#don't you dare read this mrs dunphrey

[best-childhood-book]

[necrobob]

don't you dare read this mrs. dunphrey

Sure would be nice if my dad wasn’t dead. Just saying.

I mean, his health would probably be pretty bad by now, if he was alive.

But, since I’m wishing… might as well wish he was healthy, too.

[gwaindrifter]

Don't You dare read this, Mrs. Dunphrey

I mourn the girlhood I never got to have. I never got to wear dresses, play with dolls, paint my nails, or learn to braid my hair. I never felt the panic of my first period or the embarrassment of someone finding out I stuffed my bra. I didn't wear a gorgeous prom dress that looking back was garish as hell. I didn't wear the belly dancer outfit to the ren faire that made my uncle tell me to put some clothes on.

And I never had close intimate friendships. I didn't have friends who were touchy-feely; always hugging, leaning, and laying on each other. I didn't have a friend that I'd share the bed with at sleepovers. I didn't have a friend who'd come over with ice cream and a bad movie when I was feeling down. I didn't have it, so I didn't know what it felt like, and so I didn't realize it's what I wanted and had. Until I fucked it all up.

[morphine300mg]

#6 A bildungsroman

[adamsvanrhijn]

Did you guys ever read Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs Dunphrey ????? great book but definitely contributed to me never telling anybody anything.

[ladiekatie]

Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey

I confided in my dad that I felt like I was severely unqualified to be starting grad school in the fall and how much I feel like a kid in their parent’s clothes. I told him that I think it’s because as a kid I was always made to feel like I was never good enough for anything and how imposter syndrome is something I struggle with and he basically told me that I was feeling this way because “I’m a millennial who doesn’t know how to be an adult” and i told him it was because I was babied until I was in my late teen by everyone including him and that his never acknowledging my accomplishments made me feel like I wasn’t doing enough to earn what I had and he was SHOCKED that I called him out like that. 

I even told him that I felt my imposter syndrome reflecting not only in school, but in my coming into an adult. I feel like I’m faking being an adult to compete with my dad when he was my age despite him having more privileged as a man but also because of the state of the economy and society in general despite my own progress compared to him. I still see my dad as some sort of person I have to measure up to even though I am probably better off at my age than he was at this age? Yet, I still feel so far behind and again... like i’m putting on an act to prove I’m adult enough to him. 

So that was a fun conversation to have with my father moments after he spilled more tea about the whole Lack Of Water Debacle from yesterday. 

[bardgender69]

sigh.

Those of you that know me know that I am not afraid of telling anyone how I feel, especially friends. If there is something that I disagree with, I will tell you, usually in as polite a way as I can muster. Usually I like that about myself. Usually I'm glad that I have been blessed with a way with words to tell other people things eloquently without having to resort to primal 'nw u listen here you lil shit' levels, unless I'm choosing to for effect. 

Usually.

Today, I am not proud of that.

[best-childhood-book]

Ok im a little scared to suggest books bc I'll be so sad if my favorites lose AGAIN (looking at every tamora pierce series thus far) but I didn't see the Magic Treehouse books by Mary Pope Osborne and in a totally different direction Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs Dunphrey by Margaret Peterson Haddix

I added Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey; Magic Tree House was in a previous competition

[best-childhood-book]

Preliminary Round Winners

Round 1: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Eliminations: none

Round 2: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Eliminations: Legend by Marie Lu

Round 3: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Eliminations: none

Round 4: Little House by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Eliminations: Lux by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Round 5: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien

Eliminations: none

Round 6: Septimus Heap by Angie Sage

Eliminations: Last Survivors by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Round 7: Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz

Eliminations: none

Round 8: The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce

Eliminations: none

Round 9: Nevermoor by Jessica Townshend

Eliminations: none

Round 10: The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

Eliminations: none

Round 11: American Girl by Various Authors

Eliminations: Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan

Round 12: Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol

Eliminations: none

Round 13: Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson

Eliminations: none

Round 14: Tiebreaker ongoing

Eliminations: none

Round 15: Ever by Gail Carson Levine

Eliminations: none

Round 16: Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

Eliminations: none

Round 17: The Hardy Boys by Franklin D. Dixon

Eliminations: none

Round 18: Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

Eliminations: none

Round 19: Ever After High by Shannon Hale

Eliminations: none

Round 20: The Icemark Chronicles by Stuart Hill

Eliminations: none

Round 21: Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke

Eliminations: none

Round 22: My Teacher Is an Alien by Bruce Coville

Eliminations: none

Round 23: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Eliminations: Killer Unicorns by Diana Peterfreund

Round 24: Upside-Down Magic by Emily Jenkins, Sarah Miynowski, and Lauren Myracle

