What books did you love as a child?

[MaryMagdaline]

[MaryMagdaline]

1. Nancy Drew

Mystery of the Old Attic was first one I read, I think.

[yellowdogintexas]

54. I was addicted to Nancy Drew from about 8 to 12 years old

Every trip to the public library included several Drew books, plus I owned several.

My aunt gave me several of my original books not too long ago; her daughter had borrowed them from my mom, since they were still in her house. My mom's house burned, and we lost enough books to start a library. Anyway, my aunt gave me these 6 books and they are from the late 1950s so they are the OLD Nancy Drews with the roadster etc.

My daughter read them, and I will pass them on to any of my great nieces or grandaughters who want to read them.

[appleannie1943]

104. Me too. I read them all a couple times. That and the Boxcar Children

[Sophia4]

131. Me too.

[smirkymonkey]

173. I loved them too! I read the whole collection!

I was just addicted to them. Thanks for reminding me of them!

[pansypoo53219]

154. i started w/ trixie belden. much better, but narnia books.

paul zindel? i think that is his name. agatha christie.

[Lochloosa]

2. The Wahoo Bobcat.

The Wahoo bobcat is the biggest bobcat in the Florida water prairie wilderness. A nine-year-old boy and the bobcat establish a friendship that endures through seasons of drought, dangers such as wildfire, floods, panthers and more. But the biggest threat is the hunting of the cat by men and dogs in the Florida swamp

[yellowdogintexas]

59. hardcover copy on Amazon for $50

Apparently it is out of print. And here I was ready to get some for my sister's grandsons

[Soxfan58]

3. Call of the wild

Jack London

[Freddie]

84. Me too

Loved that book and read it countless times, also his other book about a dog and Alaska- White Fang? (not the Soupy Sales dog!) If those books had a deeper meaning I have no idea, just great stories about dogs. As a kid I would read any book with animals - once my babysitter had to read Animal Farm so I read it while she did her other homework. Cool story about pigs.

[Chemisse]

110. I loved this book!

I read it many times.

[lunatica]

118. White Fang is my favorite

I read that to my boys and turned them into readers. That and Dune. I explained the story to them as I went so they could understand it when they were younger. Children's comprehension is usually far above their reading level.

[Chemisse]

159. I loved reading my favorites aloud to my kids.

I don't recall ever reading White Fang though. I must have missed out.

[lunatica]

171. It's actually a book for all ages

Read it and see. It's about a wolf in the wilds of Canada, written by Jack London. It's not a cute book or toned down for children. It's pretty savage and tough.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Dr. Seuss!

[smirkymonkey]

175. I loved all the Dr. Seuss books. My father started buying them for me when I was three and

would read them to me all the time. By the time I was four I was reading them myself before Kindergarten. I think because I just loved that time w/ my father reading with me, it was so special.

[Rhiannon12866]

179. Awww! What a lovely memory!

The first book I ever read by myself was "The Cat in the Hat" - and my brother went through a stage when his bedtime story every night had to be "Happy Birthday to You!" I think my entire family still remembers all the words...

[Loki Liesmith]

5. Lloyd Alexanders Prydain books

[50 Shades Of Blue]

88. Loved them too but didn't discover them until I was in my late teens.

[geardaddy]

163. I've never heard of those.

But since Prydain is Welsh for Britain I'm intrigued!

[avebury]

6. House Divided by

Ben Ames Williams. I left children's books behind by the age of 10.

[Irish_Dem]

39. Same here, started reading adult books at about age 10.

My mother worried about it. Thought I should stick to kid books.

[avebury]

70. My mother kept an eye out on my choices.

There was only one book that she ever said no to and that was Jacqueline Suzanne's Valley of the Dolls. Once the mini-series played on TV I felt no need to actually read the book.

[Irish_Dem]

77. Oh I read Valley of the Dolls. In secret. :)

[Sophia4]

132. Same. The librarian reported me to my mother.

My father agreed to vet the books I borrowed.

[Irish_Dem]

144. I hid books from my mother and read by flashlight late at night.

I was about 9 or 10 yrs old.

She could tell I stayed up late as I kept yawning at breakfast.

So sorry your librarian snitched on you.

I guess we turned out OK despite our misspent youth.

[Sophia4]

170. Yes. We're OK. I was raised in such a sheltered atmosphere that I

probably couldn't understand the parts of the books they didn't want me to read anyway.

Being a good reader made my life so much better because I was born into a family that didn't have much money. Being a good reader was the key for me.

Even today, parents should encourage their children to read -- and above all, accompany them to the library, help them pick out their books and READ TO THEM.

Reading time is also cuddling time.

Reading is empowerment.

[Irish_Dem]

172. I agree totally with you.

I read to my child every night, and then discussed the stories with her.
She always scored very high on tests of verbal skills.
I know it is because of all the reading we did together.

