Posted 9:55 AM by Bonnie

Hey, I'm actually doing a Friday Five on Friday!

1. What were your favorite childhood stories?

The Little Match Girl
Heidi
Black Beauty
Nancy Drew books
Lou Gehrig (about his life and death)
and any Louisa Mae Alcott books

2. What books from your childhood would you like to share with [your] children?

Little Women, Little Men... the Louisa Mae Alcott books, but I know these are too innocent and simple for today's generation. Even though Wynonna Ryder played Jo the latest movie version the children today are more sophisticated than we were and need more to stimulate their imaginations.

3. Have you re-read any of those childhood stories and been surprised by anything?

Yes, I have. I call them my warm fuzzy books. When I was very ill I reread Rose In Bloom as well as other of her books and found they took me back to that simpler time in life. I still enjoyed them.

4. How old were you when you first learned to read?

I know I could read before kindergarten, but am not sure if I was 3 or 4 when I learned.

5. Do you remember the first 'grown-up' book you read? How old were you?

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. My mother had some hard cover books hidden on the top shelf of her closet. She told us we couldn't read them because they were for adults. I read them all, but A Tree Grows In Brooklyn still stays in my mind. The part she didn't want us to read was when the youngest daughter of the Irish Immigrants is accosted on a stairway in their Brooklyn apt. and sees a mans penis. It was also about an alcoholic father. Gee, something we knew nothing about :-). I guess she thought that was too risque for us. I was in junior high so probably around 12 or 13 when I read it.