Little kid brains are amazing things – they soak up everything like a sponge, and somehow, it is ALL still in there. About a week ago, somehow Mer and I got talking about a character from children’s books that we both loved – Ramona from books by Beverly Cleary. I LOVED Ramona when I was little. I read all the Ramona books and other books by Cleary, probably several times. I was telling Meredith that I still remembered how Ramona loved to step on sidewalk cracks because she had learned “step on a crack, break your mother’s back.” She was a great character. Mer owns the Ramona books and dug them out, so I read Ramona the Pest over the last few days. It is still a great book. Cleary gets into the head of a five-year old girl and pulls it off wonderfully. She manages a few barbs at parents along the way (“The two mothers were so busy talking about their children needing to learn responsibility they paid no attention to the argument [the children were having]”). It is a very fun and well-written book. What absolutely amazed me was how much of the book was still in my head. I remembered many of the illustrations – a bunny with a ribbon around its neck, Ramona making her Qs look like cats (with whiskers and ears), Ramona riding her tricycle with a wheel off so she could ride a two-wheeler, and more. I also remembered parts of the story – most notably I remembered how Ramona gets stuck in thick mud the first day she wears her shiny new boots. Absolutely amazing – I have not read these books in THIRTY years!
How is it that I could read every book I could lay my hands on and remember large chunks of them (don’t get me started on The Great Brain and Encyclopedia Brown – I’m STILL upset that there was an Encyclopedia Brown story that could not be solved within the story – Brown solves the mystery by watching a drinking fountain for someone who was thirsty from eating lox, but we don’t find this out until the solution. Humph!), but I find learning much harder now and I can’t remember where I put my keys? I know the brain stops growing and all that, but it is still amazing how much of my brain is storing stuff from twenty or even thirty years ago.
Didn’t Ramona get to school late once because her mother told her to leave for school at a quarter past eight and she knew a quarter was 25 cents, so she left at 8:25?
Man, I LOVED Encyclopedia Brown (I could mention several stories off the top of my head) and the Great Brain…well, I read all ’em all.
Nice memory, Rev – that was in the book I just read, “Ramona the Pest.” She was very proud that she had figured it out all on her own.
Biologists are seriously questioning the long-held idea that our brains do not experience continued growth or regeneration.
Here is a quick intro: http://biology.about.com/library/weekly/aa102199.htm
Ombudsman – your science doesn’t apply here…we’re talking about Mu’s brain, after all. It stopped growing about 30 years ago.
When I was in grade school, we had some program where kids could buy paperback books for less than a dollar and every two weeks the books would come in and my order would equal the rest of the class’s. My family went thru some economic ups and downs when I was growing up but SWIDTMB would always spend money on books for us. Even as she and my dad were facing eviction from their very inexpensive house outside Victoria TX I remember her digging into her purse for a few bucks because I wanted a couple used books.
We always seemed to have book hanging around too. Mom actually would get miffed at us because we would read at the supper table. Now there’s a “problem” to have!