[Ligyron]

7. The Hardy Boys

I've loved mysteries ever since.

[KT2000]

8. Pippi Longstocking

Winnie the Pooh
They were both my very own books!

[rusty quoin]

11. Pippi...I didnt read it but watched the movie ads.

You could hang on those braids, couldn’t you?

[KT2000]

96. Yep!

and of course, the book is better!

[smirkymonkey]

174. Yes! I loved Pippi Longstocking!

I am enjoying reminiscing about all these old favorites!

[mia]

9. The Call of the Wild and Little Women

are the first books that come to mind.

My father collected old books so took my brother and me to many bookstores when I was young. He would leave us by the children books and then disappear. This was before I could actually read, but I loved looking at the beautiful illustrations and elaborate script at the beginning of each chapter of so many books.

[yellowdogintexas]

56. I read Little Women; Eight Cousins was my favorite though

I read Eight Cousins when I was about 9 or 10 and have read it several times since. The sequel, Rose in Bloom is also a lovely read.

There is a lot of humor and family shenanigans in those two books, as well as a really strong extended family love.

[Sophia4]

133. Me too. Great series.

[Zoonart]

78. Me too...

Call of the Wild, Green Mansions, Little Women, and what has remained my favorite book, A Tale of Two Cities.
Been into the politics of revolution since I was a tween.

[Chemisse]

111. The Trixie Beldon mysteries

Along with Nancy Drew, Little Women, The Little Princess and The Secret Garden.

[catrose]

136. Yes these

[Chemisse]

139. It's great to see another Trixie Beldon fan.

Most people have never heard of that series.

[catrose]

146. I know. I'm always surprised to find another fan

even though there's several Trixie fan fic sites (written by people who think these kids ought to be allowed to grow up). I related more to Trixie & friends than Nancy Drew. And with Honey's real name being my real name (a very weird name back in the day)' and Brian's birthday being also mine--that was irresistible!

[Chemisse]

160. Trixie was more like a regular kid with a regular family.

I related to her.

Even now, I privately think of my unruly hair as Trixie Beldon hair - lol!

[Guilded Lilly]

155. Yes! Tricia Beldon :). My older sister was a Nancy Drew fan but

Trixie was more my style.
The hardback covers were more youthful/colorful as well. Guess I was an early feminist and gravitated towards female heroes.

[Still Blue in PDX]

161. I mostly read my mom's books, but Trixie Belden was one of my favorite of age-appropriate series.

I started reading Victoria Holt, Shirley Jackson, Edgar Allan Poe, and lots of ghost and sci-fi short stories when I was in elementary school, in between Little Women, Beautiful Joe, Eight Cousins, and The Secret Garden.

[Chemisse]

164. My all-time favorite was Old Yeller.

I read it a number of times, and I read it aloud to each of my kids when they were young.

[Still Blue in PDX]

165. I read that at least once, sometimes twice, a year, too. Loved that dog!

I read Black Beauty and The Yearling several times, too, but the movies and the books when I got older just broke my heart.

Even now, just thinking about Old Yeller, I can hardly wait to get home and hug my dog . . .

[Dennis Donovan]

10. Where the Wild Things Are n/t

[Cicada]

12. Half magic

[catrose]

32. I loved Half Magic

And all of Edward Eager's books. Also Trixie Belden, particularly the original ones by Julie Campbell.

[TuxedoKat]

157. Yes, and Magic by the Lake

and other books by Edward Eager too. Apparently he was influenced by an author named Edith Nesbit, but I never read any of her books.

[TuxedoKat]

158. Little House Books, Little Women, The Borrowers, The 100 Dresses, Henry Huggins

and other books by Ramona Quimby, and just about anything else I could find, newspapers, World Book Encyclopedia, etc.

I never read these but others raved about them:

The Ship That Flew - Hilda Lewis
The Bears of Blue River - Charles Major

[Cartoonist]

13. Comic books

The Sunday comics section.

They taught me how to read.

[yellowdogintexas]

58. Same Here!!! I loved when Daddy would read them to me

Something about his voice; he was a good reader. If he did not read them to me, my grandfather did - he was a voracious reader and would read to us at the drop of a hat.

I was reading them aloud myself around my 5th birthday, and my mom thought I had already had them memorized from somebody reading them to me, until she gave them to me stone cold and I read them. I was reading at 3rd grade level when I started school.

All because of the Sunday Comics!!

[shenmue]

14. Lord of the Rings

[SouthernIrish]

17. The Laura Ingalls Wilder series

Winnie the Pooh
Nancy Drew
Dr Seuss

[Frustratedlady]

15. Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys

Reading teachers will say that these weren't good books to read, as they repeated the same level of words and nothing new was learned. However, I felt in looking back that they increased my love of reading, gave me the curiosity to explore and solve mysteries and lit a fire under my imagination. Good enough for me.

[Irish_Dem]

42. I agree totally about mysteries. I loved them and still do.

And Science Fiction.

