Favorite book as a kid?

[Puddle Jumper]

What was your absolute favorite book when you were a kid?

Mine was "A Wrinkle In Time" by Madeline L'Engle. I was so excited about this book that when I went to write my book report for my teacher, I made a special decorated booklet for it out of construction paper and paid money to the librarian to laminate it.

[Dawno]

I liked that one as well and read it to my children when they were younger. It's been so long since I was a kid I confess to not remembering what my favorite book was but I do remember the book that started a life long love of science fiction in 2nd grade, Silverberg's Lost Race of Mars from Scholastic Books.

[SJB]

Cool topic! :)

When I was a toddler, it was any of the Little Golden Books- especially "Three Little Kittens" and "The Pokey Little Puppy."

Then Enid Blyton's "The Magic Faraway Tree" and Rudyard Kipling's "Puck of Pook's Hill" were my favourites once I was a big girl of 6 or 7.

Don't read any Blyton anymore, but Rudyard Kipling remains my author of choice!

[sthrnwriter]

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margaret Williams and the Dr. Seuss books were all my favs when i was a kid.

[lucyishome]

As a younger child I loved The Little Golden Books. As I got older I enjoyed anything by Judy Blume or Beverly Cleary. Funny as now my oldest daughter is 11 and sometimes I will read her books by Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary just to relive some of my childhood. As for my youngest she is not quite 2 and I get to read the little Golden Books all over again. It is so much fun.

Anne

[MacAllister]

Half Magic, Edgar Eager

and there was another one, with a bunch of kids at their grandparents' farm, and they find a treasure map, and have to follow clues...but I don't for the life of me remember the title.

*sigh*

Must have read that book ten times

[Chacounne]

"Little Women", by Louisa May Alcott, holds a special place in my heart, since my mom read it to me, while I was recovering from eye surgery, when I was nine.

I also vividly remember discovering that there were more books in the "Wizard of Oz" series, when I found "The Land of Oz", in Shorey's Books, in Seattle, when I was 11 or 12.

Mary Grannan's books, including the "Just Mary Stories" and the "Maggie Muggins" series hold very fond memories. In fact, one of my very dearest friends even calls me Maggie Muggins :)

Of course, there was also "Anne of Green Gables" and the sequels, as well as Charlotte's Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and all of Enid Blyton's work.

Dad was a writer, and Mom was a teacher, so the house was filled with books. Now my problem is finding space for more bookcases, because I'm running out of room :)

Chacounne

[Birol]

I have to choose just one????

[Kudra]

Undoubtedly "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis. I could still pick that book today and wouldn't be seen outside my room till I'd finished it.

[Inspired]

Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson.

I adore her work.

[triceretops]

The Yearling and Toby Tyler. In my twenties discovered reading again--Virgin Planet (Poul Anderson) and Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster.

Triceratops

[arrowqueen]

'Little Women' for me too. (And Anna Sewell's 'Black Beauty') Nothng like lying in your bed having a good sniffle as one of the characters snuffed it!

Cheers,
aq

[kschwitter]

Mine was anything by Judy Blume, though I do remember the Richard Scarry books, with all those little worms and kitty cats. :D

[CindyBidar]

When I was really young, it was Scuttle the Stowaway Mouse. I still have that book. :)

When I was older, my favorite was My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.

And Judy Blume! I loved all her young adult stuff, and when I was 13 my sister gave me Wifey, because she thought I "should know about that stuff." Boy was dad p.o.'d about that!

Cindy (who doesn't write for children, and had to butt in anyway)

[Betty W01]

Mine was A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I loved it so much that during one move to another city (one of many), I checked it out from the library and packed it, just in case the next library didn't have a copy! (I did return it later.) One of my personal treasures now is a copy of this book, with a lovely cover and illustrations, that belonged to my late DD#1. And when I'm kind of down, or have the sniffles, I can still find comfort in its pages.


http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/7/7_1_120.gif

It just occured to me that this might explain my title, too. I'm a big girl now, so I no longer want to be a princess. I'm EMPRESS of the CYBERWORLD now!! <insert evil laugh soundtrack here>

[MacAllister]

Jacob Have I Loved was a beautiful book! Inspiration, I'd forgotten all about it.

