Childhood nostalgia poll

[rachelmanija]

Please reminisce, fondly or not, about any of these, or other books read in childhood, especially if they seem to have, deservedly or undeservedly, vanished from the shelves. I'd love to hear about non-US, non-British books, too.

[Poll #1720139]

Comments

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

OK, so!

I actually only read one of the Famous Five books, but I was very very fond of it. And since it was clearly a UK Book, I appear to have thought they would never import more, for some reason, and never looked for more. (I should fix this now.)

The Borrowers: Ridiculous and treacly but entertaining. The Littles were an inferior lot, newer and not as interesting.

Danny Dunn, Encyclopedia Brown, etc. Very fun. I see Encyclopedia Brown had an HBO series. (I mean. It had an HBO SERIES. What?)

Robert McClosky wrote some YA things (Homer and the Doughnuts was my favorite), which were made much better by the addition of his art.

Pippi Longstocking (which aren't exactly unknown, but I never see them anymore. Wiki tells me I have many more treats in store.) I loved because Pippi was so damn ridiculous. (I just recently bought Robia The Robber's Daughter; never read it before. Yay.)

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

Anything at all by Robert Lawson, including those silly biographies-masquerading-as-animal-autobiographies. (My favorite of those was Mr. Revere and I. My favorite in general was Mr. Wilmer. In which he can talk to animals and gets a job in a zoo.)

RL Stevenson, mostly out loud to/with my mother.

Thorton Burgess, Albert Payson Terhune, Marguerite Henry (my mom had a correspondence with her when younger; also went to pony penning), Walter Farley, some guy who mostly did younger books about horses with great drawings, etc. (Speaking of younger books, Bill Peet. Bill Peet also wrote a memoir about Cappybaras.)

And now, speaking of dog books, I am trying to remember the book I recall which was a hotel for dogs, but is not Lois Duncan's. I /thought/ it was Mr. Jolly's Hotel for Dogs (which is by Beth Brown), but the cover Amazon has is all wrong. Anyway, the one I remember is green, and had an ex-army person opening a place up in I think Switzerland. Adventures ensue.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, and I meant to add, Jean Webster. Who was seriously at one point into the eugenics movement and Dear Enemy sort of looks at it half approvingly. NONETHELESS, Daddy Long Legs (its prequel) /is still/ really fun.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I always figured that semi-approval was the doctor's Dark Tragic Past speaking, and/or Sally's bright young NY thing with the unthinking prejudices of the time. Eg Sally and the new black cook, a scene that causes horripilations. 'And what do you think her name is? *Sally*! I suggested she change it,' she writes, not turning a hair. Webster bats her down there, so I figured the same would apply to Sally's casual dismissal of 'the feeble-minded.' Perhaps not, then?

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Well, Wiki (that bastion of respectability) says that basically Webster was Conflicted, and wrote out that conflict in the story (as you say). When I re-read it recently, it did seem to eventually back off its approval. (And certainly Sally wasn't, in the end, a fan. Just a Nice Lady Trying To Do Good.)

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

I think I remember McClosky's Homer Price books. Homer had a pet skunk, right?

I don't see any reason why Encyclopedia Brown shouldn't have a TV series. He and Sally are a lot smarter than half the adult detectives on TV.