I'm posting one day in advance of my regular schedule in order to participate on the weekly meme Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is "freebie" so I chose childhood favorites.
As a matter of fact, I still own all of the books in the list so that means they are still interesting for adults. Here are my top 10 childhood (and current!) favorites:
Robin Hood by Louis Rhead: I can't remember how many times I've read this. I took out my old copy to see if I found any interesting notes on the margins, but I could only find passages underlined. Almost all of them are character descriptions. Maybe I had a bad memory as a child.
Alice's adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: I was a bit of an escapist as a child, so Alice's entrance in a misterious, scary and crazy world was right up little Paula's alley. The caterpillar was one of my favorite characters.
InkHeart by Cornelia Funke: the first book of this trilogy was released in 2003, so you can guess I discovered it as an adult. But I'm not ashamed of it. I mean, there's a book binder who can bring characters to life when he reads a book out loud, there's a story within a story, an incredibly smart villain and the movie adaptation has Brendan Fraser in it - how could I not like that? How could anyone not like that?
Marcovaldo or the seasons in the city by Italo Calvino: I had to read two of Italo Calvino's books for school, but they aren't exactly children's books. Somehow I've never read any books by this Italian author as an adult so his books are stuck as a part of my childhood.
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson: I know these are comic strips and not a book per se, but boy was I crazy about Calvin. I used to cut the comic strips out of the Sunday newspaper and collect them. I thought I was really similar to Calvin which means I must have given my parents a lot of trouble.
Tistou of the green thumbs by Maurice Druon: Many people compare this book with The Little Prince and I agree that both are very poetical and delicate. It tells the story of a sensitive boy who could grow plants just by touching the ground with his finger. He will go on to try to help others live a more beautiful life.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter: I won't lie - I discovered Beatrix Potter's works as an adult through Renée Zellweger's movie. I became enchanted by her life, her books, her sweet characters and drawings.
The Yellow Bag by Lygia Bojunga: Unfortunately not even the Spanish translation of this book is available at Amazon. I hate recommending books people can get at, but I had to include at least one Brazilian book here! This book tells the story of Raquel, a girl who puts her unfulfilled wishes into a yellow bag: her desire of being born a boy, of being an adult and a writer. One day the novel she wrote becomes true and one of the characters of her story - a rooster - appears inside her bag. This book reflects so much of my childhood: I also had this bag where I kept a souvenir from each family member.
The Paul Street Boys by Ferenc Molnar: I read this book when I was in 6th grade and everybody in my class was crazy about the story. It's about a bunch of boys who need to defend their playground from another group of boys who want to take it from them.
It was a great experience remembering all these amazing stories while I wrote this post. I'd love to hear what your childhood favorites are!
