Revisiting Old Favorites

My childhood favorites bookcase

Hi Everyone, Danica Favorite here, and I'm supposed to be giving some book recommendations today. Can I be honest with you all? I've really been struggling with what to post. You see, I've been on deadline for a book (and turned in on time, YAY!!) and had a really big work project, so I've had almost no reading time. In truth, I've been feeling really guilty about it because how does a self proclaimed book nerd justify not reading?

At first, I thought I'd grab a book real quick, read it fast, then tell you about it, but as has been happening a lot in my life lately, stuff intervened. On top of everything else in my life, we recently adopted two puppies, and while I'm so happy to have them, it's been a ton of work! Trust me when I say they are all puppy! Whew!

But then, in my book nerd shame, I realized something. I HAVE been reading! I may not be reading books for me, but I haven't given up reading with my kids! My eleven year old daughter has struggled with reading so I started reading with her, and it's really helped her not only improve, but really love to read. And so, in our car, we listen to books on tape. We just finished E.D. Baker's Tales of a Frog Princess series. In addition, when I tuck her in at night, we read a few chapters of whatever book she's reading. A week or so ago, she was frustrated at having nothing to read, so she asked me what to do. I brought her to the bookcase containing my childhood favorites, and we pulled out Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary.

I'll admit, I was really hoping to convince her to give Anne of Green Gables a try, but she wasn't into it. She likes the diary-type books, so Dear Mr. Henshaw it was. And even though I really would like to revisit my beloved Anne again, I'm glad we went with this one. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed that story!

So here is my book recommendation for you: revisit an old childhood favorite. I'm amazed at how many wonderful memories it brings up, and it also reminds me of all the things that made me fall in love with books in the first place! The other thing that happens for me when I read books from my childhood is that it reminds me what it's like to look at the world through a child's eyes. Sometimes we're so caught up in being grown ups that we forget what matters in the world of our children.

My second recommendation is that whatever children are in your life, ask them what they're reading, and read those books with them. The last book my daughter read was, in my opinion, terrible, and I won't mention it here, but it gave me a lot of insight into what she enjoys and what her internal world is like. I also didn't like some of the themes in that story and felt they were presented inappropriately. But since I read it with her, we could talk about them, and I could explain why those things were wrong. I could have made her read my beloved Anne, but knowing the books she likes, I don't think she's ready to embrace Anne the way I do. And then, there are the books we enjoy together. I really did love the E.D. Baker series (and shhh... I bought her the start of another one for Christmas), and I can't wait to read more with my daughter.

Do you read with the children in your life? Which old favorites from your childhood would you like to revisit?