Creating Bookworms: Connecting to Your Childhood

As a new school year begins for most students, I believe it’s a good time to renew our commitment to our children.  This includes ways to include daily literacy activities for our youngest children.  This month on Literacy Toolbox, I will share ways parents and educators can work to create their own little bookworms.

Let’s face it!  We aren’t getting any younger.  Sad, but true!  However, we can remain young at heart and one way I try to do that is by sharing my childhood favorites with my children.  I was thinking about this yesterday and realized that by sharing a bit of my childhood with my children, in the form of books I loved, I just might be creating bookworms out of them!

My children love to hear about my childhood.  It’s so interesting to see how they try to assimilate in their minds that Mommy was a kid once, too.  I remember doing the same thing with my own mom as a child.  Last year, I decided to share Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary with my then 6 year old.  I remember reading all of the Henry Huggins books (Henry Huggins Complete Set: Henry Huggins, Henry and Beezus, Henry and Ribsy, Henry and the Paper Route, Henry and the Clubhouse, and Ribsy (6-Book Set)) and then moving on to the Ramona books (The Ramona Collection, Vol. 1: Beezus and Ramona / Ramona the Pest / Ramona the Brave / Ramona and Her Father and The Ramona Collection, Vol. 2: Ramona Quimby, Age 8 / Ramona and Her Mother / Ramona Forever / Ramona’s World) (or it may have been the other way around) as a child.  And I vividly remember sharing my love for these books with my friend, Brenda.  In fact, she may have been the one to recommend the Henry Huggins books to begin with!  In any event, I read Henry Huggins to my son last year and we talked about how it was one of my favorite books as a child.  He loved the book as much as I did.  And, I had a blast reading it as an adult!

This year, we have moved on to The Littles series by John Peterson.  I remember reading these books as a child and watching the cartoon.  I loved them and never dreamed I would grow up to become a “Little” myself!  So, when I found the set at our school’s Scholastic Book Fair last year, I had to get them to pass them on to my son.  He loves that we read books that contain our last name and I love passing on the books I loved as a child.  We even have our own Granny Little in our family!

I loved books as a kid (still do, of course!) and I’m so excited to pass on to my children all the books I loved from my childhood!  These are the books that are timeless.  They are as relevant today as they were when I was a child and even when my mother was a child.  Next year, we will move on to my all time favorites, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, and Fudge-a-Mania by Judy Blume.  I have a feeling my son is just going to laugh out loud at those!

Do you share your childhood favorites with your children?  What are they?

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Tags: connecting to your childhood, creating bookworms