There are so many books that I'm so eager for my daughter to read. These are books that I enjoyed as a child and I want to see if they would spin their magic around Marguerite as they had with me. There were many books that filled me with such joy that they had me literally squealing and hugging them to my chest afterward. I love children's literature. In fact, I continued collecting them into adulthood. If you ask me who my favorite writers are, authors of children's books and young adult fiction would dominate the list. Elizabeth Enright, E.L. Konigsburg, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Cynthia Voigt, Betsy Byars, Sharon Creech... Obviously, I can go on and on about this. Anyway, one of the books that I'd love for Marguerite to read is "The Secret Garden". I'm sure most of us got to read the book as children. Most of us probably pretended to be Mary, Dickon, and Colin as we played in the dirt. When I was older (high school? college?), a local TV station started airing an animated series of the novel in Tagalog (they also did it to "Little Lord Fauntleroy", "The Little Pricess", "Heidi", "Daddy-Long-Legs", "A Dog of Flanders", etc.), but I wasn't interested in it at all. So many of the important elements would have been lost. Like how do you talk Yorkshire in Filipino? Anyway, during my recent stay at my parents' house, I found the book in the picture above in the bookcase inside my old room. Fresh from the dinner on KIDS EARTH HOUR ("Save Energy Indoors. Use Your Energy Outdoors."), the book appealed to me, so I took it down and reread it. It's no surprise that I still love it. This copy is actually a newish one. The copyright said 1999. My sister has the older copy in her bookcase. I haven't been to England yet, but I'd love to experience the moors in spring and summer as they were described by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Of course, since then I've also read the Brontës and the "wuthering" image has been impressed strongly in my mind. It doesn't matter. The following words also stick with me: "It's fair lovely in spring an' summer when th' gorse an' broom an' heather's in flower. It smells o' honey an' there's such a lot o' fresh air--an' th' sky looks so high an' th' bees an' skylarks makes such a nice noise hummin' an' singin'."
Sigh.The magic one experiences in reading, anybody's childhood is the richer for it.
7 comments:
One of my favorites too!d
And mine too! We read it at school when I was just about 9 years old (I think) and it made such an impression on me. One of the other books we had to read at much the same time was "Children of the New Forest" but for some reason that didn't ring the same bells for me.
It's simply a lovely story. No wonder it turned into a classic. :)
Oh I loved the secret garden too! (and the little princess).....and Cynthia Voigt!
Most of my favourites were probably Swedish authors though (Astrid Lindgren being the queen of children's books ;-) )...
Also have to mention:
Enid Blyton
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Michelle Magorian
L.M. Montgomery
C.S. Lewis
Hi, Annika! Love Astrid Lindgren! Can't wait for Marguerite to get into Pippi Longstocking and the Bullerby Children. :)
the secret garden :) my book report when i was in grade school :) i used to collect books but i lost them :'(
one of my favorites too was the homeless bird, but ate lab borrowed it and didn't return it hahaha
Hi, Icee! The Secret Garden is just as wonderful when you read it as an adult. :) The Homeless Bird is a very moving tale, but I'm afraid I can't read it more than once, albeit the happy ending. Calling on Lalab! Return the book to Icee! lol
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