Reminiscing about books from my past.

By Jenny Blake

As today is my 50^th Birthday I have been creating a memory album with a difference. The idea for the album came about because at the start of the year I was waiting to see the specialist about having my gall bladder removed due to a nasty attack in Dec. I have been having issues for a few years only I didn’t realise the reason. I thought the surgery would be last week and that I would be still recovering. I thought of creating an album where friends from around the world could send a memory, note or blessing with a photo to include. The album has turned out much better than I expected as I can look at the notes and photos for years to come when I need encouragement.

This takes me to this blog post. In the album I have a few photos of me as a child and one of the first gifts I remember as a child was a cute little blue basket. The next birthday present that I remember is a book with 3 fairy tales in it. It was from Mum and Dad and became my favourite story book. I was about 6 at the time. I had never heard of The Snow Queen before but it quickly became my favourite fairy tale of all time and still is. The other 2 stories were The Ugly Duckling and The Flying Trunk. I took this book to share at show and tell at school and read it over and over. I still have my copy and you can see it was well loved.

I was given books quite often as a birthday gift including many of Enid Blytons books. My next books that became my favourites were the Magic Faraway Series. I so wanted to have that tree near me and climb to those lands at the top of the tree. I remember being given Mr Gilliano’s Circus and also the Naughtiest Girl at School. I loved all the series.

When I was about 11 I remember being given Pollyanna. Mum said she read this series as a child. She had loved the series and wanted to share it.

The year I turned 16 Mum gave me the first 4 books in a series she loved as a teen, Little Bush Maid by Mary Grant Bruce and I fell in love with this series.

I loved reading as a child and when I was at school every month we would take home an order form for a book club which we could order books at a very good price. I bought some really good books that became my favourites from the club. (Mum and Dad also bought some for gifts for me). I remember Helen Keller’s teacher and Betsy were two books I loved and still have to this day. They were clean books that parents knew would be safe to buy a child unlike many books these days. I have to also mention I bought the Narnia series after receiving the first one for myself and tried to get through my wardrobe and the other series that impacted me. Little House on the Prairre which I have been watching while I have been recovering.

Do you have memories of a special book you were given as a child or do you have favourite books that stick in your memory from childhood? Please share and join with the spread of cup cakes and milk shakes (hot chocolate for my North American friends who are freezing)

JENNY BLAKE (aka Ausjenny) is an avid reader. When not reading she enjoys watching cricket, in fact you could call her a cricket fanatic, scrapbooking and jigsaws. She volunteers at the local Christian bookshop where she can recommend books to customers. Her book blog is where she reviews books and interview authors. Her goal is to help promote new books and encourage authors. Her blog is athttp://ausjenny.blogspot.com and is Co-Founder ofhttp://acrba.blogspot.com