Shelby's Favorite Childhood Books
Living rent-free, of course
Day Two of OTF’s favortie childhood books! To write this piece, I envisioned the bookcase in my childhood bedroom’s closet with all these books (and way more) haphazardly organized on it. As an avid reader throughout my whole life, I knew this would pose a sortof challenge, though mostly because the majority of the books I’ve red will go unrecognized and forgotten over the years, as is the case with normal (read: not Aimée) human memory. The books below are just a sampling of the many I read and reread as a kid, all of which still live rent-free, two-plus decades later, in my head:
Sleep Well, Little Bear (1994)
Look at this mf bear heavily contemplate life. I think about this book from my childhood at least once a week. The book is simple: It’s a little stuffed bear, who can’t sleep. Instead of counting sheep, he asks for some warm air to be blown under his covers because he’s cold (same) and he stares out the window, remembering the day’s adventures and planning for tomorrow’s. Similar to the Angelina Ballerina book I picked below, Sleep Well, Little Bear has a pull-out letter, relevant to the story, in the back of the book.
If I say this book is ASMR for the eyes, would anyone have any clue what I’m talking about or is it still too early? I don’t know how to describe it (and of course I don’t have the book with me here) BUT you can kind of get a glimpse of this from the cover — the pages look like velvet, everything is very sleepily designed with no offensive colors or random bright spots. It’s truly a book for getting your screaming kids to sleep.
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992)
DOES ANYONE ELSE KNOW THIS BOOK??? I fucking read this book all the damn time as a kid—it’s fucking hysterical. Pretty self-explanatory if you’ve never read it, but here’s the start of the book’s blurb:
A long time ago, people used to tell magical stories of wonder and enchantment. Those stories were called Fairy Tales. Those stories are not in this book. The stories in this book are Fairly Stupid Tales.
Angelina Ballerina Series (first book 1983 // this book 2003)
When we met as a small team last night to talk about this week’s collab and some upcoming news, Aimée and I, the two die-hard American Girl fans, of course had to discuss the pivotal and critically-acclaimed library from American Girl, of which Angelina Ballerina calls it’s original home. Both of us, naturally, have Angelina’s entire set (books included) and were wistful with nostalgia as we remembered back to the good ole’ days.
For those perhaps unfamiliar—sucks to be you—this is a tale as old as time: Angelina is a mouse with the dream of becoming a ballerina and boy, does she NAIL IT. I specifically chose this one, even though it’s one of the last ones published, because the pull-out invitations, notes, and posters were—are—simply inspired. Big fan; love a good pull-out, love books with interactions.
Avalon, Web of Magic Series (2001)
These. Fucking. Books. I literally had to text my cousin, who is only three months and 24 days older than me (therefore we were raised like sisters), because she’s the reason this book exists in my brain. My direct text to her last night:
“dude this is totally out of left field but — do you remember that book series I’m almost certain you made me read that was like tween girl fantasy? it had three girls, all with their own book and ‘power’ and one had a unicorn??”
Like a boss, she texted me back immediately with “Was it this gem of a series?” Yes, Sydney, yes it was. I don’t think a single other person than us two has read (or even heard of) these books. Pulled from Amazon, here is the premise:
Emily, the veterinarian's daughter, Adriane, whose grandmother is the caretaker at the Ravenswood Wildlife Preserve, and the mayor's snobbish daughter, Kara, have nothing in common until they learn that a talking ferret needs all three of them to help the magical beasts.
Inkheart (2003)
Inkheart puts a new twist on being silver-tongued—what if every time you read aloud, the characters and story came to life around you? Of course, if something comes out of a book, another something must take its place. Meggie’s father, Mo, has this power, though naturally at the beginning Meggie has no idea. When she was just a baby, three of the book’s characters sprang out while Mo read aloud and, to take their place in the book, Meggie’s mother and their two cats were missing, supposedly transported into Inkheart. Of course 12-year-old Meggie decides then and there that she’s going to rescue her father, her mother, and the strange world of Inkheart.
I remember never finishing the sequel and just learned this AM there’s a third book, so clearly I have some reading to do.
Fruits Basket Series (first book 1998 in Japan)
Yes, I read manga as a child, what about it? Fruits Basket is one of the greatest love stories ever told—it follows an orphan, Tohru, who befriends the mysterious and ~super hot~ cousins, Yuki and Kyo Sohma, while at school. Soon, Tohru learns of the Sohma family curse: Each member is possessed by an animal of the Chinese zodiac and are cursed to turn into their animal forms when they are weak, stressed, or—get this—embraced by anyone of the opposite sex (that isn’t one of their family members). Throughout the 23 books, Tohru learns of the family’s hardships and pain from this generations-long curse, and through her own generous and loving nature, helps heal their wounds just as they brought her into their family, healing her.
The Summoning (Darkest Powers Series) (2008)
Look at how this book’s blurb begins:
Chloe Saunders used to have a relatively normal life.
But now she finds herself in the middle of some really strange situations because:
~She suddenly starts seeing dead people.
~She gets locked up in a group home for unstable teens.
~The group home isn't what it seems.
Can’t you just tell you’re going to die for this book??? I loved this book so much that post-reading, I had the urge to write my own dark tale. I have a few pages written about a girl who dreams of murders and then wakes up with the victim’s ghost coming to them for help. I wrote some pretty twisted shit at like 12-years-old and actually made my friend’s mom cry when she read through it.
Shit We’re Loving: WATCH
Shelby’s Pick: I guess the adaptations?
The only two offers from this piece that were turned into a movie or show are Inkheart and Fruits Basket. Inkheart the movie was released in 2009 and stars Brendan Fraser and that’s about as much as I remember from it. Did I even see it?? Hard to tell, but I’m going with at least once….
Fruits Basket anime series was released in 2006 and is available on various anime websites like CrunchyRoll or Funimation.
Show Your Support: Children’s Literacy Initiative
School has officially begun for everyone from kindergarteners to university students and, of course, their devoted teachers—learning is in the air again. As we may be aware, many schools and their students across our country are severely underserved, especially when it comes to accurate, anti-racist, LGBTQ+ friendly, and sex-positive literature and books. Children’s Literacy Initiative has stepped in to change this.
Literacy is the very foundation of all learning and the pathway to liberation for every human being.
The CLI seeks to dismantle structural racism by providing Black and Latinx children with anti-racist early literacy instruction, support and advocacy needed to create equity in education. Educators currently serving high-need student populations can join the CLI and learn high-impact strategies and nurture dynamics to continue the necessary trajectory of improvement in our schools. Just some of the ways CLI assists teachers is by providing workshops and seminars about literacy content and pedagogy, by stocking classrooms with much-needed, high-quality books and other learning materials, and by coaching teachers to incorporate these practices in their classrooms.
At the time of this writing, the Children’s Literacy Initiative has served 295 schools, 5894 educators, and 104,419 students. They have also distributed 34,907 books. In the OTF fashion, we have already donated to CLI and we encourage you to do the same if you can!
Daily Intention:
Today I choose…
Words as magic.
Here’s some nifty buttons for you to press, enjoy: