Chicken Little has left the building

Thank you very much. 

A news report from yesterday cited sources as saying Chicken Little, of "The Sky is Falling" fame, was seen yesterday in company of a 50-something woman from California.  After further investigation, our sources report that they are unable to confirm or deny the report.  However, another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized by Mr. Little, did confirm that Mr. Little is now alone and in seclusion at an unidentified Caribbean resort hotel.  His reported companion is yet to be acknowledged, although another source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her friend, confirmed that she does know Mr. Little's reported companion, and that her friend has since returned to her life and things are back on track.

Early Book Memory Meme

From catephoenix :  Earlier this week, KC Shaw started a meme about an early book memory and asked others to do the same.

I think the idea is to pick one book that is dear to your heart and stands out from early childhood.  I don't think I can pick just one.  A lot of my early childhood memories lie in books.  So I'm going to list, in order that I somewhat recall, the really special ones. 

A Little Golden book, The Sailor Dog by Margaret Wise Brown.  I could recall the pictures in this book quite clearly all through my life.  I have no idea how old I was when I first read it, only that for some reason it made an impression on me.  I think it was that the dog wore clothes and that whole idea of a dog that dressed and acted like a human really appealed to me.  Happily, several years ago in an antique store, I found that book.  It still delights me.

Wizard of Oz.  I don't think I ever read the rest of the books in the series, but I loved loved loved the adventures of Dorothy and Toto and her quest to return home. 

The Bobbsey Twins.  Read most of those.  Loved.

Nancy Drew.  Jeez, I wish I'd kept my collection.  My mother made me for the longest time, and finally I convinced her I'd never want the books again and we got rid of them.  STOOPID ME!  I think I had them all.  Or most of them.

Trixie Belden mysteries.  A Nancy Drew clone, sort of.  I'm re-collecting them again, although I haven't yet re-read them. 

A 2 book set of fairy tales.  Hans Christian Anderson and The Grimm Brothers, I believe.  I do still have those.  I used to play school with them, assigning myself stories to read.  In my childhood scrawl, I've labeled the stories as "English"  "History", etc. 

Reading was a big part of my life.  I've read as long as I can remember, immersing myself in those books, able to step into their worlds.  I grew up in the country without any kids as close neighbors, so spent a lot of my time with my nose in books.  They were my friends and my companions.  Mysteries were my first love, although I suppose you could say that my love of Fantasy began early on with that Little Golden book and the Wizard of Oz.  I went from Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden to gothic romance mysteries, then to Agatha Christie, then spy thrillers like Ludlum and Deighton, where I remained (with a brief aside to the Grand Dame of frothy regency romance, Georgette Heyer, which I still have a very large paperback collection of) until I read the first Wheel of Time book.  I may or may not have read one of Anne MacCaffrey's Pern books by then, I don't recall which came first, only that by the time I read Wheel of Time I was hooked and I've remained in the world of Fantasy ever since.