SELCIE is the home of all things curious and loved in relation to children’s literature, in Scotland, and beyond. We have blogged and tweeted about the inscriptions, dedications, and memorabilia which we found in many of the books. And we have a special case devoted to these in our Growing Up With Books exhibition at the Museum of Childhood, called ‘The Lives of Children’s Books’. This chronicles how much children’s books have meant — in the lives of their little owners, to the people who gave and received them as gifts, and in the journeys across different centuries and lives which many of these special volumes seem remarkably to have made. Each book holds its own memories and experiences.
At SELCIE we’re also interested in the legacy of children’s books now. We would love to hear your stories, reminiscences, and reflections about the books which shaped your childhood. Did you have a favourite book, or a writer you loved to read, or hear, most? A favourite character? We would love to hear some of your memories. These can be brief, or long – we are interested in hearing everyone’s stories about stories, of all ages, so please come along! You can send us your reading memories here:
Your reading memories will become part of SELCIE’s memory archive project, called The Books of Our Lives: A Reading Memories Project.
Thank you so much!
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“Thanks to SELCIE’s Growing Up With Books project and revisiting one of my favorite essays on childhood reading by Irina Dumitrescu this morning, I’ve been thinking a lot about books that meant a lot to me as a child, particularly Brian Jacques’ works, and Madeleine L’Engle’s books.
Both the Redwall series and A Wrinkle In Time provided opportunities for me to see myself – my internal self at least – in books at a time when that was the only level of representation that I could hope to find. It stayed with me, and shaped me.
And these books arguably brought me further down the road to where I am today. I’m lucky that I get to write about them, and why reading experiences that are formative are important, and why access is important. But also, why I find certain narratives are important.”
Michelle Anya
