Friday Five (roughly five days late)!

I was at the in-laws this weekend so I just saw this very cool Friday Five:

1. What were your favorite childhood stories? When I was very small, I had a cool counting book that involved elves. It went up to twelve, which I thought was pretty nifty because, well, twelve elves just sounds cool. Plus the twelve elves were in bed and their little feet stuck out--you could count to twenty-four.

I also liked the Runaway Pancake.

When I was older, I loved mythology. My grade school library had a series of books on myths and legends from various countries--I read and re-read all of them.

And of course, Dr. Seuss was great.

There was a really good book on Deborah Sampson (or is it Samson?).

I loved all books. I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I'm still waiting to grow up.

2. What books from your childhood would you like to share with [your] children? I wish I could find that elf book. Maybe my Mom still has it somewhere. I also want to share Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. The Shoes stories by Noel Streatfeild. The All of a Kind Family by Sidney Taylor. The Louisa May Alcott books. Caddy Woodlawn. The Velvet Room. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Figgs and Phantoms and The Westing Game , both by Ellen Raskin. I have tons of old Scholastic books--at least I hope I still do. I'm really going to need to ask Mom. Anyone else remember getting a free book every year through RIF?

Maybe the question should have been, "What books from your childhood would you not like to share with your children?"

3. Have you re-read any of those childhood stories and been surprised by anything? Hmmm. The Roald Dahl books work on a lot of levels. Sometimes I find nuggets in a book, that I didn't catch on the first reading. Every time I re-read the Lord of the Rings, I am dazzled by J.R.R. Tolkein's brilliant use of language.

4. How old were you when you first learned to read?I was small. I don't really know how old I was. My Grandma helped teach me and she died when I was five or six so I would guess that I was probably three or four? I remember that my great-grandmother was in a nursing home in an old victorian house. Belle was the woman who ran it--she only cared for three or four older ladies and her place was full of dolls and books. Belle gave me Gideon, the Man Who Won Without Fighting. I was only four or five then.

5. Do you remember the first 'grown-up' book you read? How old were you? I'm not sure how "grown-up" is defined. I read The Stranger, Terese Raquin, and Madame Bovary when I was fifteen/sixteen. I read the Flowers in the Attic series when I was thirteen. I was constantly reading so I'm not sure when I read what.