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The pages of nostalgia

Those childhood favorites aren't just books. They're an unbreakable link to a time with favorite characters - and parents.

When we asked you to share the titles of your cherished childhood books, often it was more than just the book that mattered. What you really remembered were the moments shared with mom or dad, turning the pages and reading together.

And, um, gentlemen, perhaps you were busy playing stickball, building Erector sets or sending G.I. Joe parachuting into the bushes, because the readers who wrote about their favorite books where overwhelmingly ladies.

It's an apt moment to talk about kids and books. Saturday's Times Festival of Reading, at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, features a strong lineup of children's authors, including Carl Hiaasen (Flush), Betty G. Birney (The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs); Lee Kochenderfer (The Victory Garden), Adrian Fogelin (The Big Nothing), Zilpha Keatley Snyder (The Unseen), Vivian Vande Velde (Heir Apparent) and the scaremaster of the Goosebumps series, R.L. Stine, who will share his latest book, Mostly Ghostly.

Here are some of the books that made readers, well, readers.

MR. MUSHROOM, by Louis Slobodkin

Sitting on my mother's lap while she read Mr. Mushroom is the one of my earliest memories. The alliterative characters - Mr. Mushroom and his friends Mr. Mole, Miss Mouse and Miss Moth - love to eat marshmallows and drink milk. This book is a classic.

ROSALIE THE BIRD MARKET TURTLE, by Winifred and Cecil Lubell

Who knows what happened to my family's original copy of Rosalie the Bird Market Turtle? Each night our mother croaked out the abandoned Gaston's cry, "Rosalieeee. Where's Rosalie?" as the bird perched atop spindly gaslights, spitting at Notre Dame gargoyles; the crow implored all of Paris to search for their beloved tortoise. Lubell applied only four colors: sprawling ink renderings of fishermen casting into the Seine, muted mustard cobblestone streets, fluttering newspapers amidst wire bird cages, steely blue artisan palettes and, always, the hinting cheerful reminder of the Strawberry Lady's abundant red cart.

- Teresa McBride, St. Petersburg

ARE YOU MY MOTHER, by P.D. Eastman

The way my mother read Are You My Mother is one of my fondest memories. I can still hear all the different voices she did for all the things the baby bird encounters. Now, 30-plus years later, I enjoy reading the same book to my two preschoolers.

- Ginny Gray, Holiday

My mother read Are You My Mother? to my sister and me every night. My mother went into the hospital to have part of her voice box removed, but before she went she recorded this story on a little cassette player for us. When she came home, the three of us sat around and listened to it and cried every night.

- Elizabeth Mascotti, St. Petersburg

DADDY-LONG-LEGS, by Jean Webster

This whimsical story tells about a young orphan who was given the opportunity to attend college through an anonymous person (Daddy-Long-Legs). Her one requirement was to write to him during her college years. It was written in first person, almost like reading from a diary or peering over her shoulder as she wrote to her benefactor. I am almost 50 and still remember reading it from a tree when I was 12.

- Denise Dempster, Palm Harbor

LA EDAD DE ORO, by Jose Marti

I was born in Cuba, so all the books that I loved as a child were in Spanish. The most influential one was Jose Marti's La Edad de Oro, which means "the golden age." The great poet and patriot published a children's magazine during his exile in New York, and this book is a compilation of the few issues he completed. Among fairy tales and poems, there are pretty sophisticated articles. Marti's retelling of the conquest of the Americas by the Spanish politicized me for the rest of my life. I must have been about 6 or 7 when La Edad de Oro made me aware that there was injustice in the world. It was a life-transforming book for me.

- Maggie Hall, Dunedin

UNCLE WIGGILY, by Howard R. Garis

For many years I have tried to tell my grandchildren about the escapades of Uncle Wiggily. I have looked for these books with the thought of giving them as a gift. I don't remember the author and when I say Uncle Wiggily, people look at me like I have two heads.

- Beverly Varano, Spring Hill

Editor's note: Mrs. Varano, we hate the thought of you having two heads. Try Amazon.com on the Internet and you'll find copies of your favorite Uncle. Also, we note the closest mass-market bookstore near your home, Barnes & Noble in North Tampa, may be worth a try. Their phone number: (813) 962-6446.

LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

In the early '50s, by the time I could read, my parents had divorced once, reconciled and produced a baby sister for me. Remarriage was not successful. However, they held out till 1968, making life miserable for sissy and me. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (and all her other books) taught me what family could and should be.

- Catherine Bourdon, Palm Harbor

MR. REVERE AND I, by Robert Larson

My favorite book growing up was a story about Paul Revere written through the eyes of his horse. What fun! The book presented the major players in the revolution in very humorous terms. I still have the copy I was given as a child.

- Peter deGolian, Tampa

THE CHOSEN BABY, by Valentina Pavlovna Wasson

I was adopted into a family of readers, smack in the middle of the 1930s. Before I could read "mother," my parents read me The Chosen Baby. This story helped chosen babies like me understand how special we were.

