Flashback Friday (7)

Flashback Friday was started by Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf and is a chance to share with others books that you loved as a kid or teenager.

What can I say about Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs? I loved this book because what kid wouldn't like ice cream falling from the sky and a giant pancake closing school? When I first saw that the movie for this was coming out, I looked at my husband and told him we had to see it. You can imagine my shock when his response was "what's it about?" and that led me to find out he'd never read this as a kid. My mission was to find my copy buried in a box at my mom's house and show him what he'd been missing as a child, but alas, I couldn't find it.

We did see the movie and the hubs and I liked it but it wasn't as awesome as I remember the book being. Did you ever read Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs when you were a kid?

Flashback Friday (6)

Flashback Friday was started by Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf and is a chance to share with others books that you loved as a kid or teenager.

I thought this week I would pay homage to the first book I really remember reading. Towards the end of my 1st grade year, my teacher, Ms. Esparza, had a parent/teacher conference with my parents and I remember her telling my parents that this book was one of the harder books in the class and I read it no problem. I guess this is proof that my love of reading came at an early age.

So to Ms. Esparza, wherever she may be, thank you for encouraging me to read and for recognizing it and sharing it with my parents.

What's the first book you remember reading?

Flashback Friday (5)

Flashback Friday was started by Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf and is a chance to share with others books that you loved as a kid or teenager.

I absolutely love Flashback Friday because it reminds me of all these fantastic books I read as a youngster and it makes me happy that reading was such a big part of my childhood. This week I am spotlighting Louis Sachar's Sideways Stories from Wayside School and Wayside School is Falling Down.

I loved these two books because they were just so silly. Kids licking each other to determine what ice cream they would be, swapping names, a missing 19th floor, and so much more. 

I know there's a third book in this series, Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger but for some reason I never took to it like I did with the 1st two.

Flashback Friday (4)

Flashback Friday was started by Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf and is a chance to share with others books that you loved as a kid or teenager.

Oh, The BFG by Roald Dahl was such a favorite of mine. I don't know what it was about this book, maybe it was the use of words like, scrumdiddlyumptious, whizzpoppers, snozzcumber, and frobscottle, or it was the idea of happy dream jars, but whatever it was, it deserves a place on my list.

This is one of those books that I always remember and when something I'm eating is so good there are no words, there is always the use of scrumdiddlyumtious.

Have you ever read The BFG?

Flashback Friday (3)

Flashback Friday was started by Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf and is a chance to share with others books that you loved as a kid or teenager.

When I was in middle school a friend recommended I read S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders and when I did, it became the first book that I ever re-read. I don't know what it is about this book, but I love it. I think it's a great story and each of the main characters are so different from one another but they all complement each other.

This is one of the books that I will forever remember reading.

Flashback Friday (2)

Flashback Friday was started by Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf and is a chance to share with others books that you loved as a kid or teenager.

Now I'm not usually one for poetry, I succumbed to a lot of "analyze this" and "what's the author REALLY saying?" type of stuff in high school and college English classes and it just kind of ruined poetry for me. With that said, one of my favorite books from my childhood was A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein.

I have a few memories of this book and it has popped up throughout my life. I remember the first time I was introduced to this book, it was by my aunt and we shared the same favorite poem, and that poem is still my favorite. If I'm feeling random, I've been known to recite that poem at odd times as well as one or two others.

One thing I'm not usually is a trend setter, but I do enjoy being me and sometimes that leads to others following suit. When I was in high school I started two things in different classes. In my Web Page Design class I did all my work while sitting on the floor with my keyboard in my lap and by the end of the semester, all but three people sat on the floor on a regular basis.

The other thing happened in my Honors English class my Junior year. Each week we had to do an author report where we had to write about an author and bring in something to symbolize their life or one of their works. After two weeks of hearing numerous reports on the same authors (Fitzgerald and Shakespeare mostly), I decided to do my report on Shel Silverstein. I shared with my class that he started as a cartoonist for Disney and eventually did the same for Playboy (talk about different ends of the spectrum there) and I ended my report with a poem from the book.

My item that represented Mr. Silverstein was of course, a light bulb and I am proud to say that it made it home without breaking. So now, I will end this post with the poem I have always found the most amusing, and yes, it's by memory.

Crowded Tub

There are too many kids in this tub
There are too many elbows to scrub
I just washed a behind
That I'm sure wasn't mine
There are too many kids in this tub

Flashback Friday (1)

Flashback Friday was started by Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf and is a chance to share with others books that you loved as a kid or teenager.

Now when I was a kid, reading was my favorite pastime and I always had a book in my backpack. My biggest book collection from my younger days consisted of the Sweet Valley series. It didn't matter how old the twins were, if I found a book dealing with them, I bought it.

One thing my mom and I did frequently was visit thrift stores and I loved this outing because I could always find at least two Sweet Valley High books at each store. I still have my collection at my mom's house and it takes up a solid box and a half..and let me tell you, they are not small boxes.

I loved so many things about this series and when it was made into a tv show, you can bet your buttons I watched it. Now that there's talk of a movie and more books following Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, chances are I'll watch or read them just to pay homage to what these books meant to me growing up, because if there are any books that define my childhood and pre-teen years..these are it.