The first time I remember understanding my mom as person beyond "my mom" was when she read aloud to my sister and I the entirety of Wilson Rawls' Where the Red Fern Grows. I have the most vivid memory of sitting next to my sister in the bench seat of our minivan, with my mom turned slightly in her front passenger seat, reading to us. She came to the last few pages of the book and I watched, transfixed with simultaneous wonder and horror, as she began to cry. She kept reading through her tears, her voice cracking and her nose sniffling. We cried too, for the death and sadness and love and loyalty of Old Dan and Little Ann, and for our mother, a real woman who could be moved to tears by the wonderful power of the written word. Billy's first encounters with faith and death were mine, too. I have loved that book ever since.
If I could force all my customers at Borders to leave our "independent reader" section holding one book, it would most likely be Maniac Magee. Author Jerry Spinelli is one of those rare types that just seems to "get" kids, and wow did he ever get me with this one. This book broke my heart in the first pages and kept right on breaking it til the end. Family, home, love, hatred, fear, innocence... all the shattering and magnificent and surreal parts of growing up. Maniac was the first literary character I loved and, despite his magic, or maybe because of it, the most real.
The most powerful children's books are never patronizing. The fears and joys of youth are celebrated and explored and revealed in their pages, and the authors who write these books understand and respect the essence of childhood. That is why the best of these works are timeless. Reading them at 20, at 40, at 80 is as wonderful, even if in a different way, as reading them at 10.
What was the book (or, if you're like me, books plural) that rocked your childhood and why? Do share in the comments!
3 comments:
I was thinking about this the other day when I read that Reading Rainbow aired its last show this past Friday. What an incredible program that was!
I can think of many memorable books that I laughed and cried over growing up, but they all pale in comparison to the Little House on the Prairie series! I was just gushing to a coworker today (who is reading LHITBW to her daughters) how vividly I remember the descriptions of the Ingalls family and the wonderful illustrations of Garth Williams.
I have always been a reader, but these books are in TATTERS, they were so loved! I have loved them from first grade through now- they are great for adults too! I'm tearing up right now just thinking about them. :)
Also, I asked Jon what his favorite children's book was (who knows what boys read?) and he said, without hesitation, a book called Skinnybones. It's about a boy who can't play baseball very well but is very silly.
ahh i love this post! i too adored where the red fern grows - such an amazing book.
but my ultimate favorite as a child (and still to this day) was A Wrinkle In Time. Madeleine L'Engle crafted a brilliant work, and i still read the story of Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin's adventure with Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which in awe.
and i kind of wish i could tesseract as well. sigh. the sci-fi nerd in me comes out. :)
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