Tap Tap Tap...

When I was a little girl living in Bay City, Michigan (all you Bay City-ites Hollah!) I used to LOVE going to the Sage library by my house. In my memory it was amazing. They had a fountain out front to splash your feet in. It had a statue of a lady in the center and she was beautiful. The kids section was the only one I ventured into. They had the best selection of books and I took part in the book club every summer.

I had two books in particular that I remember checking out so much they should have borrowed it from me. One was called "Marianna May and Nursey". It was by Tommy dePaola. I've never met anyone else who has read this book. It was amazing. This was the book I single handedly ruined at the library from getting it so much. It shaped my childhood which come to think of it may be part of the problem. I still remember nearly every word.

Marianna May had a problem. Nursey only let her wear white so she was always getting it dirty. Finally Nursey said she couldn't do anything. One of the house help (Marianna May was very rich) thought up a brilliant idea to make different colored dresses so she could roll in the grass, make mud pies, eat orange ice, and strawberry ice cream. (That was all from memory by the way!) From that, I too thought I should have clothes to match everything I did. Sadly, my parents didn't have the same thoughts or the same budget that Marianna's parents did. If I ever meet anyone else who read this book and loved it we are sure to be instant friends.

I can't explain how much I love this small saddle-stitched book. My favorite dress that she gets is so typically girly it makes me itch. It's the rainbow one so she can paint pictures. Yeah. I know. The only thing that could have possibly made me love it more was if it sparkled. So not much has changed really. (It's true! I still love rainbows and sparkles and I'm almost 31.)

The other book I can't remember the title of to save my life. It was a prize for reading books for the summer. It had a girl named Gwen in it who solved mysteries. The only thing I can remember is that Gwen tapped her teeth with her finger when she thought. Since Gwen did it, I thought all people who thought did.  I think that may have been the longest summer for my poor mom. As I thought, I tapped my teeth. Have you ever heard that noise before? On repeat? It's kind of annoying. Try it.....see! Annoying right?

(I was tapping my teeth as I wrote this FYI)