Books from my childhood

Here is Humphrey, the book I remembered so fondly and which someone has very kindly just sent to me. (Incidentally, this has happened twice before, when in a speech I mentioned a beloved childhood book, and someone in the audience found a copy and sent it to me. One was "Dandelion Cottage" and the other...an entire set of books by Marguerite de Angeli, very beloved in my childhood...and to my good fortune, a library was disposing of their copies; and now they are mine!!)

This has made me recall, as well, two sets of books that I adored as a child; they were by a Swedish author, Maj Lindman. One series was about Swedish triplet boys named Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr; and the other—my favorite—was about triplet girls named Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka. I just googled those books to find their publication dates...late 1930's, and 40's.

Reading about them, very nostalgically, I discovered something that surprised me. In one of the books about Flicka, Ricka and Dicka, there is a cow named Blossom. When I was writing NUMBER THE STARS, which is set, of course, in Denmark, I named the family cow Blossom. I had no conscious recollection of having encountered a similarly-named Scandinavian cow when I was a child. But that cow must have been resting there in my brain cells, probably placidly chewing on a flower, for all those years.

Thinking about all of this, and remembering myself as a child—remembering my family in those long-ago years—I am again aware and appreciative of how fortunate I was to have been born into a family which valued books. My mother had been a kindergarten teacher before she married. She always read to us. There were always books in our home. We were always taken to the library.

And it was part of her heritage, too. Here is a picture of my mother in 1911, when she was five years old, being read to by her own mother.

Comments

[Kelsey]

That is one of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen! It is such a gift to read to your children. When I read to my daughter, I can still here my mother's reading voice in my head.

[Jennifer D G]

I remember in Marguerite de Angeli's book THEE, HANNAH where Hannah borrows and ruins her friend Celia's sash and then hides it in a drawer. I remember also how Hannah helps a runaway slave. But still, as a child, that sash scene is what scared me most.

I am glad to be reminded of those wonderful stories.

[Lois Lowry]

My copies of the de Angeli books are in my old farmhouse n Maine. My son, who has two little boys..now 7 and 9...uses the farm often, when he takes his boys up there to ski. One time after he had been there, I found "Coppertoed Boots" by de Angeli in the children's bedroom. He had been reading it to them at bedtime. Isn't it great that some favorites continue though generations?

[Nathalie]

Yes, I love Marguerite de Angeli too! My favoite is Up the Hill. Which is your favorite?

[Monika]

It's so fun reading about the books you remember from your childhood. I had Swedish friends who introduced me to Pipi Longstocking and the horse named Flicka.

I still remember the day I saw The Giver on the library shelf (it must have just been published). I devoured it--it fed something deep inside me that I didn't know was even there. I didn't know you had written a sequel until last year, when a girl I babysat loaned it to me. Amazing!

As a beginning children's writer, I've often thought about how you wrote your books and tried to learn from you. Thanks for writing such great stories!

[Robin]

I enjoyed reading this post. The photograph of your mother being read to by your grandmother is just beautiful!

Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr, and Flicka Ricka, and Dicka, were in our family library when I was growing up, and I loved them. This year, when I started teaching 2nd grade (after being a 6th grade teacher for 16 years), I brought them to school and read them to my students. They enjoyed them, and the stories sparked some good discussions about helping others.

[Melissa McWhinney]

I'm reasonably sure that Snipp, Snapp and Snurr are in paperback at the Robbins Library (main library) in Arlington. Or at least they were 10 years ago, when my children were young enough to enjoy them. If those paperbacks haven't lasted, I hope they were replaceable. Anyway, you may want to give the library a call. Or even search on the Minuteman network!