Increased my love of reading, took me to new worlds, forced me to think outside the box, and learned deductive/inductive reasoning.

[yellowdogintexas]

60. comprehension, character continuity, visualizing the story

are very important and this type of story helps a lot with that. Deductive/inductive reasoning is a good point.

I am a voracious reader of mystery fiction, especially if they are in a series. DO NOT ever try to get me to read any series out of order, either. I am sort of a slob about most things, but am anal retentive to the max about reading books in order, and knowing where all my kitchen implements are.

(my very nice husband washes the stuff that can't go in the dishwasher, and if he puts things away, I can't find them. My kitchen is NOT that big, yet he can find the weirdest places for things like a 12 cup Bundt pan, for example. He is 69 years old and has never really absorbed the fact that most bowls, pans, bakeware etc has been designed to stack or nest. So he scatters them in strange places then complains that we have too much stuff and he can't fit things into the cabinets. We have been married 35 years and I have given up on explaining that if you nest the mixing bowls, they give you head room on that shelf.

[Irish_Dem]

75. I love mystery novels, especially British ones.

And yes, the learnings are as you describe, nice job on that!

I also cannot stand to read or watch episodes or books out of sequence.
Some people can organize objects, others cannot, interesting about your husband.

[Arkansas Granny]

16. Every book written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, "My Friend Flicka".

anything written by Albert Payson Terhune. If I had a book in my hands, I was a happy child.

My sister and I were telling the kids and grandkids just the other day how much we looked forward to the bookmobile making it's rounds in the summer time.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

22. Loved all those too plus Green Grass of Wyoming

[Arkansas Granny]

38. I'm not familiar with that one. I'll have to look it up.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

50. It was kind of a sequel to MFF, also by Mary O 'Hara

[Irish_Dem]

43. I loved LI Wilder, read her books as a child, and then read them to my child.

Read to her every nite, children's classics, and I think this is why she did so well on reading and verbal tests.

[Arkansas Granny]

48. I bought the entire set for my grandkids last Christmas. This year my niece got the set for

her daughter. They are classics.

[Irish_Dem]

51. Wonderful. My daughter is in grad school now and still has these books from

childhood. She loved the series.

I really do think the series gave her a love of reading, writing, verbal comprehension, etc.

She always scored in the 90th percentile on verbal skills and the teachers kept asking me what I was doing at home. I told them I read Little House on the Prairie to her every night!

Of course I read other books to her as well. All of Jane Austen as well.
But Little House was her favorite.

[yellowdogintexas]

62. Ah yes, the bookmobile

Fond memories indeed!

[roscoeroscoe]

18. Maybe this is why

"Starship Troopers"
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"
"Between Planets"
"The Worm Ouroborous"
"The King of Elfland's Daughter"
and...

"The Star Rover"

A little later:
"The Secret Life of Plants"
"Whole Earth Catalog"
"Been Down so Long it Looks Like Up to Me"

[FailureToCommunicate]

25. +1 for Dick Farina's book.

[Irish_Dem]

44. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", one of my all time favorite childhood books.

I loved any and all science fiction as a child.

[OriginalGeek]

121. my dad gave me my first Heinlein book

I'm pretty sure it was one of the YA books but I don;t remember which one. I don't even remember when I first realized he wrote some for adults and some for young adults because I had pretty much been through all of them by the time I was 13. I just checked out any Heinlein I could find from the library.

I probably have a bit of a libertarian streak in me because of Heinlein but thanks to grandma and grandpa I'm still pretty solidly liberal lol.


I remember reading way above my pay grade when it came to science fiction and had to go back and reread lots of things after I learned more words.

[femmedem]

19. At various points, The Little Prince, Winnie the Pooh and Go, Dog. Go! (a Dr. Seuss book)

I fooled a babysitter into thinking I knew how to read when I was three by memorizing all the words to Go, Dog. Go and "reading" it to her.

[Arkansas Granny]

41. My kids had their favorite books memorized. There was no skipping over a phrase or a page to get

to bedtime any earlier.

[Sophia4]

135. When my granddaughter was two, she "read" "Goodnight Moon" to her

day care class. I have the video. Priceless. She especially loved "reading" "and the cow jumped over the moon." She pronounced that very clearly. I seriously doubt that she really understood what it meant, but getting the sounds right was important to her and worth a lot of effort.

[TexasProgresive]

20. BOOKS I loved and love books

As a child the brown cover Hardy Boys, Tom Swift Jr, Tarzan and the rest of Edgar Rice Burrough's books even though he was a racist, the L. Frank Baum OZ books ad infinitum.

[TlalocW]

76. As was L. Frank Baum

Racist as well. But I enjoyed his non-Let's-kill-all-the-Indians stuff.

