What’s Your Story? – Remembering Childhood Favourites
On a recent visit to the National Library of Ireland I came across an exhibit called "What's Your Story?" This interactive display encouraged visitors to write down the title of their favourite book along with the reason why they liked it, their name and nationality.
(My choice is pictured in the top left corner in the photo above. Being a Library Assistant at Toronto Public Library who often works with younger children, I naturally chose a Picture Book (Doreen Cronin's Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type) and gave a shout out to #TPL100.)
Different books speak to us at different times of our lives and so inevitably most readers will call several books their "favourite". Keeping a record of the books that your child likes is a wonderful way to help them to remember what they loved to read. It can also provide a snapshot as to what they were like at any given age.
Here are a few suggestions on how you can remember their childhood favourites:
- Write a "Book List" in a Notebook or Journal. Write the child's name and age at the top of the page and then list the titles and authors of their favourite books. New year, new list!
- Make a "Literary Memory Box". Encourage your child to go beyond the books. They could draw a picture of their favourite book character, write a poem about their favourite series, or create their own book review. Remember to put the date on their work and keep all of the pieces together in a special box.
- Take Photographs of the Book Covers. Snap a picture of the book your child asks you to read to them at every bedtime or the first one they can read to you on their own or the ones they borrow from the library again and again! Adding a date & time stamp or digital caption will help you to remember why you wanted to capture that particular book cover.
Don't forget to write down your own memories too: Who do you think of as your child's best book friends? What literary character reminds you of them? Which books are your shared favourites?
Recording your child's favourite books will help capture memories that you both can look back on as they grow-up and it might be something that they will continue to do on their own as adults. Perhaps it might even be something that you might want to start doing for yourself.
So…
What's your Story?
4 thoughts on “What’s Your Story? – Remembering Childhood Favourites”
When I was a kid I liked The Little Witch Sisters by Stephanie Calmenson (not available at the library). As an adult, my current favourite picture book is Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson…the rhyme scheme just really gets me!
Thanks for sharing Kate. I always like a good rhyming story so I am definitely going to check out your current favourite.
Thanks for the great ideas! My daughter still likes to pull out her favourite baby books and read them. The other night we read “Moo, Baa, La La La!” by Sandra Boyton, and “Good Night Gorilla” by Peggy Rathmann followed by a chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (her current favourite). I’m sure she would love to create a book list or a memory box to keep track of all the favourites!
Thank you Kate S. …and may I add that your daughter has excellent taste in books!