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Favorite Books of Childhood
Last month, Amazon asked a daily question on Facebook. I didn't answer all or even most of them, but the one about "What book influenced you growing up?"/paraphrase has been making me think.
When I was growing up, I used to buy books from the Scholastic catalogue every year. My parents would look over my order and give me the money for them separate from my allowance. They might limit the amount of money or the number of books, but they never once tried to limit what I read. My teachers tried to make the class stay to our own grade level, but they never really succeeded with me. I bought what interested me whether it was several grades above my reading level -- like buying Shakespeare's Scottish Play in fifth grade -- or several grades below it.
The first book from the Scholastic orders that I remember was Peter Pan. I'm sure there were at least a couple of others from that order, but Peter Pan was notable for the evening just before my seventh birthday when I bounded downstairs and said, "Look!" I read a page to myself, and my parents stared and said, "All right, what are we looking at?" and I said, "I don't have to say the words out loud." It was a huge revelation, and I kept that book by my bedside through at least five more years and three moves.
(When I was ten, my father came home one day and said, "Fabi, when did you stop moving your lips when you read?" and I reminded him of my moment three years earlier. Then I wondered why he'd asked. He said, "Because General Westmoreland still does.")
I read the whole Anne of Green Gables series between the ages of seven and eleven; it took so long because some of the books were difficult to find. My favorite of those was Anne of the Island because I loved reading about college.
But the book I fought hardest for was Daddy Long Legs. I bought my first copy from Scholastic in either fourth or fifth grade. I loved it, and re-read it often. My mother has never understood the idea of re-reading. Every year, when we were at summer camp (we started going when I was eleven), my mother would come in and cull our books and toys. Every year, she threw out or gave away Daddy Long Legs, and every year I bought a new copy with my allowance.
Like Anne of the Island, it's set at University. There's a romance in it, but that wasn't what was important to me. It was the first book that really emphasized the social aspect of life for me, even more than the Anne books. It was the first book that, without using the word, explained "privilege" to me. It's written in epistolary form, but the conversation is one way only. We read the bits of Judy that she wants to share with her unknown benefactor, but we also are given a window into status issues for women, class issues within and without the college, and education issues.
This was the first book that gave me a reading list. It may have been over a decade before I tackled Thackeray's Vanity Fair, but I read it because it was mentioned in Daddy Long Legs (ditto Wuthering Heights). There's an entire letter about references to literature and how these bind the girls who understand them culturally. Judy, our protagonist, realizes that she needs to read the books to take her place as an equal within the college.
Unlike Anne's college experiences, Judy's were wrapped up in grades, tests, classes, chapel, and roommates. Anne had housemates and romances, but other than winning a scholarship, we don't read much about her intellectual development. Judy's is front and center in her book.
I found Daddy Long Legs for free at Kindle today. It's time to re-read it.
When I was growing up, I used to buy books from the Scholastic catalogue every year. My parents would look over my order and give me the money for them separate from my allowance. They might limit the amount of money or the number of books, but they never once tried to limit what I read. My teachers tried to make the class stay to our own grade level, but they never really succeeded with me. I bought what interested me whether it was several grades above my reading level -- like buying Shakespeare's Scottish Play in fifth grade -- or several grades below it.
The first book from the Scholastic orders that I remember was Peter Pan. I'm sure there were at least a couple of others from that order, but Peter Pan was notable for the evening just before my seventh birthday when I bounded downstairs and said, "Look!" I read a page to myself, and my parents stared and said, "All right, what are we looking at?" and I said, "I don't have to say the words out loud." It was a huge revelation, and I kept that book by my bedside through at least five more years and three moves.
(When I was ten, my father came home one day and said, "Fabi, when did you stop moving your lips when you read?" and I reminded him of my moment three years earlier. Then I wondered why he'd asked. He said, "Because General Westmoreland still does.")
I read the whole Anne of Green Gables series between the ages of seven and eleven; it took so long because some of the books were difficult to find. My favorite of those was Anne of the Island because I loved reading about college.
But the book I fought hardest for was Daddy Long Legs. I bought my first copy from Scholastic in either fourth or fifth grade. I loved it, and re-read it often. My mother has never understood the idea of re-reading. Every year, when we were at summer camp (we started going when I was eleven), my mother would come in and cull our books and toys. Every year, she threw out or gave away Daddy Long Legs, and every year I bought a new copy with my allowance.
Like Anne of the Island, it's set at University. There's a romance in it, but that wasn't what was important to me. It was the first book that really emphasized the social aspect of life for me, even more than the Anne books. It was the first book that, without using the word, explained "privilege" to me. It's written in epistolary form, but the conversation is one way only. We read the bits of Judy that she wants to share with her unknown benefactor, but we also are given a window into status issues for women, class issues within and without the college, and education issues.
This was the first book that gave me a reading list. It may have been over a decade before I tackled Thackeray's Vanity Fair, but I read it because it was mentioned in Daddy Long Legs (ditto Wuthering Heights). There's an entire letter about references to literature and how these bind the girls who understand them culturally. Judy, our protagonist, realizes that she needs to read the books to take her place as an equal within the college.
Unlike Anne's college experiences, Judy's were wrapped up in grades, tests, classes, chapel, and roommates. Anne had housemates and romances, but other than winning a scholarship, we don't read much about her intellectual development. Judy's is front and center in her book.
I found Daddy Long Legs for free at Kindle today. It's time to re-read it.
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I probably should reread it again- it's been a long time.
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