TlalocW

[PJMcK]

21. The Box Car Children (n/t)

[Irish_Dem]

37. Oh I loved this book. Had forgotten about it..... nt

[hay rick]

79. Also on my list.

Evidently it turned into a series.

[Sophia4]

138. Great book!

[Honeycombe8]

23. Donna Parker (series of books about young girl, mysteries)

Donna Parker in Hollywood, etc.

[pazzyanne]

24. Riders of the Purple Sage

...and anything by Zane Grey.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

26. J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Andrew Lang's fairy tale books...

Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking glass.

Marguerite Henry's horse books. Any book about horses, really. And dogs.

Bambi by Felix Salten.

Also read all the Tarzan books. All the Nancy Drew books.

Read most of the novel condensations in my parents' collection of Readers Digests hardbacks and my favorite was An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden - finally read the uncondensed version as an adult.

I also loved Louisa May Alcott's books.

Going to the library was a religious experience.

[Irish_Dem]

36. Loved Nancy Drew, still like mysteries to this day. And yes on Readers Digest

collections.

I also loved going to the Library and getting a wide variety of books.
I always had my nose in a book.

[yellowdogintexas]

63. ohh Episode of Sparrows!! I loved that book

If I recall correctly, I read the RDCV of "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Episode of Sparrows" was in the same book so I read it too and I loved it. I probably read those two at least 3 times even before I read the complete Mockingbird.

I was 11 going on 12 when I read those.

Mockingbird is still my favorite book, and I am now 69

[50 Shades Of Blue]

87. I was the same age when I read them! I read the RDCV of TKAM first, too.

Don't recall if they were in the same book, though.

There is a wonderful movie version of An Episode of Sparrows that TCM shows once in awhile.

[citizen blues]

27. From the Mixed Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

By E. L. Konigsburg. I still have a copy. It was made into the movie, “The Hideaways.”

[Permanut]

28. Tom Sawyer..

First book I ever owned, and I still have it.

[yellowdogintexas]

65. I Love Tom Sawyer, first read at age 10

Re read it every summer for years. However could NOT get into Huck FInn until I had to read it in college and I could not put it down.

[JDC]

156. +1

[Thirties Child]

29. very young - Mother West Wind Stories

Also Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Heidi, Lassie, Penrod and Sam, anything by Albert Payson Terhune

[cpamomfromtexas]

30. Any Laura Ingalls and The Borrowers

I think I wanted to escape my abusive environment

[Irish_Dem]

35. Yes on Ingalls, and I had forgotten about the Borrowers, loved them. nt

[Kilgore]

31. Tom Swift

Could not get enough of them.

[cannabis_flower]

33. Heidi

I probably read it 3 or 4 times. And fairy tales.

[Irish_Dem]

34. Any science fiction, Asimov, Heinlein, etc.

When younger loved Little House on the Prairie series.

[livetohike]

40. Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden. Devoured these

books 🙂. As a pre teen I started reading historical fiction by Victoria Holt (one of many pen names of Eleanor Hibbert).

[Irish_Dem]

46. Oh I had forgotten about Trixie Beldon, loved her. nt

[crazycatlady]

45. Babysitter's Club series

[Arkansas Granny]

47. My younger boys had a couple of Shel Silverstein books that they dearly loved.

In the past 35 years or so they have gone from my sons to their children, then to my oldest granddaughter for her daughter. A few days ago they were presented to my great niece, which made her mother cry because she remembers reading them at my house when she was a little girl. They look pretty ragged, but they are still intact, which is no mean feat for a 3 generation book. There is nothing like a well loved book.

[BlueCaliDem]

49. The entire collection of The Little House from Laura Ingalls Wilder. eom

[Evergreen Emerald]

52. shel silverstein

The giving tree.

"Once there was a tree....
and she loved a little boy."

[applegrove]

112. Loved "Where the Sidewalk Ends". Also Nancy Drew.

[Hangingon]

53. Tom Sawyer, buck finn, treasure island, Guadalcanal diary

[mainstreetonce]

55. The Pokey Little Puppy

Golden books

[Irish_Dem]

57. All of Jane Austen, especially "Pride and Prejudice".

I re-read it every year.

[MaryMagdaline]

94. I did not catch Jane Austen until my 40's **have read everything and I re-read constantly**

Just re-read Pride and Prejudice

[Irish_Dem]

95. OMG another Janite! I never get tired of re-reading P and P.

What is your favorite part?

Edited to add: I read P and P to my daughter when she was a child.
She knew it by heart. We had a hummingbird feeder when she was growing
up and she named the little birds as they came to feed, Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth, Jane
and a wild reckless bird she named Mr. Wickham.

[MaryMagdaline]

97. I like to read for the shadow stories

There is a blog ... Arnie Pearlstein ... Sharp Elves Society ... Pearlstein is convinced that there is a double/shadow story behind each mainline story
Example: Wickham, if read through someone else's point of view, is actually a good guy and has been wronged by Darcy.
Mary is actually a sage and it is Elizabeth who is clueless as to what is going on.

