Our favorite childhood books — what do they tell us?

February 20, 2024 — Favorite books from our childhood hold a special place in our hearts. They transport us back to a simpler time and for many lucky children, they may also be attached to warm memories of cuddling with Mom, Dad, or some other special loved one, before bedtime. 

A classic line from the movie, You’ve Got Mail, is when Kathleen Kelly, the small book store owner says, “when you read a book as a child, it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.” 

One of my favorite childhood books was Frederick by Leo Lionni. If you’re not familiar, Frederick was a mouse who lived in a stone wall with his mouse family. During the autumn days as winter approached, each of the mice was busy collecting food to get them through the long season ahead. As his siblings bustled to and fro, Frederick stood still and stared and sometimes appeared to be sleeping. They thought he was just being lazy. He said he was gathering the rays of the sun and colors for the cold, gray winter days — and words, because they’d run out of things to say. Spoiler alert ;) but when they run out of food and ask Frederick about his supplies, he surprises and delights them. When he talks about the sun, they feel warmer. When he talks of the colors, they can picture the blue periwinkles and red poppies in their minds. When they ask him about the words, he recites a lovely poem about mice and the seasons. The food importantly fed their bodies and Frederick’s supplies fed their little mice souls. 

Precious memories
I have a whole little library of my childhood books that we’ve saved over the years. It was special sharing books from my childhood with our own children. Our bedtime routine always included reading together and I have many precious memories of those times together. Imagine how it made my heart sing to hear my grown son was reading A Wrinkle in Time when he was up north camping. He said he could “hear” me doing the voices of Mrs. Who and Mrs. Whatsit in his mind. He is an incredibly avid reader. 

I remember our younger son running around the bedroom tossing a little football to himself and diving on the bed to catch it while I was reading one of the Harry Potter books to him and his brother. To anyone witnessing, it would have appeared he wasn’t listening at all, but I think sometimes the movement helped him pay attention. My other son and I were asking aloud about a character’s name and he piped up (as a toddler) “Milicent Bullstrode.” And he was right!

An article in The Atlantic (July 27, 2018), What Rereading Childhood Books Teaches Adults About Themselves said, “People’s favorite childhood stories often stick with them throughout their lives.” The article cites a Goodreads study of books most reread by its users. Many were children’s books, including J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. We likely will have different takeaways when rereading a childhood book through our adult lenses. 

“When childhood favorites retain their magic … they can serve as an anchor over the course of one’s life. Well-loved books stay the same even as so much else changes. That constancy can be comforting.”

I asked several people the following questions and their answers are below. 

1. What is one of your favorite books from childhood? (From any age, a book that made an impression on you.) 

2. Do you feel that the book represents you or impacted you in some meaningful way?

3. What do you remember especially liking about the book?

4. Anything else you’d like to share.   

Katia Kitchen is a graduate coordinator at the University of Michigan in American Culture. A favorite childhood book is Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney.    

“The book impacted me because it gave me the feeling of being loved as I read it,” Katia says. “This was through the imagery that you can see with your eyes and also with the kind, caring, and comforting prose the book provides. 

“I have always liked soft, cuddly things and longed to have furry pets, so to see animals represented as having human characteristics, of parents expressing love, gave me a great feeling of wholeness, a feeling that my parents did their best to show me. ”

A book that reminds her of her favorite childhood book is I Love You, Little One by Nancy Tafuri. She read it to her sons, Langston and Sidney. “I have fond memories of snuggling with them while reading the parents’ words and my sons reading the children’s parts of the book.” 

Shawn Mahase, an attorney in Trinidad, fondly recalls The Twits by Roald Dahl. The book “made me understand how to be kind despite differences,” Shawn says. “It made me laugh and developed my sense of humor.” He wishes they would make a movie from the book. 

Nancie Rowe-Janitz is a graphic designer/artist. “When I think about all the books I loved from my childhood, I think mostly of the books illustrated by Garth Williams,” Nancie says. “The ones that stick in my mind are, of course, the Laura Ingalls Wilder series Little House on the Prairie. I had all of them in paperback and I would read them over and over. But I think what I remembered best were EB White’s stories (which Garth also illustrated) The Trumpet of the Swan, Charlotte’s Web, The Cricket in Times Square (not by EB — but had illustrations from Garth) and Stuart Little.    

“Something about White’s stories always touched me. I’m not exactly sure why, I want to go back and re-read them. I think they were multilayered and probably character driven — so many great characters! For example, Charlotte’s Web was not just about the tenacity of a young girl to follow her instincts but the friendship between Wilbur and Charlotte always stayed with me. I think that book is the reason I love pigs so much (and don’t eat bacon ha ha).

“Looking back, I am sure the beautiful illustrations are what captivated me the most and probably the reason I am an artist today,” Nancie says.

Special thanks to Katia, Shawn and Nancie for their wonderful input! 

Images: 1. Pages from Frederick by Leo Lionni. 2. Courtesy of Katia Kitchen, reading with her boys. 3. Courtesy/credit, Nancie Rowe-Janitz.

Of course, I’d love to hear from you and your answers to these questions and/or any thoughts on this topic, possibly for future blog posts. 

Further reading

What Your Favorite Childhood Book Says About You, Bustle.com

How Childhood Books Influence Us as Adults, Harper Collins Publishers

Watch a video of Frederick read aloud on YouTube