Eliminations: none

Round 25: Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Eliminations: none

Round 26: Fairy Wings by E. D. Baker

Eliminations: Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill

Round 27: The Puppy Place by Ellen Miles

Eliminations: none

Round 28: Animal Ark by Lucy Daniels

Eliminations: none

Round 29: A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

Eliminations: none

Round 30: Ten Kids, No Pets by Ann M. Martin

Eliminations: none

Round 31: Magic Puppy by Sue Bentley

Eliminations: none

Round 32: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

Eliminations: The Country Child by Alison Uttley, Corydon by Tobias Druitt

[best-childhood-book]

Fourth Competition Masterpost

Preliminary Rounds

Poll 1: The Hobbit - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (here)

Poll 2: The Secret Garden - Graceling (here)

Poll 3: The Light in the Attic - The Phantom Tollbooth (here)

Poll 4: Lux - Abhorsen (here)

Poll 5: The Westing Game - The Witch of Blackbird Pond (here)

Poll 6: Books of Bayern - The Swiss Family Robinson (here)

Poll 7: The Indian in the Cupboard - Amulet (here)

Poll 8: The War That Saved My Life - The Trumpet of the Swan (here)

Poll 9: My Side of the Mountain - Nevermoor (here)

Poll 10: The Penderwicks - The Last Apprentice (here)

Poll 11: American Girl - Beyonders (here)

Poll 12: The Missing - A Mango Shaped Space (here)

Poll 13: Serafina - The Candymakers (here)

Poll 14: Things Not Seen - Ida B (here)

Poll 15: The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear - Greenglass House (here)

Poll 16: Tuesdays at the Castle - Malory Towers (here)

Poll 17: The Littles - Ivy & Bean (here)

Poll 18: Flat Stanley - Silverwing (here)

Poll 19: The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles - Adventurers Wanted (here)

Poll 20: Applewhites - Red Planet (here)

Poll 21: The Secret Seven - Igraine the Brave (here)

Poll 22: My Teacher Is an Alien - Hitty, Her First Hundred Years (here)

Poll 23: George's Secret Key to the Universe - Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat (here)

Poll 24: Dragonbreath - Larklight (here)

Poll 25: La Quête d'Ewilan - The Forbidden Library (here)

Poll 26: Casson Family - Les Chevaliers d'Emeraude (here)

Poll 27: Regarding the... - MacDonald Hall (here)

Poll 28: The Candy Shop War - Time Hunters (here)

Poll 29: The Guardian Herd - Earthaven (here)

Poll 30: Edgar and Ellen - Ten Kids, No Pets (here)

Poll 31: Magic Puppy - The Strictest School in the World (here)

Poll 32: The Country Child - Cat School or Goyangi Hakyo (here)

Round 1

Poll 1: The Hobbit vs King of the Wind (here)

Poll 2: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH vs Animal Ark (here)

Poll 3: Nevermoor vs Upside-Down Magic (here)

Poll 4: Kingdom Keepers vs The Icemark Chronicles (here)

Poll 5: Ever vs Flat Stanley (here)

Poll 6: American Girl vs My Teacher Is an Alien (here)

Poll 7: Alex Rider vs Fairy Wings (here)

Poll 8: A Little Princess vs Ten Kids, No Pets (here)

Poll 9: Little House vs A Snicker of Magic (here)

Poll 10: The Immortals Quartet vs Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey (here)

Poll 11: Encyclopedia Brown vs Igraine the Brave (here)

Poll 12: Tuesdays at the Castle vs The Hardy Boys (here)

Poll 13: Running Out of Time vs Ever After High (here)

Poll 14: The Dark Is Rising vs Leviathan (here)

Poll 15: Septimus Heap by The Puppy Place (here)

Poll 16: Six of Crows vs Magic Puppy (here)

Round 2

Poll 1: The Hobbit vs Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (here)

Poll 2: Nevermoor vs Kingdom Keepers (here)

Poll 3: Ever vs American Girl (here)

Poll 4: Alex Rider vs A Little Princess (here)

Poll 5: Little House vs The Immortals Quartet (here)

Poll 6: The Hardy Boys vs Encyclopedia Brown (here)

Poll 7: Ever After High vs Leviathan (here)

Poll 8: Septimus Heap vs Six of Crows (here)

Round 3

Poll 1: The Hobbit vs Nevermoor (here)

Poll 2: American Girl vs A Little Princess (here)

Poll 3: The Immortals Quartet vs Encyclopedia Brown (here)

Poll 4: Ever After High vs Six of Crows (here)

Round 4 (semifinals)

Poll 1: The Hobbit vs American Girl (here)

Poll 2: The Immortals Quartet by Six of Crows (here)

Round 5 (finals)

The Hobbit vs Six of Crows (here)

[necrobob]

This year got pretty goddamn sucky there toward the end. But a lot of good came from it, and it makes me mad. That the sucky thing had to happen for the good to come about. I’m actually benefiting from one of the worst events in my life. If it had never happened my life would have gone along as normal. Me, stuck in my hole. But I can’t stop or there’ll be no meaning to it.