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Monday, May 20, 2019

TTT: Books I wrecked (accidentally or on purpose)

Top Ten Tuesday: 
Books wrecked on my watch, either accidentally or on purpose (and how it happened)
[I'm off the board again this week. The actual topic, Books you won't let others touch, was a non-starter as I have no books which are off limits to others.]

Today I was reading my grandson a book which his mother wrecked when she was a little girl. It got me thinking of all the books that I still own, even though they were wrecked for some reason or another. Here is my list:

Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
This is my first book. I colored on every page. Actually, scribbled on the pages is a more accurate description. I still own this wrecked book. It is very dear to me.

Jamberry by Bruce Degen
This was one of my daughters' favorite books. Daughter #1 ripped several of the pages. I taped them up and this is the book I was reading to that daughter's son today.

The Holy Bible
This particular edition of The Bible was given to me at church when I was going into 3rd grade. It was sitting on a counter at home when we had a freak storm and the roof leaked. The leak was right above that Bible. By the time I found it, it was water soaked. Amazingly I was able to dry it sufficiently to avoid mold but not wrinkly pages. I still use it occasionally. 

East of Eden by John Steinbeck
I just bought this book within the month. It was sitting on the dining table when my hubby and I were eating pancakes with homemade blueberry compote. I stabbed a blueberry which exploded its contents across the table and hit the fore-edge of the pages with a big splat. Now I have a lovely purple stain on my newest book.

Families by Star Bright Books
This board books looks really old but it isn't. The dog got a hold of it and nibbled on all the corners, even eating a chunk out of the back page. It is still a favorite choice for my grandson.

Tikvah: Children's Book Creators Reflect on Human Rights
I had two copies of this wonderful book in the school library where I worked before retirement. I cut up one of them, laminated the pages, and created a lesson plan around a writing activity for English classes.

Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest by Larry Ulrich
I did the same thing with this book from my library collection. I cut up the pictures of the beautiful and odd flowers found in nature around here. The lesson plan was designed for students as a poetry activity. It was lots of fun when I partnered with teachers to do this lesson.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
My daughters have first editions of all the Harry Potter books, that was they "had" until I wrecked this book by watering a plant too heavily right above the shelf where the books sit. This one took the brunt of the water and was dead. We had to visit second hand book shops until we found another first edition of this book. My name was Mudd until we found the replacement.

The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry
Our family loves this book and reads it every Christmas. We loved it so much that we wrecked the spine so it fell apart. A replacement was procured.

I'm sure I've wrecked more books but these are the ones which are coming to mind right now.
How about you? What books have you wrecked and why?

31 comments:

  1. Aw what a cute topic! I can't even imagine how many books I've colored in or ripped over the years but they were always loved!

    www.tbrandbeyond.com

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  2. Aww Little Bear. I never read Little Bear but I did have some well- loved Berenstain Bears books. And I loved the Little Bear show too- it's cute. :) Nice that the Bible wasn't ruined either, even if it did get wrinkly!

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  3. Haha and this is why we won't loan out our valuable books! I loved reading your stories this week.

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    1. Thanks. It was fun thinking about the books I've wrecked over time and those I still have despite their boo-boos.

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  4. Some of your stories made me giggle. How often do your books get damaged like this?

    My TTT.

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    1. Not often. Living in the Pacific NW mold is a real problem so wet books usually mean destroyed books. As a librarian I had to throw away a lot of books that kids returned wet. I'm pretty careful, but sometimes, like with the blueberry compote, things happen.

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  5. My books have been water damaged more times than I can count! My dad also gave me one of his childhood books when I was a kid and it was so old and I read it so many times that it literally fell apart.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/05/21/top-ten-tuesday-212/

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  6. It's so nice that you have books from your child's childhood to share with your grandchild! I am hoping to do the same thing -- in like 15 years or so.

    My TTT.

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    1. It is really fun reading old family favorites to a new generation. Today I read him A Million Chameleons and The Big Hungry Bear, both family favorites.

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  7. Love your spin on the topic. Do your daughters own first editions of the entire HP series. That's pretty impressive.

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    1. Yes. The are first editions from the US publications. But they have been read many times so they are not in pristine shape.

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  8. I loved Little Bear books! But had forgotten about them until now.

    I wrecked a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, though to be fair all I did was read it and it fell apart. It was only the second time I read it, too. Not great binding quality on those first-run hardback editions...

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    1. Yes, the bindings were very poor on the Scholastic 1st editions.

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  9. I loved reading about your history with these books!

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  10. I don't think I ever wrecked one of my books when I was growing up; but a friend lost my copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes (which I never fully got over) and my uncle got another of my books all wet. It was never the same. (And I never loaned him another of my books.)

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    1. That is the worst, when a friend or relative loses a book of mine. Gr.r.r

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  11. I don't think I've ever wrecked a book, but it certainly doesn't mean I haven't spilled liquids on them. Usually coffee! :)

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  12. I definitely scribbled in books when I was a tot! :)

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  13. My most spectacular one was a massive nosebleed when reading Watership Down, of all things to have a nosebleed on! I love the blueberry story. I have got a tomato pip on a page before now ...

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    1. When I was a librarian a student returned a book full of sand. It was awful trying to clean that thing out and after several attempts we just threw it away. One never knows what will spoil a book.

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  14. I love how you twisted around the topic this week!

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    1. Thanks it was fresh in my mind after reading a book with torn pages and after fingering East of Eden with its blueberry stain.

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  15. What a fun list! I have no memory of books I've wrecked though I do remember lots of books returned to the library at our school that were torn, soaked, moldy, and written in!

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    1. Oh, I know. I was so attached to the books in the library I would get sad when they came back wrecked.

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  16. What a wonderful and funny post, Anne! I'm sure my kids wrecked plenty of books over the years, but I don't remember which ones.

    Little Bear and Jamberry are two of our favorites, too!

    Sue

    Book By Book

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    1. Jamberry is so timeless. Ian's little eyes lit up as I read it to him. Then later in the day we went to the store and bought blueberries and his eyes lit up again when I recited a few lines from the book.

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  17. Nice take on this week's topic! I just recently read Little Bear with my son. Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.

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    1. I will unearth my scribbled on copy of Little Bear and read it to my grandson next time we are together. Good idea.

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  18. I remember dropping a library book in the bathtub. I took it to the library, and I was flabbergasted when the librarian said I'd have to pay for it. I told her that it had dried!

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  19. That was entertaining reading about some of your books and the misadventures they had.

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