These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Writer's Workshop Prompt for this week:   Share one of your favorite things. (inspired by Jenbshaw)

Sharing just one of my favorite things is a challenge because there are so very many things I love!  Thinking it over, a favorite thing that has been a lifelong joy to me is the joy of reading.

I absolutely love to read.  Reading is like breathing to me.  Not only do I read fascinating things like the bible or my favorite authors, but I must read all signs, manuals, inserts that come with bills - even the backs of cereal boxes.  If there is a written word around me, I must read it!

How thankful I am that I learned to read!  How very thankful I am that I have the gift of sight!

I tried to remember which book was my very first book to read.  I know this gives away my age, but I truly do remember learning to read at school Dick and Jane, along with their kitty, Puff, and their dog Spot. 

I believe one of the first chapter books I read as a young girl would have been "BAMBI" - not the Disney version, the real "BAMBI" written by Felix Salten.  I also read a book, the title of which escapes me now, that told of a veterinarian who worked with animals in Africa. Somehow, those two books convinced me that I wanted to work with animals.  I used to tell  people that when I grew up I was going to Africa to help animals.

Hello!  I hate to touch animals.  What ever made me think I could be an animal doctor? I hate heat - why would I want to live in Africa?  Such is the power of the written word.

Some other books I remember inhaling as a kid:  "THE BOBBSEY TWINS," "THE FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS," "BLACK BEAUTY," "THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS" and "BABY ISLAND."

Oh, yes, "BABY ISLAND," by Carol Ryrie Brink was definitely a favorite of mine.  Picture it, Jean and Mary are on their way to Australia to visit their father and become marooned on an island with 4 babies.  I totally loved the story and used my vivid imagination to cast myself in their story many times.

In fact, it was my imagination that was fueled by the many books I dragged home from the library.  I read biographies learning about such historical figures as Martha Washington and Betsy Ross. I read classic children's literature such as Louisa May Alcott's "LITTLE WOMEN" and "LITTLE MEN."  I've written before about discovering mysteries and wanting to become a spy.  One Christmas stands out in my mind because I received a book entitled "NANCY DREW and THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK." So, then I became obsessed with owning Nancy Drew books.

Most books I checked out from the library, but there were some I owned and read them and re-read them until the covers fell off.  (I judge a book's worthiness by whether the cover is still on.  If the cover has been worn off, you can be sure it was a page-turner.)

Using that criteria, here is a list of my all-time favorite books read as a child or teenager:

"TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD" by Harper Lee

"KAREN" by Marie Killilea, also her sequel, "WITH LOVE FROM KAREN"

"NATIONAL VELVET" by Enid Bagnold

"CHRISTY" by Catherine Marshall

"ANNE OF GREEN GABLES" by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and all the other ANNE books

"LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE" by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Actually every one of the Little House Books were read and re-read by me constantly my whole life.)

"THE STORY OF THE TRAPP FAMILY SINGERS" by Maria Kutschera von Trapp (this book was the inspiration for the "Sound of Music")

I loved all these books, and others that I do not have time or space to list, and I feel these books had a big influence on making me the person that I am today.

I am so passionate about reading that I decided to pass that along to my babies.  My favorite thing to do as a mother was to read books to my girls.  Our night time routine was to end the day with reading stories together in bed.  Then I would fall asleep.  And the girls would giggle and play until they finally wore themselves out.

Books are my favorite things.

If you would like to read the favorites of other bloggers, go to Mama Kat's blog, Mama's Losing It.