Marmee’s Library
We recently learned that our sweet Ivy (and her mommy and daddy!) will be coming to visit our house next month! We are excited for so many reasons, but maybe the biggest joy for me will be introducing Ivy to Marmee’s library.
Marmee and Grandaddy reading to Ivy when we visited her house! Being a book lover, of course I kept not only the books my children loved, but also a few of the books that I loved as a child! There are the hard-backed Madeline books. Our most favorite of the Dr. Suess books. We have nursery rhyme books. Fairy tale books. The classics—old, like Margaret Wise Brown’s The Golden Egg Book and new, like The Very Hungry Caterpillar! I even have some obscure titles that my guess is many people have never heard of. And don’t even get me started on the all early reader, middle grade, and ya fiction I’ve kept!
A few oldies but goodies! Still, I looked at the small bit of shelf space allotted to children’s books and felt … sad. There were so many more great stories out there that I’d let go for one reason or another. And yes, I could go buy the newer books, but I miss the older ones.
Then I stumbled into an antique shop in a small Texas town—an antique shop with a 50% off everything sale, no less!—and stared in rapture at the shelves full of Little Golden books!
Classic stories and nursery rhymes, sweet Bible story books so faithful to Scripture, and fairy tales with the classic Disney illustrations and characters! I swept up all the classic fairy tales and nursery rhyme books. All the ones I remembered from my own childhood. And all the Bible story books. I spent way more than I’d anticipated, yet way less that I would have spent had I bought them in more touristy places or even at this shop’s full price!
Now these books sit on the shelf I see as I walk in the door and my heart soars as I think about the years to come. My little Ivy already loves to be read to. And her mommy and daddy read her good books. But I hope there will be books in my library that she’ll find only there. Stories that will capture both her imagination and her heart. I hope when Ivy and all my future grandchildren grow up, they will fondly remember time spent with Marmee in her library.
What were your favorite books as a child? What have been your favorite books to read to your children and/or grandchildren?
newest »
I always picked out the same book at the library downtown, Marshmallow, By Clare Turlay Newberry. I still love the line, "A bunny's a delightful habit, No home's complete without a rabbit." And yes, we did have a house trained bunny until it started chewing on wires! I can never pass up favorite kids books. I love Little Bear, and anything by Jan Brett or Tasha Tudor, Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal. The other day at the library someone returned Put Me in the Zoo, a Seuss book by by Robert Lopshire. I hadn't thought of that in years, but it just made me smile. So many happy memories. How wonderful to be sharing those unforgettable moments with your sweet Ivy.
Yes! Children's books stir so many happy memories.
I didn't read many children's books as a young child. I did enjoy reading about The Bobbsey Twins and the Lennon Sisters as a school age child. Then in 4th grade our teacher hadba wonderful library of historical characters like Clara Barton and Ethan Allen. This teacher gave us a small notebook to record the names of the books and the authors and I have kept that book. That was my start to reading many enjoyable books. I am so thankful to this teacher.
Teachers who inspire children to read are priceless!
