Childhood Favorites...Frances Hodgson Burnett

Childhood favorites. Everyone has a favorite book or author from childhood. A book that touched them or changed them. A book that perhaps initiated their love of reading and put them on the path of libraries and learning.

Childhood Favorites is a monthly series focusing on beloved books from the past. 

Donald Zolan, Quiet Time.

Reading Frances Hodgson Burnett is like a right of passage.

Like many children, I adored A Little Princess. Who doesn't love Sara Crewe? Her imagination, her kindness, her ability to find joy even in the midst of drudgery? The story is mesmerizing and my favorite edition is the one with Tasha Tudor's gorgeous illustrations.

The image of Sara coming back to her rooms to discover poor, exhausted Becky is one of my favorites. Not only because of Sara's gorgeous pink dress, but because it captures so perfectly the scene as it is written.

I could sit and look at these drawings all day long. I read and reread Sara's story over and over.

I didn't read The Secret Garden until I was an adult. I don't know why, because I loved it. And I adore the musical that is based on Mary's story.

Mrs. Burnett wrote so many more books than just these two, but these are the two I read and The Little Princess is one of my all-time favorite stories of all time.  I love Sara's goodness and her imagination. I love how she loved and cared for everyone when she was poor, just as she did when she was rich.

So many wonderful life lessons.

What about you? What is one of your childhood favorites?

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