Happy Book Week cHEwY gum gums!

This year’s theme is find your treasure, perfect for pirate-lovers and book-lovers who cherish their books. So I’ve looked back on my book collection to dig out treasures from my childhood. Here are my top 5 most treasured books.

5. Funfax!

I couldn’t find this one in time to take a picture for my blog, but I’ve been assured that it’s somewhere in my parent’s house. It was essentially a diary/planner BUT you could also add in books that slotted into the folder. I snapped every FunFax that was in a Scholastic Book Club catalogue when I was a kid. I also had the Spy File one as well, but it was the original FunFax that I used to carry around all the time, to write random thoughts, use stickers and read fun facts and do puzzles.

4. Tomorrow When the War Began-John Marsden

I read this book in Grade 7, and by the time we finished the unit in English, I bought my own copy and got the first 4 books and was gunning for the next 3. Yes, I had to wait for the last 3 installments to come out, which meant I could re-read the previous ones to get hyped. I still have dreams about this scenario, all-0ut war in Australia and how I would react. It was the Hunger Games of my generation. The movies and mini-series don’t do this justice, this deserves a Netflix/Stan series with all the guts and glory!

3. Sonic The Hedgehog: Metal City Mayhem and Nintendo Adventure Books: Dinosaur Mayhem

I’ve paired these two together (it would have been forbidden back in my day #16bitconsolewars) because they’re two of my all time favourite video games characters. If you think that I was reading these books, you’re wrong…because I was playing them. These were more than just ‘choose your own adventure books’, they were game books! So I had to use a piece of paper to write down my stats, collect items that I could store for later and have a life meter so if you take too many hits, it’s game over. It was a such a blast to play, and I’m surprised nobody’s ever done it since…(mmmm that gives me an idea haha)

2. Seinlanguage-Jerry Seinfeld 

The book (and show) that got me into stand up comedy. I used to re-read this book over and over again back in high school, and I knew I wanted to be a stand up comedian. Alongside with Paul Rasier’s Couplehood (remember that sitcom Mad About You?), I loved these semi-autobiography books that were essentially stand up routines. This was long before YouTube, so these jokes that had to stand on it’s own in word form. Seinlanguage is timeless, and it also got me thinking about puns in titles haha.

1. The Enchanted Wood-Enid Blyton

When I was in Year 5, I was getting ready to go on my first school camp. One of the things on the checklist was a book, so I ventured into Go-Lo discount store in Miller for a hardcover classic, The Enchanted Wood. I’ll be honest, I had no idea what I was getting into. But once I ventured into the woods, and met the folk of the Faraway Tree, I was hooked. I have fond memories, reading this novel as kids around me were jumping on their beds and mucking around. Comedy might have been my forte, but Moonface and co still hold a special place in my heart.

So yeah, there are hundreds of books that have been lost over the years (or moved on because I don’t have a lot of shelf space) But these have remained with me, because while they’re great books, it’s the memories attached to the book that I have treasured the most 🙂

Tell me what your treasured books are? Follow me on Instagram or Twitter (@oliverwinfree) and let me know.

O.W