My Harry Potter

I think I'd love the Harry Potter books. I'm waiting until my kids get a little older, hoping we can read them together. In the meantime, The New York Times has a great blog going right now, asking "Who Was Your Harry Potter?" In other words, what was your favorite book as a kid? So much fun to think about this! I started reading when I was three. My sister taught me without my parents really catching on. They found at one night at a Chinese restaurant when I read the fortune cookie. One of my favorite school memories came in first grade when my teacher gave me the chance to read more than what was assigned in class. I will never forget when Mrs. Bailey opened what must have been a closet, but seemed like a cavernous library to six year old me. I got to pick bunches of books to read whenever I wanted. My favorites? When I was really young I loved Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good and Very Bad Day. My family still says, "Things are like that, even in Australia." From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler. The idea of running away to live in a museum for a week! Also, the first time I saw the word "bologna" in print. Harriet the Spy. I must have read that 20 times. I only lived 30 minutes from her New York Upper East Side neighborhood, but it seemed like a world away. And she had a nanny! As I got older, I wore out my copies of the Little House on the Prairie books and while I loved the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, I never could get through the whole Narnia series. There are so many others! I'm already having fun watching my daughter discover a love of reading. I can't wait to see her reaction to some of my old favorites. And, of course, in a few years, we can read Harry Potter together.