Oct. 10: Books I liked when I was a kid
I think I was in Grade 3 when I first heard Charlotte's Web. The
story enchanted me. To this day, it's still one of my favourite books of
all time. Charlotte's Web was published in 1952 but I never would have
guessed that when it was read to me back in 1980. I even wrote a fan
letter to the book's author, EB White, and his publisher sent me back a
form letter, which explained that Mr. White received so much mail that
it was impossible to answer every letter. The form letter did its best
to answer the frequently asked questions.
I was underwhelmed by Mr. White's earlier effort, Stuart Little, but I sure did love Trumpet of the Swan, which was published three years before I was born. I loved Trumpet so much that I didn't even care that the story was the most ridiculous one I've ever read. It's about a mute swan named Louis who learns to play the trumpet, which he eventually uses to woo his love, another swan named Serena. (I know two Serenas in real life and whenever I think of them, I always think of swans. Thanks Mr. White.
I guess I also liked the Hardy Boys books even though they got awfully repetitive after a while. Within the first two pages, I could always count on reading that Frank Hardy was 18 and had dark hair and his brother Joe was 17 and blond. Later, I traded the Hardy Boys for the Three Investigators. Man, I loved those books. The Three Investigators were teenaged detectives and they worked out of an old trailer that was concealed behind piles of junk in a salvage yard. That trailer had a darkroom, its own telephone line, and a whole bunch of secret entrances. The leader, Jupiter Jones, had a photographic memory and he could invent pretty much anything out of used parts he found around the yard. That sounds like the ultimate teenaged existence. Then again, I am a geek.
When I was a kid, I also became enamoured with the Choose Your Own Adventure books. They were told in the present tense, second person point of view, and the reader could make choices that would, ultimately, lead to happy or sad endings. My favourite was The Cave of Time, which was a cave that would take you to different parts of history. I found one ending that enabled me to make it back to present day. Other storylines would have you hobnobbing with Abraham Lincoln and Genghis Khan.
The Choose Your Own Adventures eventually morphed into the Fighting Fantasy books, which looked like this:
These were second person reader's choice books too. The difference was that you needed dice and you would use them to fight various creatures you encountered during the story. Yes they were a little violent and there was a lot of magic spells being cast, but all in all I think I turned out okay.
Surprisingly, I never got into Narnia. Oh well.
I was underwhelmed by Mr. White's earlier effort, Stuart Little, but I sure did love Trumpet of the Swan, which was published three years before I was born. I loved Trumpet so much that I didn't even care that the story was the most ridiculous one I've ever read. It's about a mute swan named Louis who learns to play the trumpet, which he eventually uses to woo his love, another swan named Serena. (I know two Serenas in real life and whenever I think of them, I always think of swans. Thanks Mr. White.
I guess I also liked the Hardy Boys books even though they got awfully repetitive after a while. Within the first two pages, I could always count on reading that Frank Hardy was 18 and had dark hair and his brother Joe was 17 and blond. Later, I traded the Hardy Boys for the Three Investigators. Man, I loved those books. The Three Investigators were teenaged detectives and they worked out of an old trailer that was concealed behind piles of junk in a salvage yard. That trailer had a darkroom, its own telephone line, and a whole bunch of secret entrances. The leader, Jupiter Jones, had a photographic memory and he could invent pretty much anything out of used parts he found around the yard. That sounds like the ultimate teenaged existence. Then again, I am a geek.
When I was a kid, I also became enamoured with the Choose Your Own Adventure books. They were told in the present tense, second person point of view, and the reader could make choices that would, ultimately, lead to happy or sad endings. My favourite was The Cave of Time, which was a cave that would take you to different parts of history. I found one ending that enabled me to make it back to present day. Other storylines would have you hobnobbing with Abraham Lincoln and Genghis Khan.
The Choose Your Own Adventures eventually morphed into the Fighting Fantasy books, which looked like this:
These were second person reader's choice books too. The difference was that you needed dice and you would use them to fight various creatures you encountered during the story. Yes they were a little violent and there was a lot of magic spells being cast, but all in all I think I turned out okay.
Surprisingly, I never got into Narnia. Oh well.
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