The story you remember the most

Chip wrote a lovely post about his (now teenage) kids' love for the "Heffalump" Winnie the Pooh story, and a few of the comments mentioned the books that they remembered from their childhood, which prompted me to think about my own.

This topic is timely, given the recent passing of Stan Berenstain. This quote from an article about his legacy really sticks with me:

At best, our favorite adult books can leave us with an appreciation for clever plot, maybe a memorable character or two. Children's books, though, give us the chance to stockpile memories of the quiet moments we get only when we set down the dishrag and the mail, the cell phone and the file folders, and pull the kids in close.

I have very few memories of my childhood for some reason, but one that popped into my head after reading Chip's post was of me, around age 10, sleeping in my big sister's bed as a special treat (she'd moved out to go to college recently and she had a really cool climb-upon on which her bed was perched).

My mom pulled out The Little Red Hen and--most importantly--the accompanying stuffed animals and read the book to me, pantomiming and doing voices for each animal in turn.

Thinking about this now, a few things jump out at me:

• I didn't realize I was still read to at such an old age! That gives me hope for the future that my kids will still be my little babies at that age.
• Man, what a story to remember - I know I loved the book as a kid, but looking back as an adult all I can think is how preachy it is.
• The stuffed duck used for the pantomiming belonged to my older sister; it had a black smudge on its butt which was the result of our older brother intending to show how the duck pooped - one of those family stories that gets brought up every once in a while for a shared laugh. Right up there with the time my eldest sister was in her high chair and she pushed something off the tray, leaned over and said "Aw, damnit!".

There are some wonderful things about having so many siblings (4 in my case); the matrix of shared experiences between all of the family members is that much richer and more complex.

Comments

[Chip]

My kids used to like the little red hen, though I have to admit I never acted it out. And yeah, it was really great when they asked me to read that again. I enjoy snuggling up with them and reading, even at their advanced ages. And I'm happy that this will be one of their fond memories of childhood.