Friskies Plus Commercial/books from youth

[cookieee]

I just saw this commercial. A take off of "Alice Through The Looking Glass". It was just sooooo pretty, watch for it.

When I was a little girl, I used to read "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass' over and over again. What were your favorite books to read when you were a youngster?

[heavy hedonist]

I'll tell you, Alice loses nothing in adulthood. I just bought a good, combined copy of both stories last year.

The logic jokes are even funnier, as are some other details. There are things there you just don't get as a kid.

I read fairy-tales, Norse mythology, Little Women, and my mom's shelf of Shakespeare plays, along with stuff like The Bobsey Twins, and anything I could get my hands on about whales or dinosaurs, or outer space.

[cookieee]

I'll tell you, Alice loses nothing in adulthood. I just bought a good, combined copy of both stories last year.

The logic jokes are even funnier, as are some other details. There are things there you just don't get as a kid.

I read fairy-tales, Norse mythology, Little Women, and my mom's shelf of Shakespeare plays, along with stuff like The Bobsey Twins, and anything I could get my hands on about whales or dinosaurs, or outer space.

My grandkids outgrew being read to so fast. But there is nothing that says I can't read them. I couldn't also get enough of fairy tales. Thanks Mari

[RiverFarm]

I loved fairy tales, and then my dad turned me on to science fiction. But I also enjoyed the classics: Frances Hodgson Burnett's Secret Garden, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and The Little Princess. Another favorite was Hector Malot's Nobody's Girl, as was Dorothy Canfield Fisher's Understood Betsy. The latter two were stories about intelligent girls who had the ability to take control of their lives and resolve difficult issues independently, and there were so few books like that when I was growing up that these were real treasures.

[leebee]

I loved fairy tales, and then my dad turned me on to science fiction. But I also enjoyed the classics: Frances Hodgson Burnett's Secret Garden, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and The Little Princess. Another favorite was Hector Malot's Nobody's Girl, as was Dorothy Canfield Fisher's Understood Betsy. The latter two were stories about intelligent girls who had the ability to take control of their lives and resolve difficult issues independently, and there were so few books like that when I was growing up that these were real treasures.

Secret Garden & A Little Princess were FAVES of mine! My daughter is about the right age for them now, and I'm excited to read them to her. Although she's saying she wants to read them herself. Oh, the dilemma! I also loved Nancy Drew. I also was a fan of Sci-fi & read the Time Quartet by Madeleine L'Engle. My son is starting those. It's so exciting to see my kids reading books that I loved!

[Anne]

I loved animal stories and sci-fi, Andre Norton's books really captured both my interests. I think I drifted to sci-fi (and glad I did) because that was my brother's favorite and he didn't care for animal stories. Our parents read to us far after we could read for ourselves and we continued the tradition with our kids. It's just plain good family time. Sherlock Holmes was another good one. National Geographics were good for some of the articles, many did not hold my interest.

[cookieee]

I am so surprised that everyone also was into sci-fi. My dad used to buy these paper back sci-fi books. I asked him one time why he always tore the covers off. He said because they had nothing to do with the stories. Come to find out it was because they were a little bit too sexy with 3 kids in the house

Please mothers, don't let too much time go by, because it goes too, too fast. Read to your children as much as you can now. I have so many books that I saved from my childhood that I never got to, and now they can read all the books they want on kindle and such.

[amarante]

Another favorite was Hector Malot's Nobody's Girl,

Never read Nobody's Girl but Nobody's Boy by the same author was one of the first books I remember reading.

I still have the book and it is dated 1916. My mother bought a lot of my books at second hand stores and this was old and mysterious when I read it in the 1950's - price is still marked at 20 cents which in terms of inflation was $1.61. My Nancy Drew books were the ones from the 1930's and 1940's with the blue covers and very retro dust covers.

I have never met anyone who even HEARD of the Hector Malot books let alone read them but I have a faint recollection of my mother saying she had read them which is odd since she didn't come to the US until she was 11 and so by the time she was fluent in English she must have been 12 or so which seems old for the books.

I reread Little Women every summer and I think some of the passages still resonate somewhere in my brain.

[mkc]

I read anything about horses, and especially loved the Walter Farley "Black Stallion" series. I had every one except the "Man O'War" one.

The Anne of Green Gables books are still some of my favorites as well.

Michelle

[RiverFarm]

Amarante, I don't think Hector Malot's books are inappropriate for a twelve-year-old; I still reread Nobody's Girl. I actually prefer that one to Nobody's Boy; you should get it. My copies were illustrated by Thelma Gooch and that really adds to the pleasure of the experience because they're lovely. I found a couple other books of his but they're not as well-done or as good. I also picked up the French version of Nobody's Girl (En Famille) at a bouquiniste's along the Seine, and found to my pleasure that the translator had left a significant amount of text out of the English version; it was great to find expanded descriptions and incidents in a book that I loved so much.

I liked Louisa May Alcott a great deal, and the Anne of Green Gables books. A wonderful book for younger children is the Golden Book of Fairies and Elves, I think it's called. Again, the illustrations are fantastic; they're by Garth Williams. I found a reprinted edition for my grandkids but the color in the pictures was faded compared to the original. Still it was better than nothing.

