Comments on Reassigned Time: RfP Wednesday: Kids' Books about Pests

The Pokey Little Puppy is the first book that I re...

2006-08-02T23:16:00.000-04:00

The Pokey Little Puppy is the first book that I remember! I also loved Ramona. [Remember when she wanted her dad to quit smoking and she made a sign that said "Nosmo King" and he said, (something like), "Who is this Mr. Nosmo?" I was JUST thinking about that the other day for some reason, and I bet it has been 25 years since Ive read those books... how random].

Man, I thought for a moment that I wrote those wor...

2006-08-02T20:53:00.000-04:00

Man, I thought for a moment that I wrote those words about Ramona the Pest. This was one of my all-time favorite kids books. I didn't even read all the rest of the Ramona books. I don't know why. But this one was it. Boing!

I had the pleasure of rereading it (and most of the other Ramona books) with my daughter a few years ago. Still loved it!

I liked the Great Brain, too. Did anyone else notice that at the end of every book, Fitzgerald tried to finish the story? He set it up so that the Great Brain would never, ever, ever get into trouble again. And then he wrote another sequel.

I was also a Great Brain book addict as a kid, rea...

2006-08-02T20:20:00.000-04:00

I was also a Great Brain book addict as a kid, reading them 4-5 times each, which must not be that uncommon. I get *tons* of hits from people who come across my blog entry on the books (and on people who've traveled to southern Utah to find the fictional town of Adenville described by Fitzgerald).

But, yeah, they do interesting work with the "pest" genre (although The Great Brain's status is pest is almost something to be admired). And of course Judy Blume's "Fudge" series (Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing and Superfudge) also play with the "pest" genre.

I'm going to second the Great Brain series by John...

2006-08-02T18:15:00.000-04:00

I'm going to second the Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald. I read them and reread them (probably too long as I was still making my way through them in 8th grade for the fourth time). One of the most fascinating aspects is that the Fitzgerald's were one of the few Catholics in late frontier era in Utah. Anyway, great books!

I don't remember any of my childhood books. I do r...

2006-08-02T14:51:00.000-04:00

I don't remember any of my childhood books. I do remember going to the library, most often during the summer - where they would only let me have 3 books for 2 weeks. But I don't remember what any of those books were. Later, I remember having a librarian tell me I needed my parents’ permission to check out the stuff I wanted because I wasn't 16 yet. (That was in reference to a cool book about a cat burglar. I wish I could remember something else about it so I could find it again. For some reason, I think maybe he was French.)

Part of that may be because I grew up in such a rural area. There were no bookstores, so the only reading material we actually owned - aside from fairy tale books that were read to us when we were younger - were comic books, which were readily available at the drug store. Occasionally, I even read one of the educational ones - and enjoyed it. :)

Another part of it may be because of my age, the stuff my daughters had to read was so much better than anything I came across at the same age. I didn't like any of the stuff people thought I should, like the Bobbsey Twins or Black Beauty.

In fact, I rarely enjoyed any of the stuff people told me I should read - especially when I was in school. It has lately occurred to me that I was just being pigheaded. So now I have begun a journey of rediscovering the classics. God bless Project Gutenberg. :)

Did you read the Great Brain books? They're about...

2006-08-02T14:48:00.000-04:00

Did you read the Great Brain books? They're about a younger sibling who has an older brother who pulls swindles on people, so they kind of invert your "pest"-genre. And if you haven't, you should go find one now!

The Ramona books were some of my first favorites a...

2006-08-02T14:22:00.000-04:00

The Ramona books were some of my first favorites as well. Thanks for sharing!