Wow. I was a lucky kid, too. Our house was full of books because my mother was deeply committed to having literate children. She gave the TV away when we started school. Heh.

I'm recognizing a lot of old friends among those titles, ya'll.

[William Haskins]

queenie peavy

[CaoPaux]

Anything by Dr. Seuss or Richard Scarry, The Phantom Tollbooth, and many books of assorted fairy tales.

[Puddle Jumper]

I had so many books when I was a kid. I loved those Little Golden Books, also Dr. Seuss. Those were more when I was very young. I also loved reading the Berenstein Bears books at my school's library. I probably read "A Wrinkle in Time" when I was 8 or 9.

Birol - no, you can pick as many as you like. :)

My mom had me reading Nancy Drew and the Bobbsy Twins. When I was 11 I got hooked on the Sweet Valley Twins series. (Not sure the correct spelling for Bobbsy.)

[rhymegirl]

Well, it's not a famous book. It was called, Kathy and the Dollbuggy. I was really into dolls and my name was in the title. Guess that's why.

Uh oh. Maybe this shows how old I am. Ha ha ha.

[espz]

Surprised no one mentioned Lloyd Alexander's Prydain chronicles! I'd also throw in Roald Dahl as a huge influence.

[stormie]

The Little House and Big Susan. Great picture books, though I think Big Susan is hard to find these days.

[maestrowork]

Lolita, illustrated.

No seriously, I remember a Winnie the Pooh book I loved very much... but sad to say, I didn't read that much when I was a kid. I grew up with TV and movies, and I read comic books.

[bikrpreacher]

LOL, all you young people, my favorite book was The Polky Little Puppy which looked much like the puppy above! LOL maestrowork!

[debraji]

HARRIET THE SPY.

I kept a spy notebook, just like Harriet.

Also, THE HOBBIT, which I read so many times you could quote a sentence and I could tell you what chapter it was in.

[Kida Adelyne]

I loved the Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, and Charlotts Web. (Charlotts Web was the first novel I read by myself, after several years of it being my favorite bedtime story)

[Betty W01]

I also loved Andrew Lang's collections of fairy tales that were named various colors. In fact, I currently have The Red Fairy Tale Book (exact title?) on my PDA, for reading when stuck somewhere (free time and no book to read? Horrors!)

:Fairydust

[KellyS.]

What was your absolute favorite book when you were a kid?

Mine was "A Wrinkle In Time" by Madeline L'Engle. I was so excited about this book that when I went to write my book report for my teacher, I made a special decorated booklet for it out of construction paper and paid money to the librarian to laminate it.


Definitely "A Wrinkle in Time", but also "The Watcher in the Woods". I read "Audrey Rose" when I was 11 and really liked that. Yes I know, strange child. Doesn't say anything about me now though....really. ;)

[stunner1]

How about good ol' Ramona Quimby and her sister Beazus? I read the entire series! As a preschool teacher my favorite was Tacky the Penguin!

[SheliaRudesill]

I must be way older than the rest of you. When I was just learning to read my mom bought me a series of "Honey Bunch" books, stories about a sweet little girl. I remember loving them. In grade school I read a book about children of migrant workers about a hundred times. Can't remember the title, but from then on in my reading and writing I've stuck close to overcoming unreasonable hardships.

I tried to read The Hobbit when I was in my 20's. Finally got through it. Can't imagine reading it as a child!

[srwpnh]

Anne of Green Gables is a classic...but the one book I couldn't put down was the Secret of Nymth. I checked it out of the school library so many times the lovely librarian gave me the book at the end of the year.

[BlueTexas]

I loved The Little Princess. I read a lot of Judy Blume books purchased by my parents. And then Grandpa gave me a copy of Firestarter, and well, I got hooked on scared at 11 years old. I still haven't read The Hobbit...

[sassandgroove]

Wow. I read so many. The first book I read by myself was The Monster at the End of This Book starring loveable furry Grover.

Then there was Judy Blume, who I grew up with so couldn't pick one. In Jr. High, I read 1-42 of Sweet Valley High in order. Though I dropped the series, as she kept intoducing new characters when I wanted more of the old, I did continue to read the special editions and sagas. (Dare I admit into my adulthood?) In high school I discovered Marion Zimmer Bradley. I became so involved in the Firebrand and The Mists of Avalon that I would dream about them, and felt like I had to say goodbye to friends when the books ended.

I am sure I am missing something. Romona, by Beverly Clearyfor example. The Narnia books, of course. My parents and I read those outloud to each other. And The Wind in the Willows, too.

[shugar]

The first book I recall was Where the Wild Things Are, I was so fascinated by the artwork. It was a library book and I hated having to give it back. Next ones were along the lines of Call of the Wild, King of the Wind, Black Beauty, Bless the Beasts and the Children. And the haunting Beautiful Joe. I didn't seem to read much of anything but animal stories.

At some point, thankfully I found King:scared:

[tjwriter]

I read and reread the Boxcar Children series when I was younger. Those were some of my favorites. Then again, I read whatever I could get my hands on.

[Betty W01]

I remember reading The Monster at the End of This Book to my kids! We loved that book! We also read a lot of Seuss. In fact, we read Dr. Seuss' ABC, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and Hand Hand Finger Thumb (by Perkins, I think) so often some of us can still recite chunks from memory. Nobody could use and abuse language like good old Dr. Seuss!

[Moondancer]

I have to choose just one????

My sentiments exactly... I read such a wide range of books when I was a kid it would be hard to pick a single book... I read anything from Dr. Suess to Greek Mythology and Shakespeare. Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Brer Rabbit... Iliad and the Odyssey... whatever I could get my hands on growing up in an isolated rural community.

[cwgranny]

The Secret Garden was my favorite book as a little girl. My second grade teacher was reading it to us a few pages at a time. Then we moved and I had to read the rest by myself. It was challenging but I loved it. I also loved Sherlock Holmes and read all of those books one after another in fourth grade.

We also had a big tattered book of fairy tales and that was a great favorite. I loved the magic and possibilities in fairy tales.

gran

[triceretops]

Born Free--had a terrible crush on Joy.

Triceratops

[katiemac]

Oh, wow! Harriet the Spy! I think I tried to wipe that out of my memory after Nickelodeon made a movie out it... but that is a fantastic book.

But let's see... I loved that one, the Princess Bride. I read quite a bit of Lois Duncan and for awhile I got stuck in a rut of novels about teenage girls who had leukemia or another kind of cancer. Depresssing, actually, but that's what I read.

When I was in about the third of fourth grade, I loved (and do this very day, I read it at least once a year) the Wainscott Weasel and it will always have a place in my heart! (:

[paprikapink]

Most of my faves have turned up in this list (Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Black Beauty, all the Beverly Clearys and Judy Blume and so on). One I haven't seen mentioned yet that is in the same class is Island of the Blue Dolpins by Scot O'Dell.

And one that was nowhere near the same class but I loved it is Mara, Daughter of the Nile. I saw it in a bookstore recently and snatched it up for my daughter to read in a couple of years. I read it first, just for fun -- Ugh, it has not aged well. And full of mushy stuff. I can't believe I liked it so much. My daughter would be repulsed! :faint:

-pkpk

[Kate StAmour]

The Three Investigators: An Alfred Hitchcock Series (by various authors), Trixie Belden, To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, The Little Raccoon, and Who's a Pest. Fairy tales? We don’t need no stinkin’ fairy tales. (Can you tell I am procrastinating on project?)

