Thank you, Joan! Your flower paintings are so delicate that there must be a child behind them, just a bit shy to get out. How wonderful that you have that book again as an inspiration!

Thank you, Wendy! Memoir – I wish! Maybe this blog is!

Thank you for sharing your childhood books and thoughts, Lynne! Little Women was also a book that my sisters and I read eagerly. I am glad I read many of the books before the movie so that the movie didn’t replace my imagination.

The whole discussion of this post has been wonderful. It’s full of creative ideas and has made me google things I had almost forgotten!

Thanks for the lovely comment, Helen! I read a lot of horse books as a child and still love to draw them. How wonderful that you have become fond of colored pencils! You can combine them easily with watercolors too.

How wonderful to remember the books we read as children that influenced our imaginations and let us travel to different times and places. For me, it would be difficult to pick a favourite. I was an only child, quite sheltered and having few friends. In those days books were my friends and the first one that will always be exceptional was “Winnie the Pooh” along with the delightful books of poems by the same author–all read to me by my Dad. Later, I found magnificent companions in such works as: “The Wonderful Fashion Doll”, “Penny”, “Misty of Chincoteague” and the lovely books by Marguerite de Angeli, my best-loved being “Thee, Hannah!” about a little Quaker girl. These books were illustrated by the authors and I still have some…I think the images influenced me in a very special way. (For some reason I missed a few great ones like: “The Velveteen Rabbit” and “The Secret Garden” and even “Peter Pan”!! However, I was able to enjoy them as an adult!) I’m so glad you also read “Anne of Green Gables” which my Mom gave me when I was about 12. I absolutely adored that book as well as the ones that followed by Lucy Maud Montgomery. “Little Women” also touched me deeply. By the way, when any of my childhood books were made into movies I refused to to watch them–heaven only knows how many times “Anne” has been made into a dreadful series! No, I’ve always wanted to keep them “pure”–as I personally knew and loved them!

It is great to remember all these (and many other books as well) that kept me company when I was a girl. But it’s terribly sad to see what has happened in the world of children’s literature. While there are still some exemplary examples, I see too many that are unrefined and frankly, crude. But then this is just another symptom, I guess, of a postmodern world.

Anyway, I don’t want to leave on a depressing note. The books I knew are still a part of me and always will be.

Thank you for this lovely opportunity to reminisce!

Thank you, Jacqueline! I haven’t read that book, but I googled it and I think I should! Definitely let that book inspire you in every way!

Thank you, Yvonne, this painting is one of my favorites too.
Your description of the local library and how it made you feel is just brilliant and I can relate to it so well. Thanks so much for the wonderful comment!

Thank you, Tosca! It’s amazing how books can mend and uplift! I also find it interesting how much childhood and art are connected. Your comment made me also think about the strength that a child has, and how our inner child can still feed our creativity if we let that happen.

Translated via Google Translate: “Beautiful ! My favorite book is “Féérie dans l’île” by Gérald Durell. I would have liked to live like that. At 76, I still dream of it.”

Féérie dans l’île is a book called “My family and Other Animals”

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Thank you Janine! Definitely let that book come part of your artistic expression if you haven’t yet. Let it find its ways!