While cleaning out my attic to make room for baby stuff  I came across boxes of books that I read when I was a child. My mom saved all my favorite books for me. I brought the boxes downstairs and spent the evening reminiscing with characters as if they were old friends whom I haven’t seen in awhile. I could even remember what I was doing when I was reading them.

I spent rainy days with the Berenstain Bears by Stan and Jan Berenstain. I loved the color illustrations of these books. The series teaches children about manners, how to be friends, and discusses real family issues that face families. Even though I read this series when I was little children today can still relate to the topics in the books. The books I used to help to learn how to read are unfortunately no longer in print, though I believe some publishing companies have been reissuing them. The Dick and Jane books by William S. Gray made reading fun. The words were easy and repetitive which is great for beginning readers. I enjoyed learning about the culture of the time period in American history since they were published from 1930s-1970s.

As I got older books were still a favorite past time of mine. The Berenstain Bears were replaced by Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish, Ramona Quimby by Beverly Clearly, and Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene. I enjoyed reading about girls my age. The experiences they went through were similar to mine. Ramona Quimby always made me laugh even when I was having a bad day. I would stay up late with a flashlight under the covers trying to solve the mysteries before Nancy Drew did.

My trips to the library always found me bringing home the Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner. This series was about a family of four children surviving on their own without parents. They were great adventure books and I couldn’t wait to see how they got out of all the tight situations they were in.

Now that I’m expecting a little one in my life I can pass these treasures on to her and will even have an excuse to read them again and relive my childhood with her. I hope that the books I read as a child will continue to be an important part of future children’s literary journeys and will be just as memorable to them when they get older.