The third and final part in our Children’s Book Week series on the books that BWB employees remember from their childhood. Don’t forget to stop by our children’s book sale, too!
To chose just one favorite would be impossible but here is one that I was JUST telling my daughters about (and am about to buy at BetterWorldBooks.com).
The Borrowers by Mary Norton was among my most favorite books. The story of the Clock Family and their adventures living under the floorboards of a home in England fostered my imagination and entertained me for hours…and weeks! After I read that book I would spend hours and hours rummaging through my own home seeking found objects with which to re-create the home of the Clocks. I had an old cardboard box in my closet and I filled it with precious bits of this and that…my Grandma’s thimble, an old spool of thread, a cut up egg carton…the story of this family helped me find a bit of a refuge from my own world filled with annoying siblings and parents (I am the oldest of 6). A wonderful story that saved me from the boredom of every day life in the 1970’s in suburban NY.
–Teresa Minnaugh, Campus Account Executive
My favorites were Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman because I loved Christmas so much.
I currently love Where the Wild Things Are because of the hilarious noises my son makes when he tries to impersonate the wild things….
–Kreece, Co-Founder
Kreece made a great call on Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.
I’m partial to Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen. I loved reading it to my kids because it’s such a great book for letting young imaginations run. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been written when I was a kid… too hard to etch those wonderfully detailed pictures into the stone tablets we used back then.
Kevin O’Neill, Manager, Customer Success Office
Where The Wild Things Are. I loved Max’s imagination, and I loved the word “rumpus”.
The Magic Grinder by Walt Disney. It has magic and a dragon, unlimited ice cream, and the bad guy loses.
–John Ujda, VP of Marketing
Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, Richard Scarry.
This book provides a great introduction to an object oriented classification scheme for data modeling.
–Aaron King, Business Analyst, Salesforce.com System Administrator
Not sure if you can use this because I was made aware of this book when I went back to college in my 40’s. I took a children’s lit class that was just awesome. The book… Ramona the Brave!
Ramona is a Beverly Cleary invention and is probably one of the best children characters out there. The way Cleary shows Ramona’s thoughts are clever and endearing. The character just warms your heart.
I related (even as an adult) to Ramona. The struggle she puts herself through to “grow up”…all so fondly familiar to me and if I had seen this book as a child, I would have eaten it alive.
Not sure how I missed it!
–Maura E. Varian, Director , Emerging Market Logistics
I used to love this book as a kid, sinister in parts but ends well!
These days, I really enjoy reading The Highway Rat – A Tale of Stolen Snacks to my son, or anything by Julia Donaldson
Cheers,
–Andrew Parker (UK Acquisitions)
I was read this book along with my class mates, when we were in Primary School (Elementary School), by our teacher at story time. I thought it was a brilliant book.
It’s about a 4 week old baby that could talk better than an adult and the only other person who knew was his big sister Laura. She helps keep his secret and so they play together and bond with each other while their parents are clueless. Until George was happy to let the rest of the family know.
I think that it is just a fun read and use to love sitting quiet and still while getting read to at school.
–Lynn Winton, Cataloguer, Antique, Rare, and Collectible Books
For my kids: Corduroy and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
For myself:
Fun with Dick and Jane – because it was reflective of the community I grew up in – very family oriented with values that mirrored how I was raised. To this day I have a stuffed animal named Tip, which was the name of one of the dogs in the stories.
–Andy Perlmutter, CEO
I know that this comment isn’t really related to this post, but I couldn’t find anyplace to send you an e-mail, so…. I’m quite disappointed to find that only people who have a Facebook account are able to vote for your LEAP grants. Leaves a lot of us out in the cold. I hope you can change this in the future.
Fair enough, Kathy, and duly noted. Right now the application we use to power the voting system is a Facebook app. So while there is that constraint, the upside is that it makes for a more secure vote, while allowing people to spread the word about all these great organizations and their projects whether they win the grant or not. Thanks for submitting this feedback, and we’ll let you know if we expand those capabilities in the future.
When I was little, the first book I remember my mother reading to me – and so it was my favorite – was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But from my DAUGHTER’S childhood, my favorite was “Jonathan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day! I know I have it in the house somewhere, and I’m going to make a present of it to her, for HER very first baby!