[heavy hedonist]

Sci-fi and fantasy sustained me-- I was the only girl in my middle school, except for my best friend, that had read LOTR. It was considered a boy's story around here.

Did you know that they've "updated" Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret." for today's girls?

I hate that. You don't see updated book versions of A Christmas Carol. (movies, yes.)

[Goin' Coastal]

I LOVED Nancy Drew!

[LakeMartinGal]

I read everything I could get my hands on! (I still do!)

My parents subscribed to the "Peoples Book Club," which specialized in "heartwarming" books. Until I was 16, that's all I was allowed to read of adult books, then I got into war books, etc. Didn't get into SciFi until I read Anne McCaffrey, and watched Star Trek.

I had a couple of kid books I remember -- Sallie Goes Traveling Alone, about a girl on a train, and a Rudyard Kipling for kids, and another one I don't quite remember the name. I didn't get into Nancy Drew until I started babysitting, and one of the girls had them.

[leebee]

Sci-fi and fantasy sustained me-- I was the only girl in my middle school, except for my best friend, that had read LOTR. It was considered a boy's story around here.

Did you know that they've "updated" Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret." for today's girls?

I hate that. You don't see updated book versions of A Christmas Carol. (movies, yes.)

Well, the original "Margaret" still had girls learning to use "belts" instead of sanitary pads. That was out of date by the time I read it in about 1978! I don't think updating things like that will make it any less resonant for young girls.

[amarante]

Well, the original "Margaret" still had girls learning to use "belts" instead of sanitary pads. That was out of date by the time I read it in about 1978! I don't think updating things like that will make it any less resonant for young girls.

I think it depends on the book and its intent. I never read Are You There but read about it and I think it was in the young teen genre that is supposed to help the reader identify and therefore that sense of identification might be lost - especially to the "middle of the pack" reader.

I used to love the anachronistic quality of a lot of my children's books though. I read the original Nancy Drew books which had her dashing around in a roadster. I had no idea what a roadster actually was apart from the picture of a vaguely flapperish girl in an old car but it didn't take away my pleasure in the books and might have added to the sense of mystery since the whole milieu was strange to me. No one I knew lived like Nancy with the kindly housekeeper, the beau and the chums.

I also worked through a bunch of nurse books like Cherry Ames and Sue Barton that I think I enjoyed because they transported me to a completely different world.

In elementary school I started reading the teen romance books - VERY innocent. Again, I knew no one who actually danced to the strains of Stardust at a school dance but I I enjoyed it in much the same way I enjoyed Gone With The Wind which I think I read when I was in sixth or seventh grade.

[leebee]

I think it depends on the book and its intent. I never read Are You There but read about it and I think it was in the young teen genre that is supposed to help the reader identify and therefore that sense of identification might be lost - especially to the "middle of the pack" reader.

I used to love the anachronistic quality of a lot of my children's books though. I read the original Nancy Drew books which had her dashing around in a roadster. I had no idea what a roadster actually was apart from the picture of a vaguely flapperish girl in an old car but it didn't take away my pleasure in the books and might have added to the sense of mystery since the whole milieu was strange to me. No one I knew lived like Nancy with the kindly housekeeper, the beau and the chums.

I also worked through a bunch of nurse books like Cherry Ames and Sue Barton that I think I enjoyed because they transported me to a completely different world.

In elementary school I started reading the teen romance books - VERY innocent. Again, I knew no one who actually danced to the strains of Stardust at a school dance but I I enjoyed it in much the same way I enjoyed Gone With The Wind which I think I read when I was in sixth or seventh grade.

I understand what you mean. MY Nancy drew had a convertable and "low-heeled pumps." I remember that term so distinctly, and it spoke to a maturity and class that nobody my age had. Loved it.

I do think it's great to revel in the qualities of books that put them solidly in another time. But I also think it's interesting when a story or character or idea trancends time, or even genre. Both have qualities that are a little out of reach. I'm thinking right now of the new BBC Sherlock Holmes, for example. Holmes is a character I love, and when well done, is a joy to experience regardless of when it is set. But I still go back to the original stories--they are the standard, of course!

[heavy hedonist]

Well, the original "Margaret" still had girls learning to use "belts" instead of sanitary pads. That was out of date by the time I read it in about 1978! I don't think updating things like that will make it any less resonant for young girls.

My point is, I don't think it will make it any more resonant-- and learning about past cultural norms in that engaging way is half the fun of a book.

I think it's a shame, and a denigration of the excellent material. Good stories are timeless-- they don't need fixing to capture the imagination.

[leebee]

My point is, I don't think it will make it any more resonant-- and learning about past cultural norms in that engaging way is half the fun of a book.

I think it's a shame, and a denigration of the excellent material. Good stories are timeless-- they don't need fixing to capture the imagination.

I do get what you mean, and I do agree to a point. But this is something that impacts the book's original intent. Judy Blume intended this book to help girls through a difficult time, and she continues to hope new generations of girls can benefit from that (I read up on it last night!). It's not a denegration--it's how the book would have been written today.

[zoey55]

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle!

Beezus and Ramona

Betsey, Tacey and Tibb

Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (ahh, one still current!)