Have you ever re-discovered your childhood books and spent happy hours reading through them again? Mine spent years forgotten in my loft and the delight of finding them again inspired me to write this little poem.




Childhood Revisited


A treasury of childhood memories
Forgotten in a pinewood box
Discovered on a rainy Sunday
Turn the key and time unlocks
~
My books, my old friends, lay before me
Restored once more to a loving hand
For cross-legged hours I turn the pages
Lost in a paper wonderland
~
The pirate ship her black flag flying
Stormy skies and salty rain
Trade winds fill the straining mainsails
A small boy sails the Spanish Main
~
Take me back to Smoky London
Baker Street buildings grimed with soot
Top hat Holmes, his coat tails flying
“Come Watson, hurry, the games afoot”
~
Plumed knights astride snow white horses
Virgin maidens with downcast eyes
Pooh sticks float on sleepy rivers
Under England’s smiling skies
~
Once again I tunnel the covers
Clandestine reading on a winter’s night
Sylvia Daisy Pouncer whispers
‘The wolves are running’ in the pale torchlight


Note.
Pooh sticks are a simple children’s game which may be played on any bridge over running water. Each player drops a stick on the upstream side of a bridge and the one whose stick first appears on the downstream side is the winner.

What were your childhood favorites?

I read every book I could get my hands on that was about animals. I also loved Pippi Longstocking, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Fairy Tales.

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and Grimm's Fairy Tales and my all time favorite was The Diamond Cave Mystery. Awesome book and I even took it to school for our 'out loud' reading day. We all took turns reading a chapter to the class. I STILL have the book on my shelf!

I was into fairy stories and related reading of all kinds when I was really young - and believed in fairies and elves and goblins and brownies etc. etc. implicitly !!

I was bitterly disappointed when I got older and had to face the cold, hard truth

Truth? Did I miss something

I read everything I could get my hands on. Read all the Nancy Drew books, and pretty much every genre. Two of my favorites were A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (she was actually a teacher at my school when I was in the sixth grade) and Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. I should reread some of these. Loved Charlotte's Web, too.

Marian, I loved a Wrinkle in Time, but never have read Harriet the Spy

Harriet the Spy is a riot, L4L, with a quirky sense of humor. Recommended.

Wrinkle in Time
The Hardy Boys
Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators
The entire Curious George collection

Well said, looney4labs

Was hooked on Walter Farley and the Black Stallion books during grade school. Also the Little House on the Prairie books.

I read all of the Little House on the Prairie Books, too.

I read some different things but 2 titles stick in my mind: Diamond in the Window and That Willy and Wally. (I think that's the name of the second one.) I would re-read them if I had them but they were library books. Although, Diamond in the Window has some magical memory in my mind, and I would hate to re-read it and possibly lose that.

Oh, Trippy, I read all those too.

I loved to read growing up and still do. I spent many a summer day at the library discovering new adventures in books. What was special about my library it was in Mark Twain's House in Hartford, Ct. It was years before Samuel Clemens home was fully restored. I remember the magnificent fireplace, carved wood paneling, creaking original floors and beautiful tall windows overlooking the grounds. I could feel his presents in the house. It was like he was still there writing his wonderful tales. It made you want to read for sure!

Gerry, that is a fantastic story

That is awesome Gerry.

I've been back and toured the mark Twain House since it was restored. It's as beautiful as I remember it. Still feel his presence in the house!

Experts say that our young formative years has a marked bearing on our later lives, which makes me think of all the books we have read when young play some part in forming our personalities over the later years.

Did you know that the American president, Theodore Roosevelt played a huge part in getting The Wind in the Willows published in the States?
Also the English sailor poet and writer of the children’s books John Masefield (The Midnight Folk’ and ‘The Box of Delights) jumped ship in New York and spent a year as a vagrant in America ‘Riding the Rails’

Cari, I would so agree with that. Of course, who we were played a big part in what we read

I did not know that about Wind in the Willows

What a great story!