I have to choose just ONE?!

[In response to Saturday's Plinky prompt: Name a children's book that makes you nostalgic.]

Growing up, I was allowed to watch only 1 hour of TV a week. (Seriously!) Of course I felt myself terribly deprived at the time, and it was occasionally awkward when everyone else was in on a joke or a story that I couldn't share, since I wasn't up to speed on all the latest episodes of Full House (or whatever LOL). So instead of spending all the empty hours of my childhood sitting spell-bound in a trance in front of the TV, I buried my nose in a book (to me there is nothing like the smell of a library full of old books!).

Which brings me back to the title of my answer: How can I possibly choose just ONE book that takes me back??? I read hundreds, and I saved dozens for my kids to read. But Cinderella has been there by my side since I was at least 3 years old. And it didn't have to be the Disney version, either - even to this day I own at least 4 different editions of the Cinderella story, that I can think of off the top of my head. Cinderella was my favorite. I liked to cast my mom as the evil stepmother, and my little brother as the evil stepsisters... Of course I was Cinderella, waiting for my prince to come and "rescue me"; and when I became a princess, sitting high on the throne I so rightly deserved, I'd finally be able to watch all the TV I wanted...

But like I said, there are tons of other books that take me back to my childhood, and each of them holds a special place in my heart. Some of my favorites are:

• the Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary
• Judy Blume books
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• the Bobbsey Twins series by Laura Lee Hope
• fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm
• Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
• My Friend Flicka, and the sequel, Thunderhead by Mary O'Hara
• Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• the Curious George series by H.A. Rey
• The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey
• The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
• the Madeline series by Ludwig Bemelmans (with more recent stories by John Bemelmans Marciano)
• the Mr. Men and Little Miss series by Roger Hargreaves
• Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• Hank the Cowdog by John R. Erickson

...and on and on. Those are the ones that come to mind at the moment; if I think of more I'll add them to this post. My copies of Little Women, My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead, two compilations of fairy tales, and some Bobbsey Twins books were actually given to me from my mom; she had enjoyed them as a girl and saved them. I can't wait to share them with my kids!