CNN has good article today titled, “When toys were magical without being pricey“.  It is a reminder that sometimes the gifts with the most value are not always the most expensive gifts.  The writer reminds us of why we are so fond of childhood memories.

Be it a board game, marbles, a jump-rope or a pack of crayons, none of them cost more than $10. But if you think about it, I bet you remember the names of the kids with whom you played. I bet you remember a particularly intense game of Scrabble.

I remember that the joy wasn’t from the toy. It came from playing with people who loved me, like my mom, sister and grandma.

I’m not putting down the blinking, electronic $450 gizmos. I’m not saying your child won’t remember their hefty, creaky grandma playing Wii tennis with them three decades from now.

But try this. Go on and get Junior that pricey thing he just has to have. Then think about a great game from your childhood that didn’t cost as much as a monthly car payment. Throw in a jump-rope too, or a paddle ball.

Anybody with a child at reading age knows about Harry Potter. I recently came across an article that discussed how reported children injuries go down by about half on the weekends that a new Harry Potter book is released. It’s not much of a mystery to why this happens; while the kids are reading Harry Potter books they have less chances of falling out of trees or off their bicycles! But the article got me thinking about my own favorite books when I was a child, stories that included Leroy Brown and Henry Reed.

Leroy Brown of course is better known as Encyclopedia Brown. Encyclopedia Brown solved mysteries by talking to the suspects and reviewing the “crime scene”. Best of all, the stories invited you to solve the mystery before reading what actually happned. If you ever wondered what C.S.I’s Gil Grissim might have been like as a child then look no further than Encyclopedia Brown. If you think Grissim has it tough, then you never met Bugs Meany, the meanest kid in Brown’s neighborhood.

Then there was Henry Reed. I can still recall discovering Henry Reed, Inc, the first book in the series, on the shelves of our local public library. I have to admit that I can’t remember all the details of the book. But what I do recall was that Henry was an average kid (though maybe the son of a diplomat isn’t average) that exhibited a lot of interest in science, entrepreneurialism, and friendships. The books are a good read for kids. For myself, I think the Henry Reed series was the first time I considered what I wanted to do when I got older. Thanks Henry.