Little Kid Stuff that Becomes Big Kid Stuff

I love all kind of fiber arts. I spin, I knit, I quilt, I've been into the whole paper crafting/rubber stamping/scrapbooking scene, even was into making my own paper for a while. As I was sorting through all the email I get from crafty magazines, I came across this knit stocking inspired by Little House in the Big Woods, and I'm like, OMG.  I totally have to make these socks. When I was little, I wanted to do all the stuff that Laura did. Sew, make maple syrup, eat honey that Pa rescued by killing a bear (could never convince my dad to do this one for me). 

I'll put the stockings on my To Do list, behind "finish this stupid first draft" and "glue rhinestones to this posing suit" and "finish those quilts from the dead guy's shirts for his daughters". 

But anyway.  Thinking about the Little House books takes me back to elementary school.  I. Loved. Those. Books.  The TV show, not so much, though I did watch it.  The show always kind of made me uncomfortable, because Laura was always doing stupid stuff that you KNEW was going to be a problem. I mean, come on, Laura!  Can't you hear the "you're going to get hurt or endanger someone else" music?  And that Mary, burning down the barn because she was reading?  Whatever. 


Reading Ramona The Pest led me to pulling Kelly Kamrath's springy blonde hair and dyeing my Barbie's hair with markers.

 Reading Charlotte's Web kept me from being afraid of spiders and made me want to be a pig farmer (that one, interestingly, didn't pan out, but I do still love a good trip to the petting zoo). I must have read that book 12 times, and I STILL cry when I see the movie and that stupid spider bites the dust.

 
 I called my brother Ape Face for years after I read Freaky Friday (did you know it was a book before it was a movie--with Jody Foster, before Lindsay Lohan?). 

So what kid's book inspired your aspirations as a kid?  Which ones still resonate?