For Carmen Aiken, a writer and volunteer coordinator for the Active Transportation Alliance, books are a portal back to childhood — her own and that of her parents.
“Before my mom and dad moved out of the country in 2011, I found all these treasures in their basement: 1970s paperbacks, a collection of Argentinian comics….”
The latter, “10 Anos con Mafalda,” stars a 6-year-old socially conscious girl named Mafalda who happens to hate soup. “It’s kind of like a Latin American ‘Peanuts,'” Aiken says.
And then there’s a copy of “The Little Prince” that belonged to her dad. “He highlighted all the parts that everyone highlights. It made me think, ‘Aw, my dad was just like me when he was young!'”
Her own teen years were shaped by Francesca Lia Block’s “Dangerous Angels” series. “If you were into these books, we will get along!” she says.
Her collection doesn’t quash nostalgia, but celebrates it.