Surprisingly, for someone who loved to read as much as I did as a kid, I seemed to have missed many of the 'staple' favorites. I don't remember reading any Judy Blume, very little Beverly Cleary, I passed on the Redwall series (not into mice), I avoided all things Shel Silverstein, and I didn't read the Chronicles of Narnia until I was 21. I spent all my time reading Mary Downing Hahn, Willo Davis Roberts, Mary Higgins Clark, R.L. Stine and etc. (I seem to have a childhood thing for authors with 3 names... Maybe that will be a future post.:) )
Anyway, in 4th grade, my teacher did read us Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary. This is the only Ramona book I've read, and it was a long time ago, but I remember it well. Mostly because thanks to the lovely Ramona and the boy in my class who was 1/2 tormentor, 1/2 good friend, I became the Susan.
I admit that I remember the experience of Ramona the Pest more than the actual story, but there are many things about this story that stand out strongly in my mind. I do remember enjoying the story, and I liked that my teacher was reading it to us. I remember thinking Ramona was funny, until she met Susan. Once Susan, of the bouncing, lovely blonde ringlets entered the scene, the book became less appealing, although in all fairness, it's not the book's fault.
I'm not blonde, and although my hair has a natural wave to it, it doesn't naturally fall into ringlets like Susan's did. But, my hair does curl exceptionally well, and my mom used to wrap my hair in those old school pink foam rollers at bed time, which would give me lovely bouncing ringlets. After my teacher read this book to class, the aforementioned boy (whom we shall call Bob) thought that it would be such the greatest idea to 'boing' my curls. So, when my mom would put my hair in ringlets, 'Bob' would follow me, 'boinging' my curls all down the hall. It got very old, very fast. So I kicked him into the dirt.
No really, I did. I was finally tired of avoiding him when I curled my hair, which I loved to do. And, he always caught up to me anyway. So, I waited until recess, when 'Bob' was playing football. ~evil grin~. I waited until 'Bob got into the 'hike' position, and I kicked him, face first, into the dirt. He left my curls alone after that.
What are your great childhood reading memories?! I'd love to hear from you! Leave me a comment sharing your thoughts, or fill out my Guest Blogger form /shoot me an email and share what you remember reading with all of us!