I like to read it the straight way and then consider the change of point of view and see what that brings

Emma, for example: Ms. Smith is really a sharp manipulator who was always after Knightley; Ms. Bates is well aware of everything going on and she, like Mary, in P&P, is a sage, rather than a fool.

Even wilder theories ... Jane Fairfax was pregnant ... if you read the story as a 9 month progression, you catch the hints.

I don't buy into all of this, but it is true that Jane Austen perfected the point of view ... you really are as knowledgeable or as clueless as the person telling the story, and if you fail to listen to the dialogue from the other characters, you might be trapped SOLELY in the POV of Elizabeth or Emma or Anne.

Mostly, I enjoy the character studies. Just blew me away how Elizabeth, for example, was analyzing how she and Darcy misread, misunderstood, deliberating or accidentally misunderstood each other ... this was years before the study of psychology took off.

[Irish_Dem]

100. I love reading some of the P&P variations. Had not heard of the shadow

stories. Will have to look for them.

Interesting, turns the characters on their heads...
And yes everything is from the narrator's view in Austen's work.
I love some of the variations written from Mr. Darcy's POV.

I have had exactly the same thoughts about Jane Austen as an
expert in psychology. She wrote her novels 100 years before Freud
started talking about psych issues and the inner workings of the mind,
motive, unconscious, etc.... but she nailed it.

Austen's writing style was also quite different from her cohorts who
wrote in a complicated, heavy, pedantic way. Austen's writing was clean, modern, simply worded and stands the test of time.

I believe she was a genius on several levels.

[MaryMagdaline]

115. Agree - she is a genius

[catrose]

137. Oh yes!

Though as I age, I find myself more drawn to Persuasion. Fortunately, I don't have to pick one. I can read them all!

My favorite modern version is Karen Joy Fowler's Jane Austen Book Club, in which each book club member's life echoes that of an Austen protagonist.

[Irish_Dem]

147. I still am loyal to P&P, think it is the finest work. But I know there is disagreement.

My cousin and I almost came to blows, I am a firm P&P, and she is Sense and Sensibility.
We had to agree to disagree.

Yes I enjoyed the JA Book Club...

[MaryMagdaline]

189. Love Persuasion ... very drawn to

Mansfield Park. Darker characters, very interesting

[SummerSnow]

61. Edith and Mr. Bear books.She reminds me of myself when I was a kid

[mindem]

64. Gone With The Wind

I read it in the 7th grade and couldn't put it down. As an added benefit, my English teacher gave me so much extra credit for reading the book it counted for an entire year worth of book reports. I read Ole Edvart Rølvaag's Giants In The Earth in 9th grade and liked that one too. It got to the point I was reading books that hadn't been checked out of the school library in years. We are a family of bookworms.

[yellowdogintexas]

66. I read GWTW after I had seen the movie in 1961

the first big re-release for the 100th anniversary of the Civil War.

I loved it, still do. I have a very different perspective on it now but whatever else you say about it, it was a great read! Margaret Mitchell knew how to tell a story; I wish she had lived to write more books.

[MaryMagdaline]

91. Giants in the Earth! is on my shelf from childhood

I had a shelf of about 20 books that I owned, instead of checking out of the library. Mostly plays (Eugene O'Neill, Ibsen) but also miscellaneous: Making of an American (Jacob Riis)(making of a Democrat, I think; that book affected me greatly); Last Hurrah; William Randolph Hearst biography; Good Night Sweet Prince (bio of John Barrymore). Can't remember them all, but I loved Giants in the Earth ... I read it about the same time the Immigrant came out (the movie).

[yellowdogintexas]

67. Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson

yes, that Shirley Jackson. The one who wrote The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House.

Savages and Demons are based on her own life with 5 kids in a drafty old house in Vermont. Screamingly (no pun intended) hilarious. I do not understand how they escaped being made into a movie or TV series!!!

Highly recommend these. I scored a Kindle edition of a Shirley Jackson collection for $5.99, with these two books in it. My mom had a hardbound of this collection, and after the fire I found one and gave it to her. When I would go to visit her, those two books were my bedtime reading. LOL my sister's daughter has that same book now.

[Polly Hennessey]

68. The Secret Garden

I will still read it and am still enchanted. All of Nancy Drew. Wuthering Heights. Sherlock Holmes. It was Nancy Drew that gave me my love of books. To this day, I am happiest when reading. If I have some Vanilla, Honey, Chamomile Tea, my dogs, and a book life is perfect. Throw in my husband as the frosting on the cake and paradise is mine.

[Laffy Kat]

98. Loved The Secret Garden.

I've never re-read it because I don't think it could live up to my memory of it when I read it as a pre-teen.

[WhiteTara]

69. The Little Maid series, Nancy Drew

I even liked the Hardy Boys.

