Book Talk Tuesday

Childhood Favorites…

I went to see the movie Ramona and Beezus last week. It’s delightful! They did a good job capturing the charm and spunk of the books and the actress who played Ramona is perfect in the part.

We have a rule in our household: You can’t see the movie until you’ve seen the book. There are occasional exceptions, but it’s especially true for children’s and young adult books.

There was a TV series back in the 1980’s or early ‘90s about Ramona. It’s was pretty good, but didn’t quite capture the spirit.

Seeing the movie got me to thinking about my favorite books growing up.

Ramona, of course. Anything by Beverly Cleary, including Henry and Ribsy. I adored her young adult novels and reread them compulsively. Fifteen. The Luckiest Girl. Sister of the Bride.

I also loved the Beany Malone series by Lenora Mattingly Weber.

Betsy, Tacy and Tib series by Maud Hart Lovelace.

Donna Parker books by Marcia Martin. And of course, Trixie Belden.

Edward Eager and his magic books. Half Magic. Magic by the Lake. Seven Day Magic.

Another compulsively read book was Apples Every Day by Grace Richardson. Set in a boarding school in Canada, it had quirky but real teenagers. I still love it.

I devoured Agatha Christie.

I never really got into the Little House books. Or the nurse books with Cherry Ames. Or horse books. I liked family and girl stuff. Still do, I suppose.

Yeah, I was a bookworm geek. But those books took me away from a life that wasn’t fun to live and gave me examples of real kids in families making it work.

What about you? What are the books you loved as a child? Or enjoy revisiting now?

I bought a copy of Beezus and Ramona to read to our granddaughter. I hope she enjoys it, in spite of her video addicted generation.