Friday, March 21, 2008

Musings: Boxcar Children

When I was younger, around eight, I couldn't get enough of the Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner. It was my favorite book to read under the covers at night with a flashlight or in our bunk house that I fashioned to look like an old boxcar. I loved the idea of going out on my own and taking care of my siblings, their whole dependence being on me. It was during those years that I learned some of the most essential skills a girl can learn from her mother: how to take care of people when they are sick, how to cook a meal out of nothing at all, how to work hard in a garden and produce good things to eat, how to make my own clothes, and how to posses a calming, mother-like loving presence to everyone around me. Jessie, the books' heroine was a young girl I looked up to in respects to her young age (much like my own) and yet having such strength, courage and resourcefulness in times of trouble. So this makes me ask, what kind of books during your childhood had a lasting impact on you?

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