The First of Three Book Giveaways.
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book, thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'
Yes. What indeed!
So, for the first of my book giveaways this week I am starting with a book that brought life to words early on for me. It is a classic, as you may have already guessed, and I have managed to find it in a beautifully rereleased version as a chapter book for children 8-12 (though I must say, I could devour this book even now.) Yes, my first book to giveaway is Alice in Wonderland (chapter book edition) by Lewis Carrol. If you don't have this book in your bookshelves... well you should! Read for yourself or share with those special little people in your life. There is nothing nicer for little people than being lost down rabbit holes when snuggled up beside the big person you trust :)
For a chance to win a copy of the book: simply leave a comment in this comments section and tell me, "what book opened to world of words for you?"
I will chose one name from a hat randomly and announce the winner on Wednesday- when I giveaway the next book!
Thanks
And let me say a massive thank you to those who have supported my blog and continue to visit. Your comments are always welcome on my in box :) More than once I have been uplifted by something one of my amazing followers said in the comments section and I appreciate your voices being heard. Writing can be lonely. Thanks to you guys it is a lot less so.
Oh man! So many books in my life... wow. I'm not sure. I know that as a kid I really loved The Secret Garden, Little Women, and the Little Princess. Those were books I read over and over again. As I got older there were so many more books, each unique and showing me different things.
ReplyDeleteI've never read Alice in Wonderland though.
Cool titles Jess. You have never read Alice in Wonderland? Well, it is about time :) Good luck for a win :)
ReplyDeleteBooks books books
ReplyDeleteJames and the Giant Peach - loved it back then - love it now.
Great comp - I want the book!!!! :)
Ooh. Yes! James and The GIant Peach! I forgot about that one! I must get it! Good luck with the comp :)
ReplyDeleteThe Phantom Tollbooth. Oh, have you read it? It's fabulous, Tabitha! You really must read it if you haven't. Especially because you love words so much, and it's like one giant play on words. Plus, what kid wouldn't want to discover a mysterious tollbooth in their room, drive through it in a play car, and find themselves in a real-live secret land!
ReplyDeleteLove your quote from Alice in Wonderland. I've never actually read that book, if you can believe it.
This is exciting! I grew up around books, both my father's and my own little story books, so it is impossible to say that a certain book got me started. But I can say what book gave me a passion that has never dimmed. It was Jack Kerouac's "On The Road." I probably wouldn't read ten pages into it now, but when I was in my early twenties and feeling stifled and restless, it was just the thing. I had read a lot as a child, but had largely stopped reading by my early 20s, and I never read fiction. OTR changed all that. I was drawn to it because I DID read poetry, especially the beat poets. After i read it, I wanted more, and read several more Kerouac novels as well as branching out to other stuff that I had heard was "hip" or whatever. Mostly men! Weird! My arm has to be twisted anymore, to get me to read fiction by a male author, and I couldn't care less about trendiness. But at that time I did, and I never stopped reading again.
ReplyDeletePS--"Alice" is simply one of the greatest books ever. And the moral to THAT is.... ;-)
ReplyDeletewow to pick a book. I actually don't have a favorite book, how sad is that.
ReplyDeleteBlack Beauty :D I read it from cover to cover at six years old and was enormously proud of myself. I read it several times after that, most recently on audio-book about three months ago. It's as wonderful as it ever was.
ReplyDeleteAfter that, I read everything Roald Dahl, all the Trixie Belden books, Little Women, The Wishing Chair, Toyland and Noddy - gosh, so many, I can't even remember. I love thinking about them all though. *happy sigh*
Can't remember the exact book, but I remember the day. I was in second grade. Our class was in the school library. I stood leaning on a shelf in front of a window, immersed in a book, to the point that my whole class left without me and I didn't notice. (We won't discuss the fact that the teacher didn't seem to realize that she left me!) I came to long after the class left and ran down the halls sure I would get in trouble...no one said a word when I walked into the class late.
ReplyDeleteNow I would list, Harriet the Spy, All the Little House on the Prairie books, Anne of Green Gables, The Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Little Women...I could go on and on!
For me it was "The Witch of Blackbird Pond". I had read books before that one, but something about that story changed me. I think I was around 11.
ReplyDeleteThe Boxcar children was one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI used to have The Walrus and The Carpenter memorized! Love, love love this book!
ReplyDeletePhantom Tollbooth was another favorite.
OK, I have to tell you I read many books before this one but this one sealed the writer in me and propelled me to pick up my pen once again; WHITE OLEANDER by Janet Fitch. Have a great day Tab!
ReplyDeleteI'll pass on that book. Gives me the creeps somehow, and the previews of the movie give me the heebies even more! Funny how we all have our muse and they are so varied. Whatever it is or was, I am happy you have found your words and share them here. A joy to read!
ReplyDeleteYou always have fabulous pictures! As a child the book that sealed my passion for reading was The Secret Garden. I'll never forget it.
ReplyDeleteI've never read Alice in Wonderland--I don't know why. I think my daughter would really enjoy it--she's almost 8 now!
ReplyDeleteI loved so many books when I was young. Early, early on, Green Eggs and Ham just tickled me and made me want to create fun little rhymes.
The Chronicles of Narnia, for sure. Read them all at 5 years of age, and haven't been more than a few feet from a book since. (Well, maybe sometimes more than a few feet, but never more than a 10 minute walk from one. For sure.)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the followers milestone, good lady!
