Today I felt like revisiting some of the objects that defined my childhood and early teenager years in the house where I grew up.

Colors and smells hit back when I see the objects that opened the door to other worlds.

Some of these things might be familiar to you and might have marked your childhood too, like they did for millions of kids who grew up in the 90’s and early 00’s.

Babar at home: The first book I read on my own and that made me fall in love with books!

The hook from this book: It shows how much fun you could have at home through Babar’s kids messing around in the house. For a five-years-old it was very inspirational and a motivation. Playing in the garden, in the attic, dressing up as a pirate or a ghost, playing with the soap while having a shower, baking a cake and eating half of the chocolate while baking it…

POKEMON

I secretly sang the Pokemon anthem Gonna catch them all under the shower every night when I was eight and woke up every day at 6 am to watch an episode before school. And bought crisp packs just for the pogs they were giving away for free. I heard I’m not the only one…

Je bouquine: Un concert explosif The book that made me want to be in a band and be a musician when I was 11 !

This story made me think that anyone can be in a band if they want to. It uncovered the excitement of playing in the garage of the house, the tension and fright of playing in your school. I read about the Pixies, U2 and the Clash for the first time through this story and it just made me want to be in a band, grab a guitar and play to the person I secretly have a crush on.

TAMAGOTCHI

The Wikipedia picture defining Tamagotchis.

What can I tell you about these things…If you never came across them in your youth you must think we’re crazy. It’s a circular, mini Gameboy with three buttons, and you can’t turn it off. Yes-it’s on all the time, and the game for you is to take care of a pet in Tamagotchi: You have to feed it, you have to wash it, whenever it beeps. You end up being obsessed about the imaginary pet for days…but it dies anyway at the end to the big relief of your mum, who WON’T buy you another one. No question about it.

The Guinness Records Book ’96.The book that taught me about the craziness of humans.

The biggest breasts in 1996. All rights reserved to the Guiness Records Book 1996.

Another fascinating page from the Guiness Records Book ’96.

Game Boy (No comment)

This, son, is called a Game Boy. A what?

My first MP3 (No comment)

The storage capacity of this MP3 was 250 MB…Secret power: I could record songs I liked on TV directly by sticking the MP3 to the TV speaker and pressing record…

The book that caused millions of Muggles to fall in love with wizards.

You’re a wizard, Harry.

LIVESTRONG wristbands

Everybody wore them. Slept with them. Swam with them. Had a shower with them. Then threw them away.

A SHELL and pirates stories

This shell fascinated me for ages. I could hear the sea with it! And checked it was still working-hearing the sea- every day for weeks when I was 4. This was when my passion for the sea started which transformed into dreams about pirates after reading TREASURE ISLAND and other pirates books aged 10.

Best of the 70’s

Mid 00’s. 13 years old. Indie rock at its peak. Massive revival of punk rock and rock’n’roll on the wave created by the Strokes, the Libertines and Franz Ferdinand.

Finding this CD in my mum’s CD collection, which mainly contains classical music and opera, was a gift from God.

Are any of these objects familiar to you? Whenever you were born, wherever you grew up, what have marked your childhood?