{"id":3597,"date":"2005-09-09T13:27:50","date_gmt":"2005-09-09T17:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=3597"},"modified":"2015-05-18T14:03:27","modified_gmt":"2015-05-18T18:03:27","slug":"old-childhood-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=3597","title":{"rendered":"Old Childhood Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

Member when I tracked down the book about the bimulous night<\/a>? And how exciting it was to find it again?<\/p>\n

Well suddenly yesterday I went on a rampage. Of book-searching. And I just bought about 10 books from my childhood – very rare, hard to find in some cases, but once I did find them – they were about 25 cents apiece. Probably crappy paperbacks, ex-library books – I don’t care.<\/p>\n

All I care is that I HAVE FOUND THEM. My old friends!!!<\/p>\n

From the mists of childhood memories, here are the books that I have found – I CAN’T WAIT TO READ THEM AGAIN – argh!!!!!!!<\/p>\n

— A book long out of print called The summer sleigh ride,<\/a>\"\"<\/i>. I can barely type that without screaming out loud in excitement. I know my sister Jean will remember this book – I know my mother will remember it too! I loved this book. I loved it so much that I was obsessed with it, and I would write my own stories – modeling them on Summer Sleigh Ride<\/i>. All I remember about it now is this: There were 4 girls, all with different personalities (very Little Women<\/i>-esque – there was the tomboy, the snooty girl, the smart girl, the peacemaker) … and somehow … somehow … they end up coming across this magical sleigh and going for a ride in the summer – and this “summer sleigh ride” takes them into an alternate universe – a futuristic Aldous Huxley type universe. I can’t remember much else – but it’s very ominous … and I loved it so much. I remember the illustrations. I couldn’t remember the author, though – and it didn’t come up on Amazon. (At least when I first checked. But yesterday I checked again – and there was a random copy – for 3 bucks or something – and my heart skipped a beat.) Summer Sleigh Ride!!!!!!<\/p>\n

— Another book by the same author who wrote Caddie Woodlawn<\/a>\"\"<\/i> (Brink, I think is her name??) Caddie Woodlawn is very easy to find. It’s everywhere. But she wrote a lesser known book that I liked better – called Louly<\/a>\"\"<\/i>. The magic of this book is hard for me to describe. I read it over and over and over again. I think it takes place in the ‘teens of the 20th century, before WWI. It’s in a small town. And “Louly” is a girl who is about 13 years old … very much looked up to by the other kids in the neighborhood (who are all younger) – because she has something special, something magic. She knows how to tell stories. She is a good mimic. She is good at oratory. She wins contests. But there’s more than that. She’s the kind of person who makes the world seem like an adventure. The story is told from the point of view of one of the younger kids in the neighborhood, so Louly remains somewhat mysterious – we don’t know what it is like to BE her … but through the narrator’s eyes, we sure are glad to have met her. She has a long braid, and wears a middy blouse. I know I loved this book because, in a vague way, Louly is an actress. Louly is into transformation. Just like I was when I was a kid. I’m really eager to read it again. It’s very hard to find – I think it’s out of print. But I found it!!!!<\/p>\n

— I also, in a rush, bought all of the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. I used to have them, but somewhere along the way I got rid of them. I was obsessed with those books, especially the 4 that took Betsy and Tacy through high school. I remember them vividly. And now … they will be mine again!!!<\/p>\n

Over the next week or so, the packages will start coming in. 25 cent worn-out books from libraries across America. Dear dear old books … books that totally transported me when I was a kid … coming to transport me again.<\/p>\n

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