Otherwise Known As Ty The Great
I took my (3rd favorite) shortcut from New Jersey to Connecticut earlier this week to avoid the George-Washington-Bridge-Sunday-night-northbound-nightmare. My detour took me up Palisades Parkway and onto I-287 East, which passes by a town called Tarrytown.
Yes, I've taken this extended route at least 11 times since I first left for college in Boston over a decade ago. But, this night, the only person awake in the car, I really noticed the sign for Tarrytown, and it forced me to remember the first time I had ever heard of such a town...
Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com
Please leave comments here.
Yes, I've taken this extended route at least 11 times since I first left for college in Boston over a decade ago. But, this night, the only person awake in the car, I really noticed the sign for Tarrytown, and it forced me to remember the first time I had ever heard of such a town...
JUDY BLUME'S "OTHERWISE KNOWN AS SHEILA THE GREAT"
What a great book. My heart skipped a beat remembering how fun her books were. I had never been to Tarrytown (still haven't). I had hardly left the state of New Jersey back then.
As a pre-teen, I vividly dreamed of all the towns described in Blume's books, in the Babysitter's Club series, and Nancy Drew novels. I lived vicariously through these characters. I vowed that when I was older that I would visit all of these really cool places. Clearly, it was the beginning of my insane addiction to traveling (not to mention that The Babysitter's Club was to the pre-teen me what SATC is to me now).
But, Judy Blume's book was the first. I remember thinking, wow, Tarrytown is just in New York, it's SO close to me, yet it sounds like a totally different reality. Maybe one of these trips, I'll have to carve out time to stop and see if it lives up to my 9-year-old expectations.
What books are imprinted in your memories? Which books did you read during the pre-teen years that made you want to be something extraordinary (or weird), visit a certain place, fuel your love of reading, or have characters who you still remember?
Just a shout for Blume's other books I can still remember plots of: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Freckle Juice. And one NON-Blume book: Freaky Friday, which made a comeback in 2003 with Jamie Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. I still think the idea was SO clever!
Ahh... to read like a kid again...
As a pre-teen, I vividly dreamed of all the towns described in Blume's books, in the Babysitter's Club series, and Nancy Drew novels. I lived vicariously through these characters. I vowed that when I was older that I would visit all of these really cool places. Clearly, it was the beginning of my insane addiction to traveling (not to mention that The Babysitter's Club was to the pre-teen me what SATC is to me now).
But, Judy Blume's book was the first. I remember thinking, wow, Tarrytown is just in New York, it's SO close to me, yet it sounds like a totally different reality. Maybe one of these trips, I'll have to carve out time to stop and see if it lives up to my 9-year-old expectations.
What books are imprinted in your memories? Which books did you read during the pre-teen years that made you want to be something extraordinary (or weird), visit a certain place, fuel your love of reading, or have characters who you still remember?
Just a shout for Blume's other books I can still remember plots of: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Freckle Juice. And one NON-Blume book: Freaky Friday, which made a comeback in 2003 with Jamie Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. I still think the idea was SO clever!
Ahh... to read like a kid again...
Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com
Please leave comments here.
Labels: books, childhood, children's book, fiction, judy blume, memories, reading, tarrytown, traveling
posted by #1 GAL, Dr. Ty! at
7:16 AM
3 Comments:
OMG I was reminiscing with some online friends just yesterday and mentioned every book you brought up sans Freckle Juice...forgot about that one. Sheila the Great and Sally J. Freedman as herself were two of my faves. I re-read those so many times. I also remember many by Loius Sachar. Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Wayside School is Falling Down, There is a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom, Harriet the Spy.
I alos love The Baysitter's Club...classic, and Sweet Valley and Sweet Valley High. And don't forget about the Fear Street books by R.L. Stine...and those books by Christopher Pike. And many many others. I loved to read as a kid and Judy Blume and those other authors fed my addiction.
It's amazing the things you remember from a simple sign, or a mention from someone. Thanks for indulging me down memory lane!
I totally forgot about Sweet Valley High! I "graduated" to SVH when I started feeling a little too old to stay with Babysitter's Club exclusively. Wow...
thanks for this tip
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home