So as a constant Amazon user I get offered special deals all the time. The latest special deal is 4 for 3. Buy 3 children’s books – get one free. This was perfect timing – coming right after this post about kids’ books!
I decided to buy some of the old classics – books I love, or whatever, that I just happen to not OWN. (I have a huge collection of children’s books in my own personal library – which I will get to, in my Daily Book Excerpt feature, around the year 2009.)
I am so excited at what I just got. It was so so hard to choose (they had specific books you could choose from, that would be “included” in the special – But this was an awesome choice – 179 pages of choices!!) I scrolled through, seeing all these old titles come flying out at me …
Should I get Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
?? LOVE that book! Mmmm, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
… oh no, wait, I already have that one. How about The Outsiders
?? I really should own a copy of that. And Tex
, too. I actually liked Tex BETTER than The Outsiders. Blasphemous! How ’bout Deenie
? Nothing like a little scoliosis to brighten your grad-school day. I was not wacky about Deenie as a child. I realize that people with bad spines probably felt validated by it, Judy Blume was a master at stuff like that – Deenie is the kind of book that could literally save a lonely person’s life, because someone SEES, someone CARES. To not be invisible anymore. But when I was 11 I just felt grossed out by it, and didn’t like the part when her boyfriend discovered her back-brace while trying to feel her up or something. I can’t remember. I was young, and the whole thing seemed EXTREMELY disturbing. So I will skip that one. Anything else? Forever
Uhm – no. Not that book either. Ahem.
I had a BLAST scrolling through. Heaven, actually.
And – well – I got my 4 for 3 and then couldn’t help myself and bought three more. Grand total: 28 bucks. Not too shabby.
Here is what I got:
<A Separate Peace
by John Knowles Phineas. Sniff. Sniff. I love this book – or I did, anyway – and I am so thrilled to OWN it now
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
by Judy Blume – SO EXCITED. Not just because the heroine has such a GORGEOUS first name. But I remember so much about this wonderful book – and the Tarrytown setting – the last time I read it I was, oh, 4 feet tall – I am so psyched to read it again.
Are You There, God? it’s Me, Margaret
by Judy Blume The mere thought of it makes me get choked up. This book was so important to so many.
The Sword in the Stone
by TH White – I already have Once and Future King in my collection, but Sword in the Stone was the first one I read as a kid, and I found it … well … just absolutely mind-boggling. That last scene never fails to make me cry. So now I will own it!!
After the First Death
by Robert Cormier – one of the scariest books I ever read. We had to read it in 8th grade. A schoolbus is hijacked by two crazies with a gun. It is the story of the bus, sitting on a bridge, waiting for the hostage’s demands to be met … If you think there’s a happy ending, you’re wrong. You also haven’t read Cormier’s other amazing books. But this one is heeeeeavy. I remember reading it when I was 13 and being so upset and so hopeful that things would turn out that I felt almost sick to my stomach. However, I didn’t take the clue from the TITLE that this was going to be rough … Great book. He’s an amazing writer. The Chocolate War
. I Am the Cheese
. Hea-VY! No redemption!
Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself
by Judy Blume – this actually might be favorite Judy Blume (although – hmmmm – Tiger Eyes
might be her best book – I own that one, have had the same copy since I was 17 years old – LOVE Tiger Eyes – anyone else remember it??) – Sally J. Freedman is not as well known as her others, but I just love it. A young orphaned girl in the 1950s, shuffled around in foster homes, basically idolizes Marilyln Monroe and … Esther Williams, I think … and dreams of getting to Hollywood to be a star. Meanwhile – it is post WWII so if I recall correctly there is a lot of growing horror at what the Nazis wrought in Europe – Sally is 10 years old and she becomes obsessed that her next-door neighbor is an escaped Nazi. This is all very vague. I haven’t read it since I was 11. Lovely book – very different from Blume’s other books.
And now … the creme de la creme – a book I have been looking for and keeping my eye open for for YEARS –
A Nice Girl Like You
by Norma Johnston. No one has heard of this book. It is not in bookstores anymore. Johnston was the author of the very popular The Keeping Days
series – which I LOVED – and she ends up writing a couple of books in the next generation of that family – this is the first of those books. It takes place during WWI. A young girl of 16, Saranne – somehow befriends the “bad boy” of the town – who truly is just misunderstood (like Cal in East of Eden) – Nobody will give him a chance but she will – at the risk of her reputation. I LOVED this book when I was a young woman myself – it’s marvelous – has anyone else read it??? Anyway – I have all of the “Keeping Days” series in my own personal library – except for Nice Girl Like YOu – and now – in a matter of 5 to 9 shipping days – I will own it!