[lastlib]

71. Brains Benton

always wanted to be him!

Also loved "Rascal" (Sterling North), because we had a pet raccoon for about a year, and there were many similarities!

[yellowdogintexas]

72. my last list of stuff not mentioned already:

This will be my last post to this thread, because I have to go clean out my email box, and plow my farm a little bit. I have Stephanie Miller in the background, and coffee nearby!

Hans Brinker and the SIlver Skates
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
Mythology, in any form
Spin and Marty ( I read that one multiple times) PS I went over to Amazon and found a copy of this book; I ordered it to send to my sister's grandsons! )

The Secret Garden

Original Bobbsey Twins (got my first one in the first grade)
The Five LIttle Peppers and How They Grew
Assorted other young detective novels such as Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, Hardy Boys.

I had a collection of "Uncle Remus" stories with illustrations from Disney's "Song of the South" ( it must have been a Disney book) I absolutely wore that thing out. Too young to detect the inherent racism I now see (and a child of the Jim Crow South, unfortunately), I was enchanted by the art and the characters!! I probably got that one around age and 4, so first enjoyed the art then the stories. The characters were actually well developed - of course the language was simplified from the early 20th century style but it was obvious who was smart and clever and who was mean and bumbling, easily duped by a smart clever critter. Since these characterizations have stuck with me for 60+ years, they must have been done well. In a way the racism in this work can provide a good compare and contrast lesson (have I just thrown a term paper topic to someone??? If so, run with it, my term paper days are long gone)

Grimm's Fairy Tales and some Andersen but Andersen's were so depressing!!!!!
I read Black Beauty and cried. To this day, animal books and movies are off my list. If one is recommended to me I ask if the animal dies; if the answer is no then I will read/watch it.

[Polly Hennessey]

80. Absolutely, will not read or watch a movie where an animal suffers or dies.Bambi

Bambi and Old Yeller did it for me.

[Thor_MN]

73. Science Fiction that actually had science in them

So much of what is considered Science Fiction today is more Fantasy than science.

[TeapotInATempest]

74. I love this thread, thanks for starting it

Nancy Drew
Trixie Belden
The Black Stallion
The Borrowers
Stuart Little

[TlalocW]

81. Early on, first through third

I remember reading all the Little House on the Prairie Books one winter when I was sick. The Ramona and Beatrice and Henry Huggins books by Beverly Cleary.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge.

The Girl with the Silver Eyes, which was about a girl with telekinetic powers searching out other kids like her. Not to spoil it, but the ending has her finding four or five other kids, and a government agent assigned telling them about a special school for them to help them learn about their powers and be themselves and how the kids are gung-ho about going there. As a third-grader, it was a happy ending but looking at it as an adult, I'm all like, "The government is gonna weaponize those poor kids."

I loved the Henry Reed books about a nerdy young man visiting his aunt and uncle over the summers in New Jersey and meeting a local girl named Midge. One summer they start a "Research Company" inspired by real ones in a nearby city. Next year, they run a baby-sitting service. And in another Henry goes on a cross-country car trip with Midge and her family. The plots took place in the 1950s, but they seemed timeless in that the plots could fit into my small town as well.

TlalocW

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

82. Charlotte's Web, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden,

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, The Elephant's Child (the last 2 are Kipling stories, not whole books), The Borrowers, Vikings' Dawn, the Betsy & Tacy books, Black Beauty. And a bunch of Little Golden Books - these have been reprinted and I saw them in a store recently; had a total flashback when I saw The Color Kittens which was my favorite. When I was about 10 I got scarlet fever and had to stay home for a couple weeks so my teacher had my mom get some books for me. One of them was Brave New World, maybe a weird thing to assign for a 10-year-old, but I was fascinated by it.

[bbrady42]

83. Encyclopedia Brown, The Mad Scientists Club

I never actually solved any Encyclopedia Brown mysteries. I'd immediately go to the answer in the back of the book. But I loved them anyway.

[Iggo]

85. A prose version of The Iliad.

I was a strange boy.

[MaryMagdaline]

93. That's a classic for a reason*great story!

[Va Lefty]

86. "The Wind in the Willows"

[TeapotInATempest]

89. Ooh, I forgot about that one

I remember enjoying it quite a bit.

[riverwalker]

90. Yes I Can. Sammy Davis Jr. autobiography

I was a weird kid, but read it three times.

[pandr32]

92. Chronicles of Narnia

All the classic books of fairy tales. I had old hardcover versions that had belonged to my grandparents. They were scary and wonderful.
Treasure Island
The Red Pony
Lord of the Flies
Just off the top of my head.

[Ohiya]

99. Mr. Poppers Penguins

This was the book that made me excited about reading and I've been obsessed ever since.

[samnsara]

101. Lad: A Dog....

...also The Thyme Garden...

