Are You Feeling Sentimental?
Every so often, I feel the urge to reconnect with a book from my past.
Typically, this is a book that really grabbed me and didn't let go, propelling me farther down the path that made me what I am today. Works like The Lord of the Rings, The Count of Monte Cristo, Dragonflight, and The Sword of Shannara come to mind, and I want to experience that thrill again.
This doesn't always work out well. Sometimes the memory of a book is more powerful than the book actually was; David Eddings' The Belgariad comes to mind. (I had no idea he used all of those adverbs, honest!) However, that doesn't bother me very much. The memory is what really counts, and as a kid, did we really know better?
Anyway, if you're of a certain age, I'm sure you might have stumbled across this title:
Oh yes. Growing up in the 70's and 80's, odds are great that you got this from your school's local book fair or Scholastic Book Club. My own copy has long since disintegrated, but my wife's was in good enough shape for the kids to use.
I know what you're thinking: a dictionary? You have got to be kidding me. This isn't just any dictionary, as there are loads of Peanuts' gang illustrations along with sample sentences of the words. For a few short years, reading this book was almost as much fun as reading a Peanuts' collection, and was an essential part of a kid's library (right next to the Dynamite! Club Handbook).
Okay, I can't be the only one out there who has a connection to a book like this one. What are you sentimental about?
EtA: For the curious, here's a sample of one of the pages inside the book:
