Little House Children’s Books Complete Series 9 Book Boxed Set (Paperback) 1971 & 1970s. I still have them, and won’t part ways even though they’re pretty worn, but they’re worth more than jewels to me! 🙂
I have several I don’t know if I could ever part with, most of them childhood books. The “golden” books, like “The Biggest most beautiful Christmas tree” or “The night before Christmas” (Do you sense a theme? haha!) or similar books are ones I’d want to keep for future generations.
I also don’t think I could ever get rid of my original Nancy Drews and Boxcar Children.
But my favorite, I think is my dad’s old and worn fabric-wrapped single-bound collection of all of the Sherlock Holmes stories.