This week is children’s lit week at Tipsy Lit, so I thought I’d talk about my favorite authors and books from when I was a kid.

Nothing meant more to me as a kid than books. If I had to trade all of my toys for access to the library, I would have done it in a heartbeat. As much as I loved my Star Wars action figures, I would have given them up to continue riding my bike up to the library. I blame my vivid imagination on all the books I read as a child.

When I was a kid, my family would spend all summer up at the cottage on a lake my grandfather built as a hunting cabin. It was nirvana for a child, except for the fact that I had to leave all my school friends behind for the summer and there weren’t too many other kids to play with. For most of the summer, it was just me and my sister. She is nearly four years older than me, so we rarely wanted to do the same things. That left me and my imagination on our own most of the time. The library was my refuge.

When I was really young, it was all about the busy world of Richard Scarry. He had the best montages with tons of little animal characters running around Busytown. He crammed so much detail into his pages that I would stare at them for hours, trying to take it all in.

Dr. Seuss was another favorite. He still is. I was recently able to introduce a child to Dr. Seuss and it made my year. I gifted my friend’s four-year old son with my own copy of The Big Book Of Seuss. I haven’t replaced it yet.

I also gave the four-year old my personal copy of Curious George by H. A. Rey and Margret Rey. I loved that mischievous little monkey as a kid. I really wanted my own George. I had to make do with a cat and that was really lame in comparison.

And how could we forget Winnie The Pooh by A. A. Milne? I named my first cat Tigger after that series. My dog’s nickname is Piglet. I call my depression Eeyore. I related to Christopher Robin spending all that time on his own with his animal friends.

When I was in third grade, my favorite book was Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. I couldn’t wait to be in fourth grade.

I discovered Shel Silverstein. Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic were my favorites, but they were all good. They took me to visit interesting characters with strange traits, like Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout.

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I had so many favorite books that it would be impossible to list them all here, but some other favorites include:

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Ray Cruz

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (specifically Rikki Tikki Tavi. I had a cat named Sherekahn after this book.)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (I had a cat named Aslan after this book)

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (I had a dog named Madeline after this book)

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, character created by Edward Stratemeyer, ghost written by a bunch of people

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jules Feiffer

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

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Those are some of mine. I’m absolutely positive that I’m forgetting some. What were your favorite books as a kid?