[appleannie1943]

102. Nancy Drew series and The Boxcar Children

[LisaM]

103. Betsy-Tacy, the "Shoe" books, the Little House books, Elizabeth Enright and Edward Eager

Books like "Half-Magic" and "The Four-Story Mistake", "Gone-Away Lake".

I loved "A Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden", and many of the E. Nesbit books.

I kind of liked books like Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, the Box Car children, and even the Five Little Peppers, but I think I realized the difference even then between the kind of syndicated books and those that had more interesting character development. I liked that Nancy drove a convertible and had a housekeeper, but I couldn't say that I ever pretended to be her.

[MaryMagdaline]

106. Loved the Four Story Mistake and all Elizabeth Enright; loved the Secret Garden

[LisaM]

109. Elizabeth Enright was Frank Lloyd Wright's niece.

For some reason, that fascinates me.

[MaryMagdaline]

114. I did not know this!

My sister and I wrote a letter to her when we were about 10 (me) and 9 (sister). Her publishing company wrote back, stating that she had died and they were glad that we enjoyed her books.

[LisaM]

117. In the last Melendy book, "Spiderweb for Two" (I won't spoil it for you if you haven't read it)

Last edited Mon Dec 11, 2017, 09:22 PM - Edit history (1)

I think there is a Frank Lloyd Wright house - or a house like one of his - referenced!

[MaryMagdaline]

122. cool!

[Rhiannon12866]

150. Yes! I struggled to remember, had to look them up! I read the Betsy-Tacy books!

And I also read the Little House books - except the last one. For some reason, I was afraid it would be depressing. We had a summer reading program at the local library when I was a kid and my mother took my brother and me to get new books every week.

[Brother Buzz]

105. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

[smirkymonkey]

177. Yes, I loved that book too when I was in first or second grade.

I remember that there was a reading of the book at our local library (after I had read it) and I was so excited I could barely contain myself!

[Brother Buzz]

186. Owning a steam shovel was the first item on my bucket list

The steam roller didn't make the list until my late teens, just about the time Buffalo Springfield's - For What It's Worth splashed

[TBA]

107. The Boxcar Children

I hated reading when a thoughtful teacher took me to the library and handed me The Boxcar Children. I've loved reading ever sense. Just bought it on Audible and listened to with my grandson on a trip.

[SeattleVet]

108. The "Danny Dunn" science series...

couldn't get enough of them. Our school library had a good collection, and the city library had most of the rest.

[Codeine]

143. Those were great.

And there was a history series for young readers called "We Were There" that was written in the fifties but which I devoured when I found them in our elementary school library in first grade.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Were_There

[sl8]

185. +1

I haven't thought about them in over 40 years & probably woudn't have, if you hadn't mentioned them.

[Ron Obvious]

113. Enid Blyton

Famous Five, The Five Findouters. Devoured them as a kid, but unreadable now as an adult.

I wondered if "The Boxcar Children", mentioned several times, was what I knew as "The Railway Children", but apparently not -- different author.

For a children's book that DOES hold up to adult re-reading (and also qualifies as real Science Fiction IMO), I offer The White Mountains, aka The Tripods, by John Christopher.

By about age 12, I had graduated to Agatha Christie and PG Wodehouse.

[Binkie The Clown]

116. Mr. Wizard's Science Secrets. Anything by Herbert Zim.

Mr., Wizard
Herbert Zim

[lunatica]

119. when I was a younger child it was Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web.

[smirkymonkey]

180. I loved those books too! I wasn't a very happy child so I always used to fantasize that I was an

animal (I know that's weird, but it was comforting to me). Those books were just pure escapism to me.

[lunatica]

197. I did too

Being Stuart Little's size seemed so neat! I loved the idea!

[Lunabell]

120. Mrs. Pigglewiggle and The Henry Huggins series.

[Paladin]

123. The Freddy The Pig books, by Walter Brooks.

I devoured them back when I was in elementary school. I understand they're back in print for the first time since the 60's, so my grandkids will get a chance to enjoy them, as well.

[happy feet]

124. Bought for a nickel each from the 5 and dime store (Woolworths)

Little Women
Heidi
National Velvet
Black Beauty

[sl8]

125. A Wrinkle in Time, ...

My Side of the Mountain


Stranger From the Depths


The Tripod Trilogy


Anything by Jim Kjelgaard


The Black Stallion



and almost anything else I could get my hands on.

[TexasBushwhacker]

134. A Wrinkle in Time is my choice too

I feel like I should read it again before the movie comes out this month.

[kmla]

184. Wow. I had completely forgotten about Stranger from the Depths! Loved that book.

If you read those, you might remember this one...

[sl8]

187. I don't remember that one, but it sure sounds like it would've been right up my alley. n/t

[kmla]

188. A compilation of stories from the same author as the Encyclopedia Brown books.

Good bathroom length stories. 😀

[sl8]

190. Sorry I missed it.

Certainly remember Encyclopedia Brown. We used to drive our teacher nuts, asking him to read one of his stories to the class.

