My namesake\u2019s third birthday is coming up on Valentine\u2019s Day, and when thinking about a gift, I thought back to the presents I enjoyed as a child. Books, same as now. First to come to mind was Chichi\u2019s Magic<\/i>, about a mischievous monkey (is there any other kind?) in the Central American jungle who finds a mirror\u2014the magic. My uncle worked for The Steck Company, a commercial printing firm that served banks, schools, and the like, but also published a series of children\u2019s books called \u201cWoodland Frolics,\u201d and Chichi\u2019s Magic<\/i> was one of them. Part of the joy of the book was that it came from him. Possessed by nostalgia, I ordered the book from ALibris. It arrived. I flipped through it, loving the pictures, but hesitated to read it again. Maybe it wouldn\u2019t be as charming as I remembered. What I do remember now seems so fragmentary and idiosyncratic. Chichi wanders the countries of Central America. I learned their names. Chichi encounters ancient Mayan ruins, which laid the foundation for a lifelong fascination with pre-Columbian civilizations. Chichi encounters a beautiful green quetzal\u2014a strange word for a fourth-grader\u2014and I recall its extravagant tail. But the book is clearly too advanced for the birthday girl, so will be lovingly saved until she\u2019s older. Another book I hope to share with her is one I read many times, Heidi<\/i>. I associate her with delicious goat\u2019s milk cheese and the sweet aroma of spring flowers in alpine meadows. Still today it\u2019s hard to resist a charming round cheese in the dairy case. I remember Heidi<\/i> as the first time I was bothered by having pictures in a storybook, because the artist\u2019s drawings did not match the vision in my head. Reading their books repeatedly, children acquire images and associations that in later life may take some digging to uncover. Hidden threads woven into the mental fabric.<\/p>\n
Exploring Further:<\/strong><\/span> A blog post<\/a> by another person who fell under the spell of Chichi\u2019s Magic<\/i><\/p>\n Scholastic\u2019s \u201cCelebrity Bookprints,\u201d<\/a> where some 300 celebrities–from Bill Clinton to Mehmet Oz to R.L. Stine\u2014describe the five books that have been most important to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My namesake\u2019s third birthday is coming up on Valentine\u2019s Day, and when thinking about a gift, I thought back to the presents I enjoyed as a child. Books, same as now. First to come to mind was Chichi\u2019s Magic, about … Continue reading