I am having so much fun asking folks what they read when they were young! No big surprise here, County Reader read a lot as a child (still does)! Under the Lilacs, by Louisa May Alcott was a gift from her Brownie troop when she broke her arm at age 6. (She also enjoyed Little Women). Then, a quick search and I found the twin books she liked: known as The Twins Books, by Lucy Fitch Perkins, they were officially called the Parker Twins Series. There were 26 books, each set in a different country, or time in America's past. Different twins each time, but only one red-headed set ... in Cave Twins, County Reader's favorite.

While reading about Tales From a Finnish Tupa, by James Cloyd Bowman and Margery Bianco, I learned that a tupa is a cottage. :-) Silver Pennies was a collection of poems by Blanche Jennings Thompson. I'll have to ask if she read any out loud. (I did, with my favorites) (still do, sometimes, actually).

Google can be such fun! All I had from County Reader was that she liked a series of biographies in orange covers, so I tried 'biographies for children in orange covers' and found them! Turns out they are a fictionalized series know as the Childhood of Famous Americans, created by the Bobbs-Merrill Company. Clara Barton (especially due to her care of animals) was the favorite.

A story was about a woman who turned into a woodpecker was all I had to go on and I found that with a google search, too! It's in the collection For the Children's Hour, by Carolyn S. Bailey. The stories are about nature, holidays, and family life. The one about the creation of the Big Dipper is remembered fondly, too.

And finally, on her list, one I remember, and read (many times): Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne.

Her kids read, too, they liked the Curious George books by H.A. Rey, the Richard Scarry books (I'm learning these were enjoyed by scores of boys), the Moomin series by Tove Jansson and Tintin by Georges Remi, better known as Herge. (These looked interesting to me, but the copies my mother had were in French ....)

I am thinking back here and remember The Princess and Curdie. It's by George MacDonald, and was published in 1883! Also, Kazan, the Wolfdog, by James Oliver Curwood, and Bristle Face, by Zachery Ball. These were the books my dad read out loud to me. Later I would read the dog books on my own, too. Memories!

Reading Hermit With Dog