I only read one or two Bobbsey Twins books and they didn't grab me, but I checked them.
Little House on the Prairie books, ALL OF THEM. Not the truncated series offered today. Having them as background knowledge -- even though there were parts that didn't mke sense to me at the time -- gave me CLICK! moments when studying history (not just events history, but social history and costume history, stuff like that) later. So THAT'S what Laura was talking about, with (pick a detail).
A lot of children-and-the-Holocaust books, why did you have to remind me? (Did you know that When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit has sequels?)
Edward Eager, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander, John Bellairs.
Nina Bawden. My school library had a whole SHELF of hers. They were often very depressing.
Rumer Godden's doll books. I loved them to PIECES. I loved them so much I sought them out to give to my child. The Doll'sHouse, the one about Tottie and the wicked Marchpane, can make me cry now, and Impunity Jane made me very careful about using TINY stitches when sewing for dolls, because someone tried to sew for her but the large stitches HURT. And the Japanese doll books were fascinating.
The "A Little Maid of (colonial state)" series by Alice Turner Curtis -- again, there was a whole shelf of these in the town library (perhaps not surprising as I lived in Lexington MA) but I don't remember details at all. I see that some free downloads are available. I may have to re-explore.
The Noel Streatley "shoes" books -- "Ballet Shoes," "Theater Shoes" -- I know there were a lot of them, I know I read them, I don't remember much.
Anne of Green Gables, of course.
Carol Ryrie Brink wrote more than just Caddie Woodlawn. There was one called Louly, about a girl and her friends in 1908 America. I remember a whole bunch of related books about the same town. That may have been a different author.
All the Lois Lenski books, like Strawberry Girl.
There was a whole series about this girl Betsy and her friends. They were all around six to eight. There was a boy Eddie, and this other girl who'd had her front teeth knocked out and had the replacements held in with tiny gold hooks that hooked to her other teeth. Google tells me the author is Carolyn Haywood. The children were always getting to do things like ride on floats wearing costumes for a town Easter parade. I figured this was normal and that my town was sadly deficient for not having such a thing and that if only I weren't Jewish I'd get to dress up like Little Bo Peep and have ruffles sewn to my snow pants because it was too cold to go without them but the costume needed pantalettes.
I tended to trust book reality more than my observed reality. I also felt very cheated that we didn't get the amounts of snow that Laura got, and that his was a sign of degenerate modern times, and didn't grasp the distinction between New England weather and Great Plains weather. I was somewhat reassured by the Blizzard of '78.
The Anastasia books by Lois Lowry! Made more charming by happening in modern times in locations I knew.
no subject
Little House on the Prairie books, ALL OF THEM. Not the truncated series offered today. Having them as background knowledge -- even though there were parts that didn't mke sense to me at the time -- gave me CLICK! moments when studying history (not just events history, but social history and costume history, stuff like that) later. So THAT'S what Laura was talking about, with (pick a detail).
A lot of children-and-the-Holocaust books, why did you have to remind me? (Did you know that When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit has sequels?)
Edward Eager, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander, John Bellairs.
Nina Bawden. My school library had a whole SHELF of hers. They were often very depressing.
Rumer Godden's doll books. I loved them to PIECES. I loved them so much I sought them out to give to my child. The Doll'sHouse, the one about Tottie and the wicked Marchpane, can make me cry now, and Impunity Jane made me very careful about using TINY stitches when sewing for dolls, because someone tried to sew for her but the large stitches HURT. And the Japanese doll books were fascinating.
The "A Little Maid of (colonial state)" series by Alice Turner Curtis -- again, there was a whole shelf of these in the town library (perhaps not surprising as I lived in Lexington MA) but I don't remember details at all. I see that some free downloads are available. I may have to re-explore.
The Noel Streatley "shoes" books -- "Ballet Shoes," "Theater Shoes" -- I know there were a lot of them, I know I read them, I don't remember much.
Anne of Green Gables, of course.
Carol Ryrie Brink wrote more than just Caddie Woodlawn. There was one called Louly, about a girl and her friends in 1908 America. I remember a whole bunch of related books about the same town. That may have been a different author.
All the Lois Lenski books, like Strawberry Girl.
There was a whole series about this girl Betsy and her friends. They were all around six to eight. There was a boy Eddie, and this other girl who'd had her front teeth knocked out and had the replacements held in with tiny gold hooks that hooked to her other teeth. Google tells me the author is Carolyn Haywood. The children were always getting to do things like ride on floats wearing costumes for a town Easter parade. I figured this was normal and that my town was sadly deficient for not having such a thing and that if only I weren't Jewish I'd get to dress up like Little Bo Peep and have ruffles sewn to my snow pants because it was too cold to go without them but the costume needed pantalettes.
I tended to trust book reality more than my observed reality. I also felt very cheated that we didn't get the amounts of snow that Laura got, and that his was a sign of degenerate modern times, and didn't grasp the distinction between New England weather and Great Plains weather. I was somewhat reassured by the Blizzard of '78.
The Anastasia books by Lois Lowry! Made more charming by happening in modern times in locations I knew.
I read ALL THE TIME.