- Liz Armstrong, Gulfport

BABA YAGA THE WITCH, A RUSSIAN FOLK TALE, by Margaret Yatsevitch Phinney

My favorite book (or series) when I was little was Baba Yaga, the Witch that came out in Jack and Jill magazines every month. Apparently, they were Russian tales. Baba Yaga was a curmudgeon of an old witch with a kind heart, flew in a butter churn and had a cat with an eye patch. I loved the stories as they had a deeper meaning to me, a spiritual connection that proved even grouches could have a heart of gold if they knew the stories behind others' misfortunes. Perhaps someday I'll find the books about Baba Yaga.

- Saray Nagendra, Treasure Island

Editor's note: We love sharing good news; Baba Yaga lives on at Amazon.com. Indeed, the amazing butter churn is featured on the book's cover.

WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS, by Wilson Rawls

I cried under my sheets by the light of a flashlight reading Where the Red Fern Grows. It was a "boy book," not my usual Nancy Drew or Judy Blume book. It was about hunting, dirty hands, farming, candy from the jar in his granddaddy's shop, two hound dogs and the little boy who loved them. It was such a subtle book and the first time a story moved me to tears.

- Janinne Collins, South Tampa

MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE, by Marguerite Henry

When I was a little girl in rural Ohio I loved books but my parents were not readers. No one had ever read a story out loud to me and there were no libraries in my neighborhood or school. One day Mrs. Taylor, the neighbor who lived across the railroad tracks, came for a visit and she had a very special book for me. It was Misty of Chincoteague, a delightful tale of a real Virginia pony. I still treasure my tattered copy. The next year and for many years following I spent my summer with my grandmother in Canada where I would walk down the railroad track to town and find all of Marguerite Henry's books.

- Donarita Vocca, Palm Harbor

WHAT WAS I SCARED OF, by Dr. Seuss

My favorite tale is What Was I Scared Of. The rhymes in the book made it possible, even after the thousandth reading, for my Dad to add enough expression for me to get a little frightened. I can still picture my Dad trying not to smile in amazement at the fact that I could still be frightened by this story he had read to me so many times.

- Cecily Carr, St. Petersburg

WINNIE-THE-POOH, by A.A. Milne

My favorite childhood book was the original set of two books - Winnie-The-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. My mother would read to us each afternoon as we rested during the heat of the Washington, D.C., summer. My mother admitted years later that she became teary-eyed reading the final chapter where Christopher Robin "is going away."

- Kathy Lefferson, St. Petersburg.

GOODNIGHT MOON, by Margaret Wise Brown

Nineteen years ago I gave birth to my third child, a precious baby girl and a welcome addition to our beautiful family. Waiting at home were her 3-year-old brother and 2-year-old sister. There was something special about Elyse: She has Down's syndrome. On her first birthday a friend gave Elyse the book Goodnight Moon. I was not sure if the illustrations would be bright enough to appeal to and stimulate Elyse, but this beautiful, sweet tale quickly became a favorite for all three of my children. My children would read along and anticipate the turning of each page. This book is soothing yet stimulating for developing young minds.

- Cynthia Marinelli, Hudson

MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS, by Richard and Florence Atwater

Mr. Popper's Penguins has remained my favorite children's tale for almost 60 years. I still remember how I tried to convince my mother that a penguin would be a perfect pet; somehow she just didn't take to that idea.

- Madeline O'Brien, Dunnellon ,

THE INCREDIBLE EGG, by Dal Stivens

Few people remember The Incredible Egg. What an adventure, to find a dinosaur egg! It hatches into a triceratops, which is taken for a walk down the street. My son dreamed of dinosaurs. Now he walks with triceratops in heaven.

- Mary-Ellen Cobb, Pinellas Park

HEIDI, by Johanna Spyri

Heidi was one of my first "chapter" books. What magic I had found! I skipped around the steep mountain pastures with Peter and the goats. I could taste the warm goat's milk. And after saying "Goodnight, Grandfather!" I could smell the sweet hay of my bed - I was Heidi!

- Mary E. Bon, Brooksville

MOTHER GOOSE RHYMES, original author unknown

My favorite children's book is Mother Goose rhymes. My aunt was a teacher and she took me to school with her sometimes. She read those to her students and I loved them. Little Jack Horner. Little Miss Muffet. That's what inspired me to be a teacher.

- Debra Jackson, St. Petersburg

THE ABECEDARIAN BOOK, by Charles Wright Ferguson

It's an ABC book, meant to be listened to, from A is for antediluvian to Z is for zoological. Each includes definition and etymology and a story of its origins. It was a fun learning tool.

- Raymond Gorman, New Port Richey

- Times correspondent KATHERINE SNOW SMITH contributed to this report.

AT A GLANCE

The Times Festival of Reading is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. For directions, parking instructions and a complete schedule, please see www.festivalofreading.com