When Your Childhood Things Become Vintage

I was browsing through our local Salvation Army the other day, and as I walked past a shelf, five little vintage books caught my eye. This is nothing new as I love vintage books and my girls and I are always picking up old books to flip through. Often times, they come home with us. As I picked these little books up, a strong sense of familiarity washed over me. I held them for a minute just taking in this weird feeling like I knew these books. Then, I set them back on the shelf and walked away intent on looking for a twin sheet for an upcoming project (stay tuned). Before I reached the end of the aisle, I knew I couldn’t leave them behind.

My son walked back and grabbed them for me. Once they were back in my hands, I again felt such a connection to them. At this point, I was pretty sure these were related to my English childhood, and sure enough, I saw they were printed in England. These were used in Primary School! The Ladybird Key Words Reading Scheme was a whole series of books written by William Murray. I can’t tell you how excited I was to discover something from my schoolgirl days when we lived in England. And I found them here in the States at the Salvation Army for only a couple of dollars. I think I may have to slowly add to this collection.

While I’m hanging out on Memory Lane, England, let me show you a couple of my other favorite and now vintage (does that make anyone else feel slightly weird, but a whole lot nostalgic?) books:

The Adventures of Paddington…I loved Paddington Bear as a child, and I was beside myself giddy when Paddington came out in the movie theaters a couple of years ago. He was a huge part of my childhood. I used to watch the shows in England and my book is lovingly worn, and now a favorite of my own kids. This poor bear is polite, curious and a magnet for mishaps. My book contains the books A Bear Called Paddington and More About Paddington which I found in this set on Amazon.

And of course, I absolutely adored Benji. Benji was first an American movie, but Allison Thomas wrote a novelisation (English spelling of course) which was published in Great Britain as well and bears the imprint Target Books. Mine was a used copy as you can see from the address and phone number I scribbled out. I have no idea if I knew this Tina Armstrong or just acquired her book somewhere, but it is now a well worn much loved treasure. I’m not sure if you can find an English version, but Amazon has some used copies including one that ships from the UK.

The Travels of Oggy is such a sweet book about a little hedgehog and his adventures (and misadventures) learning about the world around him. He meets a family in the beginning and by the end, he’s found them again. Kids meet a variety of animals along the way. The poor cover is still packed in hopes that I will tape it back on at some point, but you can see what it looks like on Amazon. The cover is so cute!

The last books I want to share are by my beloved childhood author, Enid Blyton. I always look at used book sales and thrift stores for her books. The Famous Five series was my favorite growing up, but the only copy I have now is book one: Five on a Treasure Island. These adventures helped inspire my love of books…especially ones with some sort of adventure in them.

I also have The Children of Willow Farm which happens to be book two of her Farm series although I don’t remember this one as well as the other series. I may need to read it to my kids and refresh my memory.

It really is crazy seeing my childhood books and other random things and knowing they are now vintage, but I also love it when my kids find these treasures and love them as I did. What books did you love as a child? Have you run across anything from your childhood you’d now consider vintage?