A little bit about books, a little bit about life.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Monday Memory on Wed

Anyone who knows me, knows I like to reminisce. I like to talk about things I used to do, love, listen to...and read.
So, I was very excited when I read "Just a Reading Fool's blog" and found out he had asked a question on his "Monday" blog, about a book I loved as a child.

As far as I can tell, he began his "Monday Memory Blog" about a month ago.
And I am going to comment on all of the books he is "remembering", because---well, I love them.

A link to his beginning post for Monday Memory
http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/mondays-memory-in-the-night-kitchen/

This past Monday, October 20th, Reading Fool talked about "The Boxcar Children". He didn't care for it.
http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/the-boxcar-children/

BLASPHEMY!! (of course, he read it as an adult and granted.....there are a lot of unanswered questions, such as, why and how did the children, Henry, Benny, Jessie and Violet end up in a bakery at night alone after their parents funerals? Where in the world was Social Services? And too many exclamation points...of which I have a bad habit of using also! See? It must be a subconscious thing from my love of the Boxcar Children. LOL ), but it holds a special place in my heart, as does the rest of the series that was originally written by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
As with a lot of children and YA series, they became "formula books" once they got to be so popular. And some say this isn't true, but, I swear I can tell when the original author quit writing and the 'formula" authors began. Not that they still aren't good and hey, if kids like them and get them reading...good for them, but I prefer the "old" originals.

We own the Boxcar Children books and I've read them to my children and my grandchildren. I think the world must be divided into groups: Boxcar and nonbox lovers.
We fall into the first half.

This is the comment I left for "Reading Fool"....on his post about The Boxcar Children and his Memory Monday:
ooooh. I’m sorry you didn’t like it. It is, of course, all those things you said. But, ah, when you are 8 years old, in 1966 and your 3rd grade teacher reads it aloud to you after lunch….it becomes YOUR FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME (until the next one your teacher reads to you).I just wanted to live in a boxcar!! LOL
but you are right…. I can’t go intellectual there (forgive spelling errors please), because “why…why did the nice grandfather hate their mother? Perhaps the mother was a lunatic and just brainwashed the children into thinking that? Or the nice grandfather was…not-so-nice after all!! (exclamation point!!! I’m doubling up on mine to make a “boxcar” point. )And how did they end up alone in a bakery after their parents funerals?There are a lot of unanswered questions. It lends itself to a Prequel….of a scandalous nature.

and now...I have to comment on his past posts for Memory Monday.
Have a good day.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you'd like to do your own Monday's Memory on other books from your childhood, please feel free. Don't feel locked in to the books I'm remembering. In fact, that might get quite boring. ;)
I'd be interested in reading other's memories too.

Not that you have to provide a link, but you can if you'd like (link to my ) and ask other people to join us. That would be OK too. I might work on setting up a page like others do or maybe even a separate site, if we had enough people, where we could link our reviews of a favorite childhood book each Monday. We'll see. It's all for fun anyway.

As for The Boxcar Children, it just might have been the day I was reading it too. Tomorrow I could read it and love it.

Anonymous said...

oops, missed inside parentheses -- link to my blog or my posts tagged "Monday's Memory"

I'm glad it could trigger some reminiscing for you also.

Jen Forbus said...

Oh Debbie! I LOVED the Boxcar Children, too! I was also introduced to the series by MY third-grade teacher - eerie! But I'm buying the original series for niece. There are a few authors that I owe my love of reading to - she is one of them. And you're right...when you're that age, you don't question those kinds of details. Your imagination is far to strong and your sense of realism isn't! :) They were a great joy to me as a child!!