Favorite Things...

This is one of my favorite books. The pictures, the story line, everything about it I love. I mean what kind of witch is afraid of witches?

Picture this: An old couch with fuzzy 1970's floral print. My mom in the middle with two kids on each side, the baby on her lap and two children wrestling for the coveted spot on the back of the couch where they could peer down at the pictures while she read to us. This was our nightly ritual. We read story after story this way. And that's where my love of reading, and books and cleverly drawn illustrations was planted.

One of my guilty pleasures is curling up in my bed and reading all night. Sad that I feel guilty for reading, huh? Ok, well I don't always feel that guilty. It just seems like there is always an endless list of "other" things that should take priority, like cleaning my room for instance. This week reading has won out over the mess though.

Recently I've been revisiting some of my favorite out-of-print children's books. I don't know why but we just seem to belong together. As a child I loved the "older" books section in our school library. I would run my fingers over the heavy hardback covers that were built like a 1970's station wagon; made to last. I would pull the books with interesting titles off the shelf and thumb through the worn pages; soft with age. I can still remember the musty smell of old print. Our librarian soon noticed that I had an affinity for old books so she made a few recommendations such as The Velvet Room and Magic Elizabeth. I read them over and over again.

Back in those days our library had a loft where you could lay on the floor and read for a half an hour if you so pleased. That was back before schools thought about things like 'you can't have a loft because children might fall off a ladder', or a merry-go-round for the same reason. Not that I'm against keeping children safe, there was just more of a carefree nature to my childhood. And--the inner child in me wishes I still had a loft to curl up in and read a book.

A few years ago my mom surprised me at Christmas with an old familiar green hardback book. It was the very same book I'd read over and over as a girl, The Velvet Room. It turns out that my elementary school was selling off all of their old books to make way for newer up and coming titles. I was estatic to have that book in my hands for keeps!

The novel is about a girl growing up in Depression Era America who discovers a secret passageway leading to a library in an old abandoned house. A library she endearingly nicknames "The Velvet Room." Someday, when I am neither rich nor famous perhaps I'll own a cute little cottage with a room like that...or at least a loft. Until then my extra comfy twin bed will have to do.

Here are a few of my favorite out-of-print titles:

Andrew Henry's Meadow
The Witch that was Afraid of Witches
Mumps!
The Velvet Room
A Tree for Peter
Pickles and Jake
Homer Price and the Doughnut Machine