Throwback Thursday - Books from my Childhood

This week's Throwback Thursday is going to focus on the books I grew up reading.  This will cover an age range from about 2 yrs. old until my early teens.  I actually had to email my mom for a few reminders of the types of books I used to read, and also about the books she used to read to me as my memory at 2&3 yrs. old wasn't that stellar.

Just wanted to say that if you think any of these books would be great additions to your personal library, please hunt them down.  Visit your local Good Will, Used Book Store, or, if you just want to read them and not store them, check them out from your Library!

Ages 2-8

One of my favourite childrens authors of all time has to be Mercer Mayer.  I took a shine, particularly to his Little Critter series and read them to my now 3 & 4 yr. olds.  The Little Critter series follows the adventures of, yep, you guessed it, Little Critter and his Critter family.  Depending on which book you read, Little critter has a little sister and/or brother that he regularly does sibling-esk things with.

The Little Critter series is great in that the books often deal with a topic that is highly relate-able to children.  For example, a sibling wanting to be "just like" their brother/sister, going to the school/hospital/dentist, a new baby, trying to do things on your own, etc.  What I love most about these books is that they are timeless. I can read these stories to my kids and not worry about if they are going to "get it".

The illustrations are wonderful and also done by Mercer Mayer himself.  The look of Little Critter has evolved over the years, but I'm partial to the earlier versions.  I see a library trip in my near future!

My Top 5 Favorite Little Critter Books:
5. I was so Mad
4. Just a Mess
3. All by Myself
2. Just Me and my Little Brother
1. Just Go To Bed!

To learn more about Little Critter and for some fun activities to share with your kids visit:

http://www.littlecritter.com/

Two other books that were favourites of mine, from what my mother tells me, are Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and Harry and the Terrible Whatzit by Dick Gackenbach.

Ages 9-12
Ah yes, the "tween" years.  Though I tend to try and forget this time of my life, I do keep a small file in my brain for the literature of those days.  I went from reading cute and cuddly to dark and spooky right around the age of 10ish.  I have a few favourites from this time in my life.  Let's start off with the less scary Bunnicula series of books (huh, I wonder if this is where my obsession with Vampire Diaries and True Blood stems from?).


Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery, written by Deborah and James Howe, is a book about a Vampire Rabbit that drains vegetables and the hijinks that ensue between him and his housemates, a cat (Chester) and dog (Harold).  The Monroe family visits their local theatre to watch a Dracula movie and finds Bunnicula there.  They bring him home with them and then strange things start happening.  What strange things exactly?  I can't remember completely, but you should pick up a copy and find out.  I may just do the same.

There are more books in the Bunnicula Series, however, the ones I remember from my era are: Howliday Inn and The Celery Stalks at Midnight.  There have been more books since the initial trilogy and spin offs from the books as well, but I can't vouch for their awesomeness.

Another series of books (guess I liked series...heck...I STILL like series... *ahem* Charlaine Harris *ahem*) that is great for this age range was the R.L.Stine books.  There were two separate series that I liked from R.L. Stine.  The first series was the Goosebumps set and the second was the Fear Street series.  I, in particular, liked the Fear Street Cheerleading series.

I found the Goosebumps series to be less scary than the Fear Street series and thus geared towards the younger end of the 9-12 age range.  These books would each have a different horror story and I can remember reading through them REALLY quickly.  They were an easy read and there were many of them.  According to www.goodreads.com (if you aren't a member at goodreads yet, and you like to read, I HIGHLY recommend checking them out...plus it's free!!), "Sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997, the first being Welcome to Dead House, and the last being Monster Blood IV."

Fear Street also has quite the number of books in it (52) and these ones were much scarier, to me at least.  If memory serves me, they dealt more with Junior/Senior High students.  I fell in love with the Cheerleading books from Fear Street and went on to do Cheer in High School.  Fortunately, there were no demons or deaths associated with my squad.  I wish I could tell you a lot more about them, but I haven't read these books in 15-20 years!  Please check out your local library and share some of these "classics" with the youth of today!  

What are some of your favourites?  I'd love to hear about them.  Please leave me a comment.

Thanks for trudging through this post with me, and I hope I brought back some memories, or helped you to find ways to create new ones!  Thanks again for reading and join me tomorrow for Fun Food Friday.