Friday, February 29, 2008

Collecting...For A Contest


Sarah, over at Life With... , is having a contest! Yippee! We loves contests! Her contest is dedicated to special collections and I got to thinking about mine. I, ahem, have a few. It seems I’ve accidentally become a collector, at least if the quantity of my ‘stuff’ is anything to go by. Here’s a start. I have a hefty collection of unfinished wood pieces to tole paint; a collection of European folk art (Hindeloopener, Bauernmalerei and Rosemaling to name a few); a collection of cross stitch kits to stitch, a collection of quilting fabric to sew into beautiful quilts, a hand-made (some by me, some by others) teddy bear collection, yarn… You get the picture.

However, I decided to post pictures of one of my most favouritist collections as it’s one I believe I started from birth and have continued adding to: my children’s book collection. You can assume that I had some help at the start of this particular collection. After all, no one was handing me a credit card at the tender age of 5 days old. That was probably a good thing. I’m a menace in the children’s book section. Prior to having Iain, I’d surprised many a parent when they brought up their child’s favourite book and I’d exclaim "Oh yes! I love that one! And, have you tried…?" I really missed my calling as a librarian or a book seller.

I know I’ve mentioned the fact that I LOVE children’s books on this blog before. Pictures books, board books, fairy tales, novels and on and on. I decided that I wanted to be buried with C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia books when I was young. Yes, I realise that that is a weird thing for a young child to decide. However, my father is an Anglican minister. We heard about death a lot. We also had very quiet neighbours as the rectories we lived in were usually parked next to the town cemeteries. Interestingly enough for a child with a very vivid imagination, I was never scared of cemeteries. My best friend in high school once told me that she had no idea how I walked home from her place at night because I had to walk past the cemetery, next to our house, first. Sad to say, I was always a bit more concerned about the living…But, I digress.

Here is my entry for Sarah’s contest – enjoy! If you look closely, you will likely see some classics. Anyone else every heard of Noddy? I love/d Noddy. I also have a First edition of Mary Mapes Dodge’s Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates (found it in a used bookstore called The Bookery in the same building as The Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, NY. I love that town and I love that restaurant even more!). I have books about border collies written and illustrated by Kim Lewis (Floss is a great one). I have Mister Got To Go about a cat that just moved into the Sylvia Hotel in Vancouver and never left.

I could go on but it’s Friday night, DH just got home this afternoon and Iain is being readied for bed as I type. Ah, life is good.

Thanks for hosting us a contest, Sarah! I’m almost over your midnight deadline but I think I made it!

6 comments:

Jen Taylor said...

Ah, yes, children's books are magic and beauty all wrapped up in one soft cover edition.

Anonymous said...

Great collection!! There are some of our favorites there too. Though we didn't collect them just borrowed them from the library. We have a children's book management problem at our house. They are continually all over the floor.

Yarnhog said...

Love the collection! I majored in literature and had a special fondness for children's literature. I have quite a lot of children's books myself. I especially like alternative fairy tales, like "The Practical Princess," "The Paper Bag Princess" and "Father Gander Nursery Rhymes".

Jen said...

What a wonderful collection! I love kids books, too. :)

Lydee said...

I love children's books especially picture books. Good collection!

Alisha said...

My favorite childrens books are the Jillian Jiggs books. I love how the rhyme and are just so cute.

Great set you have there....your little one is well on the way to having a love for reading with momma's collection there!