Joe,

What a great idea for a thread! My parents read to me, sang to me, and recited all sorts of stuff from memory for me...My dad wrote songs and short stories for me. Part of all this, I'm sure, is because I came from a "traditional" family, with mom at home and dad at work; part is also that I was an only child, so there was no competition for my parents' attention. I was also the oldest grandchild on both sides of the family for a couple of years, so I got the grandparents' attention too.

I think as a result of all this attention, I learned to read outrageously early, and read everything and anything. I like most all kinds of music, though sometimes I have to stretch to find something worthwhile in some of the popular stuff. I don't know how today's middle class American families can hope to give their kids what my folks gave me. I haven't got any kids (yet? who knows?). But I "Auntie"-up for several of my friends, and I keep a collection of my favorite children's lit around the house: Kipling's Just So Stories, Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, all of Milne, the P.L. Travers books, some of the Green books, and collections of kid poems; Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, etc. So I read to them, and send 'em emails, and sing silly songs for them when they come to visit. The kids think I'm cool, and the parents think I'm harmless. I hope so.

The book I had and loved and lost when my parents' house burned was "My American Heritage" a thick tome of poems and sayings and songs. I still look for it in used book stores and flea markets. Does anybody remember it?

Thanks for making me think of all this!!!

V