My husband and I were friends for years before we started dating, but when we got serious, I bought him Matilda and Harriet the Spy, so that he could get to know what I’d been like as a kid. (Though tbf I was only 13 when we met, so it wasn’t like he didn’t already have an inkling!)
Justin from Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
I was just slightly too old to grow up with HP – I was in college when they really became a phenomenon-- but I read and fell in love with them as an adult. I have enjoyed sharing them with my older two kids, who have read the series on their own multiple times after reading them with my husband and me. Last week, our youngest stayed home from school with a cold, and I suggested that we snuggle up and read Sorcerer’s Stone together. We had tried it a year or two before but I think it was a little too complicated for her at the time. Now she’s loving it and we are already about two thirds through it. It has been, I think, a good escape for her from feeling crummy.
For me, my childhood escape books were Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and Matilda. I still read them semi-regularly, especially now that we have kids to share them with.
Finally, I’m so sorry for the loss of your grandmother. It sounds like she had a lovely last day – I hope I spend mine getting dinner, cake, and coffee with family – and was looking forward to seeing you next week. The grief of losing someone you love can feel overwhelmingly heavy at times, and there is no shame in setting it down for a while to pick up a book instead.
Ted looks like Jim Halpert cosplaying as Ted.
I borrowed Wreck the Halls from the library based solely on the cover art – it looked like a hallmark Christmas movie in book form, which is what I need right now. Two pages in, I discovered that the two main characters are the offspring of famous musicians, and their names are Melody and Beat. Vom. Immediately returned it.