[lkinwi]

126. The Five Little Peppers, The Bobbsey Twins

When I was very little, I loved a story called A Dangerous Day for Mrs. Doodlepunk.

[RandomAccess]

148. I wondered if anyone would mention the Bobbsey Twins

I can't say they were "my favorite" but I definitely read them.

[sl8]

167. Do you remember the name of the bully?

Or, how did Bert & Nan make the trip to the winter camp?

[northoftheborder]

127. From age 7-12:

Princess fairy tales, Wizard of Oz series, Nancy Drew, Daddy Longlegs, Secret Garden, Dr. Doolittle, Little Women and all Louisa Mae Alcott books.

[The Blue Flower]

128. Many

Beverly Cleary's books; Dr. Seuss (Bartholomew Cubbins, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street); Nancy Drew;, Just So Stories, The Red, Yellow and Blue Fairy Tale books among others.

[Deb]

129. Encyclopedia Britanicals

The only books available to me outside of school. I gained a love for resource material.

[smirkymonkey]

181. Hah! I used to read Encyclopedias as well! I thought I was such a nerd.

I remember I was reading them one day in my room and my mother sent a friend up and she caught me reading one and started laughing at me because it was the nerdiest thing you could do and I begged her not to tell anybody. But I spent hours reading them. I still spend hours on Wikipedia looking things up and following the links. Sometimes I forget what I was originally looking up in the first place.

[Sophia4]

130. The Little Train That Could

Bambi
Pollyanna (unbelievable, but I loved it then)

I was given books to improve my character and my performance at school. Did it work? You'll have to ask my family.

[tanyev]

140. Susan Coopers The Dark is Rising series.

Still reread the one titled The Dark is Rising every year for winter solstice. About time to get it out again. The movie adaptation of it, The Seeker, was such a disappointment.

[JenniferJuniper]

141. A Wrinkle In Time. Anne of Green Gables. The Borrowers.

[Codeine]

142. The Hardy Boys and - weirdly - Starship Troopers.

The first makes total sense but I first read Troopers at about seven years old and then just re-read the damned thing endlessly.

I was an odd child, in retrospect.

[Kirk Lover]

145. Beverly Cleary. The Ramona books

[Fla Dem]

149. Nancy Drew and Grimms Fairy Tales. Also read all my brothers Hardy Boys books.

[Kablooie]

151. If you mean a freshman in high school....

I found a copy of The Story of O in a field.

Probably wasn't my favorite but I sure liked it a lot back then.

[chillfactor]

152. Nancy Drew...

and the Hardy Boys....and at 76 I am STILL a mystery reader.

[bobbieinok]

153. Janet Lambert books, Eight Cousins, Roy Blakely Books, Marjorie Maynard books, Freckles

[geardaddy]

162. Bread and Jam for Frances.

Harold and the Purple Crayon


The Pants with No one Inside Them:

[sakabatou]

166. Animorphs

[sl8]

169. Harold and the Purple Crayon

[tblue37]

176. All of them. I am a reading addict. Always have been. nt

[tblue37]

178. "Heidi" when I was very young. The Black Stallion series in third grade. nt

[smirkymonkey]

182. Tons of them, my father always bought me tons of books and started reading to me when I was three,

but some of my favorites were Amelia Bedelia when I was very young (I have mentioned others above), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn when I was in 6th Grade, The Catcher in the Rye when I was in 8th grade and many others that I can't think of right now (I am getting sleepy).

Thanks for this thread, it has made me happy to remember these books and how much pleasure they gave me.

[MaryMagdaline]

192. Me, too

talking books plus the Doug Jones win has cheared me up.

[smirkymonkey]

194. Yes! Thank you for this thread!

It has made me happy, on top of the Doug Jones victory. I have forgotten how much I had loved reading when I was young. I still do, but I am so distracted by other forms of media, I don't pick up books as much. I think I need to get back into that. I still read a lot of non-fiction, but I think it might be nice to escape back into literature again for a while.

[MaryMagdaline]

195. Welcome. Same here

[Neema]

183. A Wrinkle in Time, Where the Red Fern Grows, Chronicles of Narnia, anything from E.B. White, Laura

Ingalls Wilder, Nancy Drew...I was a voracious reader as a child. In recent years I've not been and I hat that.

[sl8]

191. Troy Nesbit stories.

I remember reading:

[Generic Brad]

193. The Goops

There were good Goops and bad Goops. I wanted nothing more than to be a good Goop.

[NNadir]

196. Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles" and Michener's "The Source."

Also the Golden Book Encyclopedias. Read the entire series, end to end, all during my childhood.

[IrishEyes]

198. Trixie Belden

I had a bunch of old books of that series when I was a kid. I had a lot of books as I do now. I loved Anne of Green Gables and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

[Wolf Frankula]

199. A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle.

Wolf