One of the most exciting things about decorating Maple’s nursery was setting up a place for her to treasure all of her books.
Being a typical teacher and picture book lover, I already had my own little stash of stories of my favourite children’s authors and illustrators which I’d collected over the years. Jon Klassen’s ‘This Is Not My Hat’ and Emily Gravett’s ‘Wolves’ are a few that come to mind which I couldn’t wait to add to her new book basket.
Despite the old saying ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’, I’ve always been drawn in by dreamy artwork or a shiny gold ‘Kate Greenaway Medal’ on the front. Sometimes I can get a good feeling about a book before I even open it up.
But as much as I get carried away with the latest release in a Waterstones’ window display, you just can’t beat the old classics!
When Maple was born, my mum dug out all the much loved books that I used to read when I was little, like a vey worn and well-read copy of Little Red Riding Hood and the entire Beatrix Potter collection.
One of the books was a very special gift that my Auntie Molly had given me as a baby called ‘Roly Poly Hippo In The Bath’. I’d completely forgotten all about it, but as soon as I started flicking through the pages, the memory of reading it came flooding back and I shocked myself at how many little details I could remember. The picture of the bear shaped bottle of bubble bath and the hippo making mud pies in the garden were instantly familiar to me even though I’d not seen them for 30 years.
Reading through this book again filled me with so much nostalgia, comfort and happiness of growing up.
I never imagined that I’d be reading this to my own daughter one day and it made me wonder which books will bring back special memories for Maple when she’s older.
What are your favourite childhood stories?
Leave a comment below to let me know! 🙂
Hannah, after all these years I didn’t know this was actually YOUR book! I also have fond memories of reading this book growing up. Several years ago mum found this book for Brooke too, but as she’s got older it found its way to the bottom of the book box. The good news is it’s going to create special memories for Maple now too 🙂
It looks like we will have to share it soon with our new arrival!
Who knew such a simple book would have created so many memories!
Olly (Hannah’s brother)
That’s so lovely, I had no idea this book would bring back memories for you too! We look forward to reading it to our new niece or nephew very soon, hopefully all the sellotape will keep it together for many more years to come!