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Introducing: You Make Me Feel So Young!

Earlier this year, I wrote a Top Ten Tuesday post about books I wanted to re-read but didn't own anymore. When I was growing up, I was a major book purger. I was constantly cleaning out my shelves and giving books away. Honestly, I'm still a little mad I gave so many away. The day that post went up, my mom dropped by my house with a surprise: she'd bought me all of the books on my list. It was one of the best and sweetest gifts!

Within a few days, I'd added them all to Goodreads. Then, I got a fun email from Estelle from Rather Be Reading proposing an idea: a new feature revisiting some of our favorite books from childhood! I'd been wanting to pair up with Estelle for a while, but we could never think of what exactly we wanted to do together. But as soon as I read her email, I knew it was the perfect fit.

We want to celebrate the books that turned us into readers - the ones we stayed up late reading under the covers, the ones we stuffed in backpacks because we couldn't leave them at home, the ones that immediately make us feel nostalgic for the past, the ones we dogeared, highlighted, memorized and clutched to our chests. It's time to remember what it was like to fall in love with reading! So, today we're introducing:

You Make Me Feel So Young

Each quarter, Estelle and I will be highlighting three books: one joint read that we both loved growing up and then we'll each pick a book for one another - something we loved that the other one hasn't read yet. We'll officially be kicking it off in January, but we wanted to go ahead and introduce all that fun that is to come.

During the months when we aren't publishing a related blog post, you can look forward to other fun things: book-inspired activities, movie adaptation re-watches and more. Be sure to follow us on Twitter to see what we're sharing with #SoRatherBeYoung. We hope it will inspire you to return to some of your childhood favorites... or maybe even try one of ours. And feel free to join us as we take a trip down memory lane!

To celebrate, we're giving away two copies of our first joint read: 

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
The 50th Anniversary Edition

This special 50th Anniversary Edition of the classic and ground-breaking coming-of-age novel, Harriet the Spy, includes tributes by Judy Blume, Meg Cabot, Lois Lowry, Rebecca Stead, and many more, as well as a map of Harriet's New York City neighborhood and spy route and original author/editor correspondence.

Using her keen observation skills, 11-year-old Harriet M. Welsch writes down in her notebook what she considers the truth about everyone in and around her New York City neighborhood. When she loses track of her notebook, it ends up in the wrong hands, and before she can stop them, her friends read the sometimes awful things she's observed and written about each of them. How can Harriet find a way to keep her integrity and also put her life and her friendships back together?

“I don’t know of a better novel about the costs and rewards of being a truth teller, nor of any book that made more readers of my generation want to become fiction writers. I love the story of Harriet so much I feel as if I lived it.” — Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom and The Corrections

Don't forget to check out Estelle's post, too!

12 comments

  1. I'm so excited for you and Estelle to be doing this feature! It's always interesting to revisit childhood favorites, especially the ones we couldn't stop reading. I remember reading Harriet the Spy when I was younger. The week after I finished, I proceeded to dedicate a notebook to writing down all of my observations about the people and things around me - totally Harriet style, of course. Thank goodness my notebook just stayed safe at home! ;)

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  2. This feature sounds marvellous and I'm so excited for it! I, unfortunately, got rid of my childhood books, too, thinking I wouldn't need them or read them again - I was wrong. Now, thanks to you guys, I have the perfect excuse to revisit favourites I grew up reading and also get to know the books you loved growing up. Looking forward to the posts :)

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  3. Yay childhood favorites! I was a bit of a pack rat as a child so I have all of the books. It's kind of ridiculous as some of them I didn't even like! All in all I'm glad I still have them!

    I think the book that I'm still thinking about is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Whenever I go to a museum I can't help but plan out how I could live there for a few days.

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  4. I've been working at a local indie children's bookstore for a few months, and there are so many great KidLit books out now! I'm excited to see this feature and what you will cover!

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  5. I was definitely obsessed with The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin. I loved them and could read a book a day! Those were the times... before I had to become a responsible adult. :)

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  6. This is such a good idea! I've been meaning to go back and reread some childhood favourites too, plus childhood classics that I've never read (ie. Island of the Dolphins, A Wrinkle In Time and yes, Harriet the Spy!). I'm excited to see all that you guys have in store for us!! :)

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  7. Ooooh, I love this new feature! It gets me sooo nostalgic of all the books I read as a child. Unfortunately, I don't remember many of that. (Grrrr at my bad memory.) I'm sure I have a box of them (which includes picture books and such), but I'm not at all sure where it went. :o I am definitely in a mood to search for them.

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  8. I was completely in love with the Baby Sitter's little sister series, and when I got a little older the Baby sitter's club. BUT- Harriet the Spy was my obsession, I carried notebooks just like hers and wrote down everything in my life. I think Harriet is the reason I am still a journaler to this day. I hope I win this; I've never been so excited for any kind of giveaway before.

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  9. I've never read this one! This feature sounds fun (:

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  10. This is so cool! I love revisiting my childhood favourites (L.M. Montgomery and Laura Ingalls Wilder are a few of my favourites). I also really like Harriet the Spy!

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  11. This is such a great idea! I've recently started rereading my childhood favourites with my six year old and it has been so much fun. I haven't read this one though :)

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  12. What a brilliant series idea! There are so many books I loved as child that I haven't read in such a long time, I am sure this series will get me motivated to at least pull a few off the shelves

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