SO EXCITING!!! There were others I wanted to get, but I forced myself to calm down and be frugal.
Others that called to me that I did NOT get:
The Trumpet of the Swan
by EB White
Flood Friday
by Lois Lenski (a book which – I have to have read 50 times in one year when I was 9 years old I loved it so much)
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
– that BOOK!! Ann Marie leant it to me when we were adults – wonderful book!! Need to own it!
And the absolute CLASSIC:
How to Eat Fried Worms
– Never been a book like it. Before or since. It stands alone.
And many many more …
But I stopped the frenzy before it got too nuts.
Agh! You’re sending me to ten different places at once with all these references!! I loved “Starring Sally J. Friedman …” so much, and also “Tiger Eyes” — I actually think of that book quite often, for some completely unfathomable reason. It really stayed with me. And NATURALLY, I hold a very special place in my heart for “Otherwise Known As Sheila The Great.” I’ve often thought of making my blog’s name (if I ever start it) “Otherwise Known as Sheila the Blog”, but it’s so darn long.
Oooooh, I am jealous of all the fun you’re going to have going back through these as an adult. You must post about the experience!! I’m sure it’s going to be fascinating.
Oh, I loved How to Eat Fried Green Worms. Oh, my god. That’s funny. I accidentally threw the word “green” in there and I think it’s funny. Someone should do a mashup book combining elements of How to Eat Fried Worms and Fannie Flagg’s book Fried Green Tomatoes. Anyway, I was going to post a list of some of my favorite kids books: Bridge to Terabithia, The Witches (all of Dahl’s books, actually, but The Witches was my favorite), The Indian in the Cupboard series, the Narnia series, Peter Pan, The Cay, the Ramona Quimby books (I had my own Ramona diary–how embarrassing?), Sideways Stories from Wayside School, The Green Slime (a “choose your own adventure book” that I was obsessed with for years and I’ve tried to find a copy of but which is apparently out of print). Oh, gosh, those are the first ones that come to mind. I should go find one of my journals from when I was a kid–I used to keep lists of every book I had read. (I don’t keep as many lists anymore–is that healthy or stupid?)
Awesome – After the First Death! I remember reading that in Jr. High and being totally freaked out by it. I couldn’t remember what it was called, but now I must re-read it. Thanks!
It’s so depressing to see that the books you remember fondly from your childhood are the books I gave to my children when they were growing up. Makes me realize how old I am. MY favorite books were Heidi and the Lad a Dog books and the Black Stallion books, and the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, and all those things that are “quaint” now!
Bev – oh wow, I loved all those too!! – although I admit I was more of a Trixie Belden girl than a Nancy Drew girl. LOVED Heidi, LOVED Black Beauty, loved Bobbsey Twins – … also loved Prince and Pauper, etc. My parents were like you – they passed down to us the books they loved.
But also, I grew up, thankfully, with Masterpiece Theatre – and saw amazing mini-series of all this stuff – Heidi, Prince and Pauper – which made me, of course, go out and get those books!!
Sheila – Tiger Eyes is a really deep book – I read it when I was 17 or 18 and it TOTALLY stayed with me. I also can’t remember why – it’s just that she was so tortured, and so … distant … so much pain … and the Native American guy she meets in the canyon? What was his name? Wolf? I LOVED HIM. Great book.
Erik – I saw a couple of Beezus and Ramona books but I had to harden my heart. Next time!!
Those books are GENIUS. My favorite one was Ramona Forever.
Loved all the Judy Blume books growing up, but Tiger Eyes is the only one I reread anymore. Not often–I have to be in a certain mood for it. It’s not exactly all fun-fun-fun, is it?
That book came out about the time I moved from San Jose to the Phoenix area, when I was about 12. So I went from this sweet mediterranean climate, this part of the country where you could see giant sequoias and redwoods just an hour or two away, where plenty of green things grew, to this horrible awful desert, or so I viewed it at the time. That’s what I associate that book with, that move, I guess because, duh, Davey goes from NJ to Los Alamos and in addition to grieving for her father has to deal with the culture and climate shock of all that besides. And yet, you can see how she grows fond of the place over time. I think Blume’s love of her home at the time, Santa Fe, really comes through in that book.
I LOVE how she makes fun of Walter and Bitsy for saying “you bet” all the time. People in the Southwest totally do that. “Wanna get some coffee?” “You bet!” Huh? What’d I bet?
