It dawned on me the other night, that I have yet to write anything about books, and yet, that is part of my tagline here. At the moment, I am not doing nearly as much reading as I’d like. I put that down to life getting in the way, as it so often does. However, I don’t want to be accused of false advertising, so here are a few words about some of my favorite books as a child. In no particular order:

• Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott – a classic and one I clearly remember reading the summer between 3^rd and 4^th grade. We had to renew it three times so that I could finish it. This was the first long book, with basically no pictures, that I ever read. It took me nearly all summer, but I loved it. I would climb the tree in our backyard with the book and continue where I had left off. Or I’d sit on a lawn chair outside reading. After Little Women, I then read the others over the following years – Little Men and Jo’s Boys. I have since reread these every 10 or so years. And I’m looking forward to seeing the latest movie version of Little Women, which has gotten rave reviews.
• The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, by Margaret Sidney – I’m not sure how many people are aware of this book. My mother introduced me to it as one of her favorites. My mother and I have always, and still do, share and recommend books to each other. The book portrayed a family setting unknown to me at that point in my life. I don’t clearly remember when I first read the book, but likely not long after Little Women.
• Laura Ingalls Wilder – the entire series. These would have been my first serialized books where the family adventures continued from book to book. About 10 years ago, I had the opportunity, while on vacation in Wisconsin, to visit the replica of the cabin from Little House in the Big Woods located on land that had been owned by the Ingalls family, and see the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum in Pepin. I have to admit that I was quite giddy about seeing the actual places that she wrote about. Reading the letters that she wrote that are displayed in the museum, really brought to home that her books were real (with some fictionalizing for plot purposes). A very fun adventure.