My tattered copies of Madeleine L’Engle. Every single book in the Anne of Green Gables series. A well-worn Island of the Blue Dolphins. And the boxed set of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s complete Little House works… now standing faded and creased but tall beside the gorgeous edition produced by The Folio Society… deep red covers which, when lined up in order, show across the spines covered wagons heading West embossed in gold. Both gifts from my parents at different, special points in my life.
I know these beloved stories – and so many more – made their way into my childhood via The Haunted Bookshop. Despite advertising itself as “A General Bookstore,” and featuring the elderly scholar from Carl Spitzweg’s painting The Bookworm on its bookmarks, The Haunted Bookshop had the largest selection of children’s books in my hometown of Tucson.