Ooh, I am so excited about this little project that the Lovely Mrs. Davis is working on:
What television, music, movie or book from your childhood are you excited about sharing with your own children?
Music – I am totally drawing a blank. Fred Penner and Sharon, Lois, and Bram have totally lost their luster compared to today’s kiddie groups.
I’m afraid I don’t have too many inspirational TV favorites either. As a kid, we were subjected to “Peasant Vision” which consisted of 3 whole channels. As a result, I wasn’t much of a TV watcher. I swear to God, I have never seen even one episode of either The Brady Bunch or Gilligan’s Island.
On the other hand, I was and continue to be a total book nerd. I can’t say that I remember many picture books, but I vaguely recall loving just about anything written by Robert Munsch. Also, LOVED Shel Silverstein’s poems. Oh, and those Sesame Street books you used to get at the grocery store. Remember those?
I grew up on a farm and didn’t have access to a library besides the school one, and we had a crazy book mobile lady that brought books to all the stranded country kids in the summer. She loaned me many excellent reads, even though she was a little over-zealous and strict about how much and what I SHOULD be reading. Oh, the pressure of completing a novel because some strange old woman commanded it. She had no authority over me, and yet I was terrified she would be disappointed in me for not finishing one of her selections. How nuts is that? My grandma, who was a teacher, also introduced me to some great books.
The ones I remember most and am looking forward to sharing with my kids are:
Anything by Judy Bloom, but particularly:
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Anything by Roald Dahl, particularly:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
The Chronicles of Narnia series, especially The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis
The Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Despite their rather formulaic plots, I also devoured any Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene and would like to read some of them to my children.
As a side note, in about grade 5, I was also a HUGE fan of the Sweet Valley High and Babysitter’s Club series. Ugh. Here’s crossing our fingers that I don’t have to revisit those literary nightmares.
I loved movies as a kid – still do. I can be rather obsessive about them really. After I see a particularly awful movie (and let’s be honest, there are far too many of them being made) I actually feel personally offended. But I digress. I would love to share some of my old favorites with the kidlets but I’m not sure whether they have aged well (the movies, not the kids):
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Many pardons for the extremely long post. Nostalgia possessed me and I got a little carried away.
Um, yeah, so you may think you are super-awesome by posting links to Amazon for your books, but you actually smell like inferiority-poo because it goes to Amazon.com, not .ca. America-lover.
I hated the Neverending Story. Stef and Talia used to have it on perma-loan from the library every summer (along with the sequels) and I totally could not stand it. Ugh. Other than that, good on ya. Oh, and I would add that Anne of Green Gables is a must-read. Music-wise…I never listened to kiddie music. Dad wouldn’t let us. So I grew up listening to whatever was the top 40 at the time (Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benetar, U2, Def Lepard, Mike and the Mechanics, Pet Shop Boys, Pink Floyd, etc). So much more wholesome for the sanity of all present.
Oh yeah…and I also read Sweet Valley High like it was going out of style. I really hope it finally did…
Hey, Tony! I was practicing a little bit of courtesy with the Amazon.com links as the idea for this post originated from an American blog.
What’s wrong with being polite to our neighbors to the south? Be calm, my brother, and practice love and tolerance towards your fellow man (say this in your best stoned-hippy voice).
What about Edward Scissor Hands?????? Depp is so cool and yummy…..
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