Wow! Thanks for the wanderings back in time!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Beautiful Joe, Pippi Longstocking, and Nancy Drew's mysteries. Didn't you know I was her assistant sleuth????
Sigh. Back then I was just a reader...but those were baby steps toward what I'm doing now!!
OF COURSE you hit a blog milestone. This is a great place!!!
Hmm... Definitely the Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. :0)
ReplyDeleteDo you know, I've never read Alice in Wonderland. I really need to. I loved The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Island of the Blue Dolphins when I was a kid. Before that I was totally obsessed with all of Roald Dahl's works. (I still love them).
ReplyDeleteOh, this is very exciting! I actually saw Alice's Adventures Underground (the first version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) in the British Library. And it was amazing! Your contest has made me nostalgic to return.
ReplyDeleteAs for a book that opened new worlds to me, I'd have to say that it was Harry Potter. It was the first time I'd read any sort of fantasy YA, and I was shocked to discover that this was something I not only loved to read, but that I might one day want to write.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland actually. It was a story in a big series of books. If you turned the book over upside down The Wizard of Oz was in the other half. I also really liked the Babysitter's Club as a kid.
ReplyDeleteLadytink_534(at)yahoo(dot)com
When I was a child I really enjoyed reading The Boxcar Children.
ReplyDeleteI am torn between 'The Magic Faraway Tree', 'Anne of Green Gables' and 'Mallory Towers'. I am reliving the wonder of Enid Blyton books with the Chisslets at the moment. We did the 'Secret Seven adventures'last year, which they lapped up he he. xxx
ReplyDeleteThe Secret Garden, Little House Books, Pippi Longstocking and of course Alice in Wonderland.
ReplyDeleteAlice, by far. It is still my absolute favorite book. Ever.
ReplyDeleteI also loved The Phantom Tollbooth, The Witch of Blackbird Pond (that one was with my 5th grade reading group at school), A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and some crazy, creepy book about dolls who sucked a girl into their dollhouse... I can't remember the name of that one... House of Stairs also. Lord of the Flies a bit later.
But Alice wins, hands down. :)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - my dad lent me his copy when I was in grade four.
ReplyDelete"Man's search for meaning" by Frankl. The idea that choice is all around us, even for those in the depth of hellish concentration camps, is huge. And some of the passages in that book are riveting and stay with you long after putting the book down.
ReplyDeleteYou always have the best photos!
ReplyDeleteI have an award for you on my blog :)
Good luck all. I will draw the comp at the end of Tuesday (USA time) So mid Wednesday my time. Oh never mind. I will tell you who won the book on my next blog post on Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteI knew as soon as I read the question - it was 'Five on a Treasure Island' the first of the Famous Five's. I took it off my sister's shelf to read one afternoon and lay on a sofa on the veranda till mum sent me to bed. When I finished it the next day I just got the next book in the series and kept going each day of the holidays until they were all devoured.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of the phantom tollbooth - I shall have to pretend that I need to get it for my kids so I can read it.
It would either be Little Women or one of the Bobbsey Twins books. I loved Little Women, but remember sitting on the floor by my bed reading The Bobbsey Twins, books handed down by my two older sisters.
ReplyDeleteHelen
Straight From Hel
Black Beauty, Nancy Drew, Pippi Longstocking - and that's just a start. I lived for what books could offer. It's cool that you're doing this, Tab.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember a particular book. Just that I loved to read. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was really young, it was the book Madeleine. I can even remember how the book's smell. But as for opening up a wondrous door into literature, it had to be Little Women. It was the first book that touched me emotionally and I actually cried reading.
ReplyDeletemamie316(at)sbcglobal(dot)net
the secret garden
ReplyDeletepksanddancer(at)yahoo(dot)com
I remember being enrapt with Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie. And Pippy Longstocking, then came Little Women and Nancy Drew.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! There's so many books to chose from. I loved the Sweet Valley Kids series, the most though. Who doesn't like twins?!
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's in Through the Looking Glass, I've always been a fan of The Jabberwocky.
ReplyDeleteThe book that made me fall in love with reading and also made me want to be a writer was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
ReplyDeleteLaura Ingalls Wilder!
ReplyDeleteI adored and still do- Alice in Wonderland and Through The looking Glass. I also loved the Nancy Drew Mysteries.
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing this. It's brought back a cherished memory.
ReplyDeleteIt was Charlotte's web that brought life to words for me. Up until that time I always chose picture books to read. I didn't know that when my mother signed me up for the Weekly Reader Book Club, the books would be filled with words and maybe a picture interspersed here and there. I came home from school to an empty house, Mother would be home soon. My new book had arrived. I sat there on the porch reading Charlotte's Web. The book never left my hands until the story ended. I cried. I learned picture books are nice but books filled with words much more enchanting.
Actually it was a prose and poetry book my great-grandfather gave to me when I was just a wee thing. I read it so much the cover came off and I glued it back on. After than I was stealing my big sisters books and reading them. By college the Eng. Lit. teacher couldn't believe I had read so many of the books she required back when I was in high school and junior high...
ReplyDeleteRamona Age 8. It was the first chapter book I had ever finished.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Ramona books and the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books
ReplyDelete