Category — books

At times like this when I’m exhausted but can’t sleep, and too exhausted to concentrate fully on anything heavy, I turn to metafilter for entertainment. Just now the site pointed me to “What Book Got You Hooked”–where a nonprofit has a list of celebrities explaining what book first ignited their reading passion.

This in turn got me thinking of all my favorite picture books when I was a little kid. Of course, like every kid, I was a big Dr. Seuss fan, but here I’ll feature a few titles that don’t seem to be around much anymore.

Miss Twiggley’s Tree - A story in rhyme about an eccentric reclusive woman who lived in a treehouse with a bevvy of talented animals and a color TV. She’s misunderstood and talked about judgmentally by all the townspeople, until she saves all their asses during a flood and they finally figure out that different can actually be cool rather than scary. I loved this book and can still quote parts of it. Quite obviously, my sense of kinship with freaks and outsiders developed early.

How Fletcher Was Hatched - A dog feels neglected by his young female owner, who’s too busy cooing over the newly born chicks to pay attention to him. So he (naturally) devises a scheme to hatch out of an egg to regain her love. Quite obviously, my sense of kinship with freaks and outsiders developed early. Ahem.

The Magic Friend Maker - About a girl who is has just moved to the city (there’s that outsider theme again) who ultimately makes a best friend with the aid of a “magic” rock. 

The Lonely Doll (and following sequels) - A story told in words and black-and-white photographs of a lonely doll named Edith and two teddy bears (Mr. Bear and Little Bear) living in New York City. Reading it as an adult, I was surprised by how completely haunting many of the images appeared and how creepy and sometimes depressive-seeming a lot of these books were. But I loved them at the time, and the photography is beautiful. I particularly loved the one Lonely Doll book where Edith and Little Bear picket City Hall.

So, did any of you read any of these? What picture books were you obsessed with as a small kid? Links to the books appreciated, so I can check ‘em out!