Have you ever gone back and re-discovered some of those books you read as a child? Perhaps for some inexplicable reason – a smell, an image, a song, a toy, a place – something brought back a memory of a book that had been read to you over-and-over again and, in turn, brought that book you loved as a child to life once again.
Books from our childhood often give us back little pieces or moments we carry with us as we travel through life. They conjure up a time we have long since left behind, but it still remains in the recesses of our minds; a time when a favorite family member or teacher took a moment to sit down, bring you close and read to you. And perhaps some of those special books were read to you so many times that if asked you could probably recite the entire book by heart; the message conveyed in those particular pages – the images and words – touched you and stayed with you.
Those books they became classics for you. Some books become classics on a worldwide scale and some are just classics for us, individually. They are books that perhaps most people don’t even know ever existed, but somehow for some reason they are part of you and your journey. They are part of your “Classic Collection”.
A few classics from my childhood that I recently re-discovered – some can still be purchased and others, well, they are long since out of print:
- Miss Lollypop’s Lion
- Prince Bertram The Bad
- Golden Book of Fairy Tales
- The Little Giant Girl and the Elf Boy
- Hop on Pop
- The Velveteen Rabbit
When you think about reading to the children in your life, think about the “Classics”. Open those books from your childhood days and re-discover within those pages those particular memories that brought those books to life for you. Then take a few minutes to sit down and read them to the special children you know. When you do, you are doing more than just reading, you are sharing part of yourself – who you are – and simultaneously passing on the love of reading and making lasting memories which perhaps one day they will re-discover, hold close and ultimately share themselves once again.
In addition to your “Classic Collection” list, here are some more recent classics you might want to include as you read to the littles in your life.
- Corduroy
- The Lorax
- Strega Nona
- Guess How Much I Love You
- Goodnight Moon
So, here’s to “The Classics” — those on your list and the world’s list — and the opportunity to combine and share the old and the new: All for the Love of Reading.
“The books of our childhood offer a vivid door to our own pasts, and not necessarily for the stories we read there, but for the memories of where we were when reading them; to remember a book is to remember the child who read that book.”
– Lewis Buzbee
