Top Ten Tuesday – Books with Sensory Reading Memories

Happy Tuesday, readers! I’m back! Well, I’ve still been around, but I’m specifically back in the Top Ten Tuesday jive. And boy have I had fun reminiscing about some of the books I’m including today. The official topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is Books with Sensory Reading Memories—or perhaps just specific reading memories such as where I was at the time.

Some of the books and memories I’m sharing with you today go right back to my childhood and many of them involve reading aloud. I LOVED being read to as a child, and even into my teenage years. But I think I must have been spoiled by the quality of readers in my childhood, because I am an exceptionally fussy audio-book listener. However, as you will notice from the end of my list, I’ve managed to find a few favourites in audio form, too.

But enough from me. On with the list.

The Cat Who Wore a Pot on her Head – Jan Slepian & Ann Seidler

There are a number of books I remember my mother reading to me as a young girl, but this one stands out in my mind because of the silliness of the story (the cat with the pot on her head is Bendamolina, the pot on her head is her solution to living with numerous noisy siblings, and she subsequently mishears everything her mother asks her to do, with hilarious results); and because my mother always made the silly results that much funnier by the way she read it. My own children may have heard it a few times themselves… 😊

Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge – Mem Fox

If you haven’t discovered Australian children’s authorMem Fox yet, make sure you do. This is one of my favourite stories of hers, and I can never read it without getting teary. Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge lives next to a nursing home (old people’s home) and wants to know what a memory is, because he needs to help one of the residents who’s losing hers. He asks some of the other residents, and then uses their answers to find some memories for his elderly friend. It’s beautifully poignant, and . . . yeah, getting teary now!

The Magic Faraway Tree – Enid Blyton

I forget whether I was in first or second grade for this one (I had the same teacher for both years), but I will never forget finishing the day on the floor at the front of the room with Mrs. Cronin reading The Magic Faraway Tree to us. Back in the days when I could actually sit cross-legged on the floor comfortably! (Anyone else remember those days? 😉) I can still picture the room and my teacher, and remember that delicious sense of wonder and enjoyment as the story unfolded. Moonface and the slide, the exploding pop tarts, all those wonderful (or not-so-wonderful) lands above the cloud…

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis

I’m pretty sure we all know this book, so instead of the cover, I’m going to post a link to the theme music to the BBC television series from the late 1980s. This music IS Narnia, as far as I’m concerned. I listen to it and I’m immediately transported. And I can’t read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe without hearing it.

The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

Does anyone else remember the Thames TV series of The Wind in the Willows? We got a lot of British programs in Australia when I was growing up, but I’m not sure whether they would have been as well-known in the US. At any rate, I can’t read The Wind in the Willows without imagining the characters from this TV series and hearing the music from its theme song.

 

 

The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien

This was yet another read-aloud, and I have my sixth-grade teacher to thank for it. I can still remember all his mannerisms as he read—gestures to shush people, to remind them to have all four legs of the chair on the ground! And he read in this voice full of quiet expectation, slowly traversing back and forth across the classroom while we coloured a map of Middle Earth or whatever quiet ‘busy work’ we liked. Unless you were me, of course, who simply sat in her chair with her eyes closed and let the story unfold in her mind…

 

The Zion Chronicles – Bodie Thoene

Okay, this is one all of my fellow book-lovers are going to identify with. All-nighters. The books you just can’t put down until they’re finished. But wait! There are five in the series! That’s a lot of late nights! Yep. It sure is. And it’s the reason I got through this series in record time the first time I read it. It was summer school holidays, I was a teenager, and I couldn’t think of any better way to spend my time than curled up in bed (night or day) reading this series. I think I did manage to fit some sleep somewhere into the wee hours of the morning over the few days it took to read them… 😊

 

A Breed Apart Trilogy – Ronie Kendig

You knew she was going to make it onto this list somewhere, didn’t you? 😁 I first discovered Ronie’s books several years ago while we were in Melbourne on holidays. That’s a twelve-hour drive away from where we are, folks. Lots of reading time! I stumbled across Nightshade, the first of her Discarded Heroes series, and was immediately hooked. Unfortunately, those four books were like salt-water to a parched man: they only made me thirsty for more! Enter the Breed Apart Trilogy, which occupied me quite nicely on the twelve-hour trip home. When I wasn’t driving, that is!

David Copperfield – Charles Dickens (narrated by Richard Armitage)

Yes, that’s THE Richard Armitage, folks. Need I say more? Lol! If he couldn’t convert me to audiobooks, no one could. I know it’s also Charles Dickens, so he’s working with great material to start with, but Richard Armitage is a brilliant narrator. He brought every character to life perfectly, and I still get goosebumps when I think of Mr Murdstone’s voice! I felt like I’d lost a friend when I finished this one.

 

The BFG – Roald Dahl (narrated by David Walliams)

Sharing books as a family is such a wonderful experience, but finding time to sit down as a family is HARD! Hello, audio books! We can listen in the car, we can listen at the dinner table, and the first book we chose was The BFG by Roald Dahl. If your kids haven’t read this book, do them a favour get this audio version for them. David Walliams is a fantastic narrator, and I will forever remember giggling with the kids over the BFG’s vocabulary. Priceless memories! <3

Do you have some specific or sensory memories tied to reading books?