Celebrities' favorite children's books: Rediscovering classics with kids

Anne Lamott, the honest, hilarious author of many heartbreaking and hopeful non-fiction and fiction books, recently came to my city. She spoke for a while, and I sat, poised with my phone, tapping away notes on all of the funny and wise words she offered up despite a broken microphone and a venue with poor acoustics. She said she’d keep the reading and commentary brief because she had toured the country and interacted with audiences enough to know that people really come to ask questions, that we all are just seeking opportunities to connect.

And the moment when I felt like she was speaking directly to me came when someone asked which authors she loves, what books have meant the most to her.

Lamott’s answer contained a nod to an author friend in the audience. But her real response was focused on the books she read as a child.

“I was a girl who found literal salvation in chapter books,” she explained and I recorded in my notes. “Pippi Longstocking, Beezus and Ramona, Little Women.”

An audible “ahhh” rose up from the audience. We congregants were not all the same age, had driven to this church to hear Anne Lamott from different parts of the city. But if the reaction told anything it was how many of us had also been lost — and perhaps, found — in those same pages.

As parents, we get the joy of rediscovering the books we loved as kids. I am even more thankful to the late, brilliant Beverly Cleary for the Ramona and Henry Huggins and other series she penned now that I’ve re-read them all with my son. And after writing this piece, which compiles teacher choices for the best middle-school reads, I know I have many more new (to me) bindings to crack.

For some reading — and re-reading — inspiration, here, some of our favorite public figures share their favorite childhood books, too.

See the full list, up now on Babble.com, by clicking here. 

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[Victoria Mills]

As a classy essay writing I often read the most different books. My last work was a research about archetypes in tales. So I re-read it, and you know, they opened from the other side for me. Almost all tales are way deeper than I remembered. As a child you understand only the main story, but not the parallels, metaphors and other.