As for Forever, my chief memory of that is that one girl in school would get hold of a copy, fold down the corners of the pages with all the “good parts,” and pass it around during class to the rest of us. I was a prissy Mormon girl at the time and didn’t care for it. Don’t they wind up almost putting cologne on the guy’s penis at some point? Yeah, I don’t think I need to reread that one too badly.
Ilyka – Oh my God, I forgot – yes, Walter and Bitsy!! They just were … not sympathetic!! I kept wanting her to be with people who understood that she was traumatized and grieving … She was sullen and uncommunicative –
And yeah, you’re right – that book seems to be so much about longing and homesickness – It’s really wonderful stuff.
And … about Forever … I think you and I went to the same grade school, because I have an identical memory.
heh heh heh
Erin – I had the same experience – amazing that they let us read it in junior high – there’s some heavy shit in there!!!! He’s a fanTAStic writer, though. Glad to have found the title for you!! :)
You’ll be glad to know that they’re still teaching “How to Eat Fried Worms” today. Hayden’s class read it in 5th grade — and they fried worms in class, too! And ate them!
Lisa – they did not!!!!! are you serious??
I just confirmed with Hayden that they did truly read the book, and eat fried worms and that even HE ate them (which is a miracle in and of itself because, hello? pickiest eater ever) plus a fried cricket.
He wanted you to know about the cricket. He’s very proud.
That is so so cool and also extremely gross.
Did they taste good? Or just crunchy?
I read the book in 5th grade but I didn’t eat any bugs!!!
He said they were crunchy and just tasted like “fried stuff.”
I would’ve been too grossed out to eat them, but you know 5th grade boys — that’s right up their alley.
Oh, absoLUTEly. Fried bugs? 5th grade boys? Heaven.
Hayden is a hero in my eyes. I would be way too freaked out to eat a fried cricket.
We Have Always Lived In the Castle. Shirley Jackson. ‘Nuff said.
Julie of the Wolves.
And Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind.
Sign of the Beaver, by the author of Witch of Blackbird Pond.
Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen.
Sheila, Cashel might appreciate those last two in a year or so.
Year of Impossible Goodbyes is about a family in North Korea that suffers under Japanese occupation. When Russia moves in after the war, life becomes unbearable; the family has to split up, and the kids have to make their way to South Korea by themselves. It’s a real gut-wrencher.
I recommend “Dicey’s Song” and “Sweet Whispers Brother Rush” as well.
I read “Tiger Eyes” and the cover on Amazon is ALL WRONG to me. I have a clear image of Davey and a bleached blonde girl doesn’t cut it! Reading the first few pages I see that her father that died was 34 years old. I’m sure when I read it at 12 I didn’t think, oh my god, how YOUNG!
Thanks for your writing! Sometimes I think I prefer the fiction for teenagers to the fiction for adults.
Yeah for Witch of Blackbird Pond! That book means so much to me, since I have a copy that was retired from the public school library where my grandmother taught. She gave it to me and said she thought I’d love it and I did! Also, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but why are all my favorite books from youth about orphans, kids with dead mothers, or runaways: Kit (Blackbird), Anne (Green Gables), Nancy (Drew), the kids from the mixed up files (Claudia and her brother)? Huh.
Sophie Sinclair.
I just had to say that name yet again.
I had a thing for orphans as well. I am not sure what that’s about – I should think more. I guess little kids having to learn lessons on their own, without the parents there – having to be self-reliant … overcome adversity …
You know.
Sophie Sinclair.
Sophie Sinclair. Hahahahahaha. 2 other favorite quotes:
“I know his dog’s name was Carlo…”
And me asking you about a specific event in one of, what 8 Anne of Green Gables books, and you looked at me like Data from Star Trek, and said, “The Round of Life”, which is the CHAPTER NAME. That is crazy. I *love* it, but crazy. :-)
“i know his dog’s name was carlo”
i am HOWLING with laughter …
I know JUST which episode we were discussing there … it was in Anne of Windy Poplars, I believe – the boy with his dad in the cabin?? I still can’t remember that kid’s name.
I remember you getting sooooo angry about that girl who messed up the play – argh – what was her name? Jen? With the green eyes? We were talking about it, and you got so worked up – and you stuck your finger out – as IF you were giving this girl a talking to … hahahahahaha SO FUN!!
Does anyone here remember a short story about a horse who was a fire engine horse, and there was a terrible accident as they were racing to the scene of the fire, and the horse’s name was Caesar, I think? I found this story PROFOUNDLY upsetting (I loved all things horse-y then) and have been trying to locate it. Anyone remember reading this?
Kerry – hmmmm.
That is not ringing a bell for me.