A Few of My Favorite Things
MY FAVORITE BOOKS
My very first favorite book was Pumpkin Moonshine, by Tasha Tudor. My mother said she read it to me a thousand times!
Other childhood favorites were Big Susan,
by Elizabeth Orton Jones; Now We Are Six, by A. A. Milne;
The
Deep River Girl, by Harry J. Albus (a biography of singer Marian
Anderson, whom I had heard sing when I was about 8 years old); Kudla
and His Polar Bear, by Miriam MacMillan; Brighty of the Grand
Canyon, by Marguerite Henry; and Robert McKloskey's Make
Way for Ducklings.
More favorites I read with my four grandchildren when they were little:
Barnyard
Dance, by Sandra Boynton; Marven of the Great North Woods,
by Kathryn Lasky; When Marian Sang, by Pam Munoz Ryan; and
The
Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, by Susan Wojciechowski.
A few more favorites I like to share with kids: Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry; Linda Sue Park's A Single Shard; and Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan. Any of Chris Van Dusen's picture books make kids (and me!) laugh: A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee, Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee, and Circus Ship are three of my favorites.
Six of my favorite nonfiction books: Good Brother,
Bad Brother, by James Cross Giblin; Stone Giant: Michelangelo's
David and How He Came to Be, by Jane Sutcliffe; Farmer George
Plants a Nation and For the Birds: The Life of Roger Tory
Peterson, by Peggy Thomas; Just Fine the Way They Are: From
Dirt Roads to Rail Roads to Interstates, by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge;
and Russell Freedman's The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian
Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights.
TRAVEL
– by car, boat, plane, train – in the U.S. and beyond. I love it! People
and places of the world fascinate me. National parks and forests are among
my favorite places – wonderful for hiking, tenting, and taking pictures.
MUSIC
is
a source of great joy for me! Sometimes I sit down and play the piano
or organ for hours!
SPORTS – my favorites are swimming, canoeing, and skiing. I skied with my dad until he was 87. I haven't tried snowboarding, but it looks like a lot of fun!
And
when the snow is new and soft, I can't resist making snow angels!
I have a few "SIT-DOWN"
HOBBIES besides reading.
My mother taught me to sew and to knit when I was very young, and I still
enjoy both. Plus needlepoint and woodcarving. And I simply cannot resist
crossword puzzles, cryptograms, sudokus, and an occasional jigsaw puzzle!