Inked childhood

Images : A scene from The Tailor of Gloucester,Cover of The First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton and The first edition cover page of BFG (All images courtesy the web)

Fantasy, adventure, reality and hopes- These together could be summed up in one term we are all familiar with- BOOK . Books have been a quintessential aspect of my growing years and will always continue to be so. Each book brings with it a memory. The magical tales of Enid Blyton , Beatrix potter and her collection of adorable stories,Roald Dahl's different take to innocence would be what I would consider my top three children's books.

Enid Blyton and her magical tales have always had a special place in my life. For me it was and will always be the perfect example for fantasy in its most innocent form. Talking dolls, magical trees, bicycles , elves and fairies found place in her stories and also in my life.

It's very unfortunate that I have never seemed to have found any Beatrix Potter books in India.For me her stories of the mischievous Peter Rabbit, the scurry of Mice in my personal favourite "The tailor of Gloucester, "The tale of Jemima Peddle duck" , The misadventures in " Tale of Mr.Jeremy Fisher" still manage to bring a smile to my face even by the mere mention. The list is endless and so are the pleasures they bring.

The third on my list is Roald Dahl. When I think of Roald Dahl, the first book that comes to my mind is "BFG"- Dahl's tale of the " Big Friendly Giant" with the orphan Sophie. The BFG with his Snozzcucmber ( a vegetable you find him munching on most of the time),Dream blower and the shelves filled with dreams are something which I believe can be read and reread by anybody at any age.My other personal favourites have been Esio Trot , George's marvellous medicine, James and his giant peach , The magic finger , The giraffe and the Pelly and me , Charlie and the chocolate factory and so on. I have never been a big Fan of Matilda but would still place it in the list. If I were to name one book that I would advice everyone to read (NO MATTER HOW OLD YOU ARE)apart from BFG it would be Danny, the Champion of the world.The tale of Danny and his father would be what I would call a perfect mix of innocence and emotions.Definitely worth a read.

I could go on and on , I am still to talk about Karen Hesse's Out of the dust and many more. Such is the power of books...