warming the sleepy rooftops
on a Winter's day
I awoke to a beautiful sky this morning
The golden glow warmed my heart
It's going to be a good day!
The sunrise reminded me of a scene from my book called "Rook" by Deborah King, now a cherished childhood book that I only discovered last year!
Rook
In the "pass the book giveaway" I'm loving hearing about your childhood books and your precious memories of reading as a child. A few of the books are new to me but there are many favourites that I share with you!
I learnt to read with the Sheila McCullagh books about Roger red hat, Billy blue hat and Jennifer yellow hat. They all lived in The Village with Three Corners. In the early seventies, we used colour graded "SRA Cards" to read and then had to answer questions to make sure we understood what we were reading
One of the earliest memories I have is of my sister and I fighting over the "Topsy and Tim" books and the "Rufty Tufty" books (by Ruth Ainsworth) at the village library (I'm talking late sixties!). My sister loved "My Naughty Little Sister" books and "Twinkle". My friend next door liked the "Mr. Twiddle" books. I think they were by Enid Blyton
After dinner, Mummy brought out her workbox and a pile of gay old clothes ... "You're going to be gipsies" she said
Every other Saturday morning my sister and I would go to the bookshop and spend our pocket money on a paperback. In the early seventies you could buy a brand new paperback book for 20p. I remember this because in 1971 (when I was 9 years old) we got decimalisation and I remember drawing around the new money to learn about it. The alternate Saturday morning we used to lay in bed till lunchtime reading our books
My most favourite books were "Pookie in Search of a Home" and "Fairyland Secrets". They were both books about animals, fairies and elves making cosy little homes in the woodlands and I still have them
Fairyland Secrets
I also loved "Treasure at the Mill" by Malcolm Saville. It was about a group of children following rhyming clues to find treasure hidden in an old water mill. The treasure was hidden at the time of the Cavaliers and Roundheads (17th Century) and it was this book that first inspired my interest in English history
... and I liked these too ...
- Mary Poppins
- 101 Dalmations
- Arabel and Mortimer books by Joan Aiken
- Little Pete Stories by Leila Berg
- Stig of the Dump by Clive King
- Ballet Shoes and the shoe books by Noel Streatfeild
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Little Women (given to me by my great-grandmother)
- Pollyanna
- Anne of Green Gables
- The Wind in the Willows
- The Willows in Winter
- Ladybird books of nature
- Ladybird books ... What to look for in Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter
- Beatrix Potter books
- Flower Fairies poems
- The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Enid Blyton's "Naughtiest Girl" books
- Pride and Prejudice
- Sense and Sensability
- Emma
- Wuthering Heights
- Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
I didn't realise, at the time, how much my childhood books inspired my love of nature. I had the Ladybird Books of Garden Flowers and Wild Flowers and used to spend hours and hours designing gardens, according to colour and height of the plants. I think Mum still has one of my designs tucked in a drawer somewhere. That was how I taught myself lots of flower names including some in latin
What to look for in Winter
If you have a blog and would like a chance of winning the "Pass the Book Giveaway" and some Valentine's Day goodies (details below) please leave a comment on this post or the last post telling me about YOUR FAVOURITE CHILDHOOD BOOK - I will pull the winner's name on Valentine's Day ♥
Well, all for now! I still haven't visited anyone yet! Naughty me! I still haven't sorted out my holiday photos yet either so will post about "E" soon. Now, I'm off to visit lots of lovely blogs!
Carolyn ♥
Link: Valentine's Day - Pass the Book Giveaway