[Kate StAmour]

What was your absolute favorite book when you were a kid?

Mine was "A Wrinkle In Time" by Madeline L'Engle. I was so excited about this book that when I went to write my book report for my teacher, I made a special decorated booklet for it out of construction paper and paid money to the librarian to laminate it.

Ooooo! I forgot to mention it. Definitely one of my all- time childhood favorites.

[WhisperingBard]

Trixie Belden

Kate, OMG, I hadn't thought about those books in years! My sister had them and I used to steal them from her room so I could read them. (Yeah, that was me, Kid Klepto, lol...but only where books were concerned.)

And I was a highly sensitive child (still am, but don't tell anybody) so while I liked stories like Old Yeller and Black Beauty, I couldn't read them often. They upset me for weeks afterwards. :cry:

[WhisperingBard]

Born Free--had a terrible crush on Joy.

LOL, Tri, introducing a little lust into the conversation, are you?

[muscort]

My favorite children's book was My Side of the Mountain.

[Chacounne]

Well, if you're going to include Trixie Beldon (and why not :), then you need to add Cherry Ames (or was it Cherrie? It's been waaaaay too long.)

"Monster at the End of the Book"; that brings back memories. I heard somewhere that it was put out of print for while, because it was too scary :) . Fortunately, wiser heads seem to have prevailed, because I found a brand new copy at The Book Warehouse last year.

Happy Reading,
Chacounne

[Tilda]

.

[Kabookie]

Half Magic, Edgar Eager

and there was another one, with a bunch of kids at their grandparents' farm, and they find a treasure map, and have to follow clues...but I don't for the life of me remember the title.

*sigh*

Must have read that book ten times


You are referring to Key To The Treasure by Peggy Parrish. That, along with Clues In The Woods were my favorites, and I have shared them with my 5 sons. They're now quite the family favorite, and hope they will be to my future grandchildren. We got them through the Weekly Reader Book Club. (My sisters and I made our own clues, codes, and treasures after first reading these!)

What a super topic for my first visit to this site! After reading your post, I had to join so I could tell you the name of this book!

Now that I'm older, I have a fondness for my old "Mrs. Polifax" stories, lol! (I wanna be useful!)

Thanks for letting me share my first post here in this forum!

Kabookie

[Melina]

The Secret Garden, The Chronicles of Narnia, and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. The Monster at the End of This Book! I'd forgotten about that one! It was a favorite of mine, too. I'll have to get that one for my baby.

Melina

[didi768]

Three books I distinctly remember:

We don't live here anymore

tugboat

little house series

[MacAllister]

You are referring to Key To The Treasure by Peggy Parrish.

YES!!! That's IT! (off to do a book search, now...)

[awatkins]

I had so many favorite books that I can't remember them all. A few were Heide, The Bobbsey Twins (I was in second grade!), Robin Kane (along the lines of Trixie Belden), The Three Muskateers, Treasure Island, any book that featured horses or dogs, and any type of mystery story. I was terribly shy as a child and reading was my escape. Oh, the places those books took me!!

[KimJo]

My absolute favorite books when I was growing up were A Wrinkle In Time, A Wind at the Door (did I get that right?), and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, all by Madeleine L'Engle. My favorite part was that Meg sounded a lot like me, geeky and not that attractive, but she won in the end, and she got the guy.

[Vipersniper]

;) My favorites were Treasure Island.
Swiss Family Robinson and Grimm's Fairytales. Later I added Tales of An African Grandmother.

[Alphabeter]

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

That was the one that hit home. I knew when I finished it I was going to be a writer too.

My mommy (a former English teacher of 28 years) was very cool. I got to read anything I wanted. I read this when I was about six. After reading this and Harriet the Spy, I was never without a notebook. And I still have them. The boxes of them keep growing-computer viruses can't eat 'em.

[robeiae]

My favorite book as a kid... well, that depends on my age, as my favorites kept changing. But, I have always remembered a series of books very fondly. They were called The Great Brain series by someone named Fitzgerald, I think. They were about a boy and his older brother; the latter claimed to have a "great brain" and the stories were told from the point of view of the former. Very funny, full of little mysteries... I wish I still had them for my kids. What a good idea!! I'll go search them out!

Rob:banana:

[robeiae]

BTW Joy, if writng is like sex and sex is like pizza (when it's good it's really good, when its bad it's still pretty good), then writing must be like pizza!

What could that mean?

Rob:Shrug:

[Cabria]

Every Nancy Drew book that I could read! In fact, I still have the first edition by Carolyn Keene "The Secret of the Old Clock". And comics...I read way too many comics as a kid! There was this friend of my father's who was an avid comic reader and he would bring me garbage bags full of brand new comics that he had read - I was like a kid at Christmas! My best friend and I would split the bag, read them and switch around. "The Rawhide Kid", "Sad Sack", "Batman and Robin", "Little Lotta", "Dot", "The Twilight Zone", "Wendy, the Good Little Witch", "Spooky, the Tuff Little Ghost", "Little Lulu", "Beetle Bailey", and on and on. Any of these bring back memories? They were the best comics ever, back then. Woops....now I'm makin' myself feel way too old!! hehe

Debbie :)

[Andin]

When I was a kid I loved to read The Hobbit, The Outsiders and Spoon River Anthology. I especially loved the Anne of Green Gables series. I loved how L.M. Montgomery wrote.

[Linoge]

R. L. Stine's Goosebumps series.

Originally, I liked them for the raised and textured covers. And then I actually read them; now all I read is horror and suspense. Stephen King, Peter Straub, Chuck Palahniuk, et cetera.

Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia was a really touching book, too.

[Kabookie]

When I was a kid I loved to read The Hobbit, The Outsiders and Spoon River Anthology. I especially loved the Anne of Green Gables series. I loved how L.M. Montgomery wrote.

I was in Jr. High in 71-73. We watched video clips of a PBS reading program in English class. The Outsiders was shown on the same day as The Pigman. Between those two, I chose to read the latter, and never read or saw the former. Last weekend, my 18-year-old son brought me a box of books, and included were The Outsiders and That was Then, This is Now. I cried all through The Outsiders because the boys' ages were comparable to my sons, and I thought Soda was a lot like my middle son, now 21. When my husband saw me crying every time he came into the room, he laughed and told me we'd go rent the movie, which I'd also never seen. Well, the book WAS better! (Did we have any doubt that would be the case? LOL!) As a teen girl, I thought it better to read the "girl's" book, since the other was full of boys fighting, etc. I'm so glad I finally read it! But The Pigman by Paul Zindel (sp?) will always hold a special place in my heart.

On a side note, I just finished The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I've got some cool kids (5 boys!) to give me such good reads, eh?

Have a great day!

lubb, Becky

[Optimus]

Well, I'll go WAY back to when I was a wee laddie and say that my favorite book as a tot was "There's a Monster At the End of This Book!" with Grover from Sesame Street.

[jdkiggins]

I used to read Pokey the Little Puppy to my granddaughter. She loved it.
My favorite books growing up were Black Beauty and the whole 20 volume collection of World's Greatest Literature. I still have them.

Joanne

[mommie4a]

Harold and the Purple Crayon and my father's French version of The Little Prince. He had the book from when he took French in high school or college and his pencil markings remain on the pages. My 11 year old has the book now and I used to love to read it to him, even though I only understand about every 10th word now. I still love Harold - possibly because all three of my kids looked a lot like him until they were at least one.

[jdkiggins]

Oh yes, and the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys collection. Loved them.

Joanne

[didi768]

I remember reading The Monster at the End of This Book to my kids! We loved that book! We also read a lot of Seuss. In fact, we read Dr. Seuss' ABC, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and Hand Hand Finger Thumb (by Perkins, I think) so often some of us can still recite chunks from memory. Nobody could use and abuse language like good old Dr. Seuss!


Oh my gosh, I almost forgot about that book, monster at the end of this book. Mom read it to brother a lot haha.

[sthrnwriter]

Well, I'll go WAY back to when I was a wee laddie and say that my favorite book as a tot was "There's a Monster At the End of This Book!" with Grover from Sesame Street.


aww That was one of my favs also. I had that book for the longest time and ended up giving it away a few years ago for a book drive or somekind of charity thing the Boy scouts were doing. I also read alot of the Babysitter Club books too.

[justagirltoo]

man o man, I had heaps! I used to read all the time.
I especially loved fairytales. Grimms Fairy Tales, I'm ashamed to say, I loved so much that I stole it from the school library. :Ssh: I still have it at home!

I also loved all the Enid Blyton books and read them over and over. I used to love the famous five books, and one called The Secret Island, about some children who were mistreated by their aunt and uncle and ran away to an island where they lived until their parents came back.

I loved Tales of Arabian Nights too, and any fantasy books I could get hold of. In form one and two I read the entire fiction section of our school library and was moving on to biographies and autobiographies when I left for high school.

Much of my childhood was spent lying under the bed reading a book :ROFL:

why under the bed you ask?

so that my mother couldn't find me and make me do chores. :whip:

[DrRita]

Uncle Rhemus and Bre'r Raqbbit. I also loved Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Boxcar Children, Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka. My mom joined a book club for me and I got all the classics, Kim, The Prince and the Pauper, etc. I also wore out a set of The Bobbsey Twins. I still have many of my old books. Whenever we'd get readers in school, I'd read the fairytales (they were in the back) over and over. By the time our class got to those for reading, I practically knew them by heart.

[Roger J Carlson]

One of my favorites was Tales from the Story Hat by Verna Aardema. My mother knew the author (who when to our church) and I still have a signed first edition.

[sthrnwriter]

Anyone read any of the Sweet Valley High series? I read a couple when I was younger.

[scullars]

Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time as well as its sequels. Just came across the last of the books last year. Thought I'd read them all.

[Lady Brick]

My favorite was Roald Dahl's The Witches. That was the book that really got me writing. I wanted to write a sequel, though even when I was 7, I figured I needed to get permission from someone to do something like that.

[LRFarley]

I was thinking about this book earlier today before I saw this thread. Sam and the Firefly. I remember the colors and how the firefly flew around and made pictures. The colors were dark, since it took place at night, and I thought that was very dramatic. It was the first time I'd seen cactus, I think. I wasn't in school yet.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394800060/102-0479731-4187362?v=glance

Bob/lrf

[Fishbowl]

Brian Jacques and his Redwall series (well, the ones that came before The Legend of Luke). They brought me into the fantasy genre permanently. :)

[pconsidine]

I totally remember The Great Brain books. Great combination of place and genre. I also used to read a lot of Encyclopedia Brown stories. But the very first book I remember was a kids book called Thin Arnold. It's probably been out of print since God-know's-when (I saw a copy for sale on e-bay for something like $85).

*sigh*

[Inspired]

Brian Jacques and his Redwall series (well, the ones that came before The Legend of Luke). They brought me into the fantasy genre permanently. :)

Am I the only one who doesn't get into that series? I've tried to read the first book once and listen to the audio tape for a chapter. I just had no interest in continuing.

Maybe it takes to much thinking - I'm looking for more "easy entertainment."

On the other hand, I just got done listening to "Al Capone Does My Shirts" with my daughters (riding back and forth from school.) We all loved it! They are jazzed about Alcatraz!

[Delirium Author]

When I was in kindergarten and first grade, I couldn't get enough of the 'Curious George' series. Then, from fifth grade on into junior high, I was into the four-part