In case you've ever suspected I'm a dork, this post will pretty much confirm it.
Little House On The Prairie: The Musical is playing at a local theater, and I got tickets for me and Dave (there's no way Sabrina, let alone Max, would have ever sat through that). Guess who played Ma? Ding ding ding! Melissa Gilbert.
When I was around 12, I was a crazy reader. I'd burn through ten books a week from the library. My favorites of all time were the Little House on the Prairie series, The Great Brain series, Encyclopedia Brown books, and anything by Judy Blume. Oh, wait, I also liked Ellen Raskin's books, Beverly Cleary's, M.E. Kerr's, E.L. Konigsburg's and Paula The Cate Ate My Gymsuit Danziger's.
I also, of course, loved the Little House series on TV. I fancied myself to be a bit like Laura, but without the prairie or those crazy-ass hats. I was fiesty. I had brown hair and brown eyes. I was a Daddy's Girl. I had freckles.
The show tonight was kind of cheesy, but sweet in a sentimental sort of way. I think I would have liked it much better if it weren't a musical, I have a low tolerance for them. Melissa Gilbert did a nice job as Ma; she even sang. I actually liked Nellie better than I liked Laura (scarily, Nellie reminded me of Sabrina). I cried when Mary went blind from scarlet fever. Dave fell asleep and snored.
What were your favorite books when you were young?
I too loved Encyclopedia Brown and the Beverly Cleary books. I was also a big Sweet Valley High and Babysitter's Club fan. I'm in the process of trying to hunt them down and save them for Romy, but I think I'm really just trying to find them for ME. I'm pretty sure she'll grow up to think they're pretty lame =)
ReplyDeleteYou and I would have been nerdy bookish friends. I loved all of those and Half Magic and The Hobbit and The Secret Garden and I could go on forever. There's nothing like books, in my mind...
ReplyDeleteEllen, You must have been reading my mind! I just posted last night along these lines! Faith is going to be Laura for Halloween this year and I have been hittin' all the thrift stores collecting prairie gear! We watch Little House every week day, I am a self proclaimed junkie thanks to my grandmother, who grew up in Kansas near where they lived! I got to visit when I was about 3, but never forgot the one room school house! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this time period and plan on using some material when we begin homeschooling, from the Prairie Primer series!
ReplyDeleteHi Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI used to watch every week. I bet Melissa Gilbert was wonderful.
I hadn't read Beverly Cleary until a couple of years ago when I was in a reading program for kids at a local school - I think I liked them more than the kids. They're wonderful.
Hope you're well.
David
I couldn't get enough of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys!
ReplyDeleteJust popping in to say that I've selected your blog as one of a group I've recently discovered, which deserve special mention.
ReplyDeleteYou can pick up your One Lovely Blog Award by going to this post http://www.schoolsout.blogalogues.com/announcements-events/lovely-blog-award.
Congratulations!
Ruby
Great post! I met my best friend in the 4th grade because we both lived and breathed Nancy Drew! We acted it out, I was Nancy she was George. We are still best friends and during Sept. and Oct. we are celebrating our 50th birthdays and we still call each other Nancy and George! Ok, maybe a bit weird, but no one beat Nancy in her pumps!
ReplyDeleteI was a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys fan to the point of distraction--there weren't enough books written to suit me! I also had a brief love/hate relationship with a lesser-known crew called The Happy Hollisters -- I liked the books well enough (the theme was a family that solved mysteries), but I never believed any group of kids could actually be THAT happy! Also, the girls seemed to compete by striving to emulate the boys (one girl was into sports, the other a tomboy). I didn't stick with that series as long, I preferred stories that let the girls approach life on their own terms, a la Nancy Drew, rather than trying to fit in with the boys to be equally important (I must have been an intuitive feminist, or something)! My first Nancy Drew books were my mother's, so Justine shouldn't despair--sometimes, kids do like what their parents like!
ReplyDeleteFelicia, did you have the blue covered N.D. Books? In Portland, Oregon we have Powell's books a well known used book store. Sometimes I go into the Nancy Drew section just to see the old covered books!
ReplyDeleteI'm even dorkier than that - I couldn't get enough of The Famous Five!
ReplyDeleteSarahB, I think my mom's were blue...when I ran out of those, I went to the library to continue my voracious ND habit, which is where I fueled my Hardy Boys obsession and dabbled in the Happy Hollisters! I think the ones in the library were reprints--I seem to recall illustrations on the fronts of those!
ReplyDeleteI was a fiend for reading as a youngster all the way up until recent years--now, I barely have the time! The only reading I do is for the younger set, nowadays, it seems!
Wow, how could I have left out Nancy Drew? I literally owned the entire series! I liked The Hardy Boys, too. And I also went through a Bobbsey Twins phase. Oh, and I forgot The Chronicles of Narnia.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, you're so right, there really is nothing like books. I don't have all that much time to read these days, but this post is making me realize I need to find a way.
Ohhh. . I'm like Justine and had some mad love for the Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High. I also have really fond memories of The Secret Garden and A Wrinkle in Time.
ReplyDeleteLoved most of those mentioned. Also read the Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. Read all the books my mother and her brother grew up with.
ReplyDeleteOne older book I loved but can't find or remember the title of was about a soldier badly hurt in the war who ended up on somebodies property. He healed himself by eating healthy food (especially tomatoes) and dragging himself to the ocean to be healed by salt water. does this ring any bells with anyone? i would love to reread it. Thanks. P.S. Congratulations on the blog award.
Funny you should mention Encyclopedia Brown books. I can't remember why now, but I was thinking about these books just the other day. I was another Nancy Drew fan and oh, those Little Women - I must have read that book 20 times ;-). Lots of Enid Blyton and also Roald Dahl and a few Aussie classics like 'Seven Little Australians' and the books of Mavis Thorpe Clarke that I read again and again.
ReplyDeleteI was addicted to LHOTP books, and the show, so I was a nerd too.
ReplyDeleteFinally, someone else who knows the Great Brain series!! I also loved the All of a Kind of a Family series, Little House of course, Anne of Green Gables-was a total read-aholic! And watched Little House, too... fun post!
ReplyDeleteI must admit to being a little bit book obsessed. I still read everything I can get my grubby paws on. But my favorite childhood book friends were Pippi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables, and Trixie Belden Series
ReplyDeleteBabysitters Club and I am a current teen yes they are not eaasy to find but they are coming back and I got to meet Ann M Martin! My obbsesion started when i was 8 and found the little sister ones in a box from my moms classroom(she is a reading teacher)I impressivley have more than the public libreay which is saying nothing as they have like 20 and my school libreay had 1 that i lost found and was too lazy to give it back now that im at the middle school and this was from the elementary school
ReplyDeleteI doubt Mary went blind from scarlet fever. More likely she had a viral illness with a high fever which caused her blindness. I know this because I've had scarlet fever when I was four years old.
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