Rasco From RIF

Time travel back…seven books, only seven books.

November 16th, 2009

Recently Betsy of  A Fuse #8 Production posted a listing of books she wishes she had discovered (and that they had been available at that time in some cases) during her childhood/youth ages;  the concept came about following a conversation Betsy and Molly of   Ten Block Walk had on this topic of “wished for books in earlier years.”  I found it fun to think through the same for me, especially given I am a bit older (more than a bit, Carol) than these two.  Following Betsy’s bravery of including photos from various ages and stages, I decided to be brave as well.  I am certain I risk being disowned by certain females in Arkansas…but my dad will still love me!   I decided this week is a particularly good time to post this travel back in time as I am feeling a bit older than usual given my eldest turns 36 tomorrow!  How have 36 years already gone by, ever so quickly?

Betsy set forth this premise:  You have a time machine.  In this time machine you may take seven books.  Your mission is to visit yourself, in the past, and to give yourself the books you wish you would have read as a kid.  They can be old books or new books, it doesn’t matter.  But they must be books you’ve run across as an adult, loved, and you know would have appealed to (or been good for) little you.

Ages 2-6 Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Alas, I was nicknamed “Bossy” early by my two younger sisters, so I would have deemed Lily as ALL about me!  And I would have loved the red boots, oh, my.  This photo was taken at the time of the county fair by my great uncle who had “the studio” in my hometown of DeWitt, Arkansas.  Each year my grandfather gave each of us girls a new cowgirl hat and new boots for the county fair, maybe he got us the flannel shirts for this particular year as well.  But prized possessions were they all. 

Ages 6-9  Any of the books of poetry by Shel Silverstein
My parents and my grandparents instilled in us girls a love of words;  my grandmother would have savored Silverstein’s poems and would have seen them as great read alouds for us girls…and we would have giggled and giggled!  The photo is the annual summer fishing rodeo in August of 1954 at a local reservoir;  our county is a large rice-growing county.  I caught the single largest catfish!  My friends pictured here were the other winners:  L to R:  Me, Nancy, Becky and Donnie.  I was the odd duck that year, Carol doesn’t end in “y” or “ie”!  You can believe it was HOT, HUMID and MOSQUITO-filled air!

9-10 Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Well, first I know you are wondering as am I…what in the world were my mother and I gazing upon toward the ceiling?  Sister Martha on the right is smirking like maybe we were tricked into looking up in that strange gaze.  Since Martha’s Brownie troop did not meet the same day as Mother and I had Girl Scouts, I am assuming this was Girl Scout Sunday when all the Girls Scouts and Brownies in DeWitt attended the same church.  I imagine ministers in this yearly rotation of hosting all these girls did not look forward to that day of squirming, but I bet we girls were better than the Boy Scouts!  And I assume you can tell the curtains are a pattern of the late 50’s, early 60’s?  Yes, greens, reds, black and maybe a chartreuse splash here and there.  As to the books, I don’t know HOW I missed Anne of Green Gables while growing up, but I would have read a book a day or more of that series and Calpurnia would have been a best friend!

12-15  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I recently read this book and knew before this time travel posting came along it would have been a book report in Mrs. Jane Davis’ or Mrs. Noe’s English class;  but not Miss Ethyl Oates Miller’s class, she only allowed classics of the truly classic era.  Period. Over. Out.  I hope to write more about The Book Thief soon; I found it one of the best pieces of literature I have read in a long time.  Now, this photo shows that I was still getting perms, tight perms, what were we thinking?

17-18  The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson and Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
If we even called it YA back in the late 60’s, I don’t remember.  But I skipped that stage and went to adult books.  I liked good mysteries, and I found beautiful descriptive passages in the same category as beautiful symphonies…these two books would have each filled one of those requirements.  To this day I recommend The Devil in the White City to anyone who asks me for a good book recommendation…I see so many people on planes reading it not only in flight but as they disembark.  And I remember when reading Cold Mountain I would periodically have to stop to simply allow what I had just read to diffuse itself completely within me and avoid ‘overload.’   So, to love literature so much, how do I reconcile that with what appears to be not just “big hair” but “huge hair”?  I mean that is a lot of reading time spent on making that hair so voluminous!  I don’t know, but it is all mine.  Whew!

Enjoy the laughter, happy reading!
Carol 

Twitter: @RascofromRIF 

Filed under: Children's Books, Musings, RIF Staff

Tags: Anne of Green Gables, Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain, Erik Larson, Fuse #8 Production, Jacqueline Kelly, Kevin Henkes, L. M. Montgomery, Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, Markus Zusak, Shel Silverstein, Ten Block Walk, The Book Thief, The Devil in the White City, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate