What a fun topic for my story this week. I want to start this story by telling a little about what was read to me as a child. I am quite certain that what was read to me was a great influence on my becoming an avid reader eventually on my own.
My mother loved to read though I doubt she had much time for her own personal choices as I and my four siblings were growing up. But the reason I know she loved to read is that she read to us nearly daily. I do not know where she got the books she read to us as I don’t remember ever visiting a public library when I was a child. I think she probably exchanged books with friends or found books in a church library.
There are a few titles I remember that she read to us. One of those books was THE FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW. I have a well worn copy of that book which I think is the copy Mom read to us.
The inside title page gives other interesting information about this book.
This copy is 112 years old.
I love the author’s dedication statement in this book which probably reveals why my mother remembered reading this book as a child and wanted to read the book to her own children. I think this tribute could be said of my mother also.
Now that I have located my copy of this book, I think I will reread this 410 page book so my recall of the story can be refreshed.
My mother read many other books to our family. I know that my parents had a commitment to have a daily time of devotions together as a family. That was a struggle at times but was implemented by Mom as often as possible. Sometimes she read from the Bible and said a quick prayer while we gulped our breakfasts before the school bus came in the morning at 7:00 AM. Our favorite devotions, however, were when Mom would read us a Christian themed book which seemed to meet our parent’s criteria for spiritual devotional material. She read chapter books after supper sometimes but since the cows had to be milked after supper, that didn’t happen too frequently. Whenever we were all gathered around the kitchen table where it was the warmest place in the house, Mom would read a chapter and occasionally be coaxed to read more than one chapter.
A favorite book that Mom read to us was titled The Sugar-Creek Gang. This book was about some farm kids from several different families with all the same chores and life that we five siblings had so we could relate to the book’s tales of their adventures. We hated to see that book come to an end as it was so “thrilling” and interesting.
When I was in fifth grade and my brother was in eighth grade, we were part of a year long Saturday morning Pastor’s Education Class at our church. That class was a group of about ten upper elementary school aged children. We met in the Pastor’s study at our church. One Saturday morning, I began to notice a bookcase in one corner of the room. I loved to read and decided to see what books the Pastor had shelved there. To my amazement, I saw a row of books that all had titles in the Sugar-Creek Gang series!!! What a fabulous and exciting discovery that was for me. Of course Pastor Lundstrom was very willing and able to loan me one book at a time that I took home for Mom to read to all of us.
My mother read many other books to our family. I know that my parents had a commitment to have a daily time of devotions together as a family. That was a struggle at times but was implemented by Mom as often as possible. Sometimes she read from the Bible and said a quick prayer while we gulped our breakfasts before the school bus came in the morning at 7:00 AM. Our favorite devotions, however, were when Mom would read us a Christian themed book which seemed to meet our parent’s criteria for spiritual devotional material. She read chapter books after supper sometimes but since the cows had to be milked after supper, that didn’t happen too frequently. Whenever we were all gathered around the kitchen table where it was the warmest place in the house, Mom would read a chapter and occasionally be coaxed to read more than one chapter.
A favorite book that Mom read to us was titled The Sugar-Creek Gang. This book was about some farm kids from several different families with all the same chores and life that we five siblings had so we could relate to the book’s tales of their adventures. We hated to see that book come to an end as it was so “thrilling” and interesting.
When I was in fifth grade and my brother was in eighth grade, we were part of a year long Saturday morning Pastor’s Education Class at our church. That class was a group of about ten upper elementary school aged children. We met in the Pastor’s study at our church. One Saturday morning, I began to notice a bookcase in one corner of the room. I loved to read and decided to see what books the Pastor had shelved there. To my amazement, I saw a row of books that all had titles in the Sugar-Creek Gang series!!! What a fabulous and exciting discovery that was for me. Of course Pastor Lundstrom was very willing and able to loan me one book at a time that I took home for Mom to read to all of us.
I started first grade at Cross Ridge School in September of 1951. I was a student there through the eighth grade after which this one room country school closed.
I was happy to be in school and learning to read. I had not been reading prior to going to school which started with first grade as there was not a kindergarten class at this country school.
The school had cupboards along the back wall of the classroom which had desks for all 26 - 28 students that attended the school. The cupboards had sections for our dinner pails, the teacher's materials and library books. I was delighted to find these books and learn that they were available to be read after we finished our seat work. They were also available to take home to read. The books were tagged for each grade level but could be read by any student wanting to read them.
I have a vivid memory of finding an interesting picture book entitled CATS. There were some words on each page of the book and as I started turning the pages, I discovered that I could read all the words of the whole book; Big cats, Little cats, Black cats, Gray cats, etc. etc!!! When I turned the last page and saw the words: THE END! I was ecstatic and couldn't wait to take the book home to show my parents and little sisters that I could read a whole book by myself.
That success got my library book reading started and over the next eight years I read almost all the books in that little library. Another title that I remember and greatly enjoyed was THE BOXCAR CHILDREN which may have been the first chapter book that I read when I was in the third grade. I read that book to my children as they were growing up. I would also learn that there were more titles in that series which I read to my own children but we did not have those at Cross Ridge School. Another favorite was LUCRECIA ANN ON THE OREGON TRAIL. I loved pioneer, wagon train stories so loved to read historical fiction. Another favorite in that same genre was BY THE SHORES OF SILVER LAKE. That was a book by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I did not know until I got to ninth grade and found in the high school library that there was a series of books by that author known as THE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE series.
I also read make-believe stories but I can't remember many of those titles. I believe one was called EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON.
And horse books were big favorites of mine - BLACK BEAUTY is one title I remember. Our family had a riding horse named Patches and I loved to ride him so that probably sparked my interest in horse stories. The photo here shows me on Patches.
Biographies were also books I greatly enjoyed. One year I received a book as a Christmas present from my parents. It was the biography of MOM MARY SLESSOR who was the first woman missionary to Africa.
"Mary Slessor was a devoted missionary, with nearly 40 years dedicated to the nation of Nigeria. While pouring into the nation in which she loved, Mary would become one of the first single missionary women to make a nationwide impact. Bravely, she did missions work without a team or a family. Mary transformed whole communities with the love of the Gospel; starting orphanages, preaching the Good News, standing up for women’s rights, and saving many innocent lives from death. Today, hospitals, schools, orphanages, and churches all stand because of the impact Mary Slessor left in West Africa."
I was excited to receive a book of my own which was the story of such a remarkable missionary pioneer. I would have an opportunity to be part of a mission team to Nigeria when I was forty-two years old as Trinity Baptist Church of Kerrville, TX went there for two weeks in June 1987. What a privilege and joy.
So this topic to write a story about what was read to me and what I read as a child has come to an end. I loved to read and read many books when I was young. Our family had a radio and we listened to some stories on that but we did not have a TV until I was about 16 years old and that only was black and white with three channels. So especially during our long, cold winters in Wisconsin, I stayed inside and read books or listened to Mom read to our whole family. Great memories.
No comments:
Post a Comment