Bedtime with Bambi

How I still long to hold that original 1929 hardcover in my hands again.

My love for Bambi didn’t start with the Disney version. I enjoyed that adaptation but, as a young child, I wouldn’t become aware of the original story until years later. I loved to read and had many Little Golden Books including Walt Disney’s Bambi.

I started reading children’s novels when I was eight years old. Reading became my favourite hobby and, throughout my childhood and teenage years, it wasn’t unusual for me to have two or three books on the go at one time. I enjoyed many different genres but I was especially attached to animal adventure stories.

When I was in the third grade, my teacher read in its entirety (over several weeks) Felix Salten’s Bambi: A Life in the Woods to my class during story time. She was wonderful at expressing the excitement, humour, joy, and sadness contained in that book. Parts of it made me feel happy, parts of it made me laugh, but parts of it also moved me to tears several times (as it did some of the other kids in my class). At that age, I didn’t really understand the word melancholy (which was used several times in the book) but that was exactly how the overall story made me feel.

In 1983, after moving to a different school, I sought to rekindle that feeling. Fortunately, my new school’s library had a copy—an original 1929 hardcover! At nine years old, it felt like I was holding a piece of ancient history. Reading it myself for the first time was like listening to a song that stirred up old memories. I wanted to relive every moment of the story and immerse myself in it, which I did—over and over again—for the next four years. It produced a sense of sweet sadness—like when you long to go back and relive a specific time, but feel sad because you know you can’t. This book captured it so well because of the emotional sequence of events in it. The end of the story made me want to go back to the beginning and re-explore every scene so I could feel all the emotions once more.

Between 1983 and 1987, I signed it out eighteen times. When I had that book in my care, I treated it with utmost respect. It was precious to me and I cherished it. Every night, I would read as much as possible before going to sleep, hoping I would dream of being there with the animals. I would read certain parts repeatedly, obsessing over the emotional effects, wanting to feel them in my dreams. I would place my mind in the forest environment and make my own movie in my head. I could identify with every character and would imagine myself reaching out to each one.

When I was thirteen, I started eighth grade and the story of Bambi remained only in my memory. I was in a different school, I was growing up, and my interests were changing. There was no doubt, however, that Bambi: A Life in the Woods shaped and influenced my perspective on dealing with life’s ups and downs. That book had prepared me emotionally for whatever was thrown at me.

In 2007, my step-daughter was a student at the same elementary school I had attended. I asked her to check and see if the book was still there and to sign it out if it was. She brought it home and told me my signature was still on the card. Only one other person, besides my step-daughter, had signed it out between 1987 and 2007. I was overjoyed to have the book in my hands after all those years and was so grateful for the opportunity to read that same copy again.

In 2020, I purchased a special edition of the e-book which contains a biography of Felix Salten and a detailed introduction to his story. It is timeless, as the events portrayed in that story still occur in the same manner, whether in a deer’s life or a human’s life. I highly recommend it for children, as well as adults, because it covers an incredible range of life lessons as well as multiple points of view and emotional levels of those lessons. With a strong emphasis on the value of family and friends, it portrays the beginning, end, and renewal of life.

I chose Bambi: A Life in the Woods as my favourite bedtime story. I believe those who read it—young or old—will not go emotionally unaffected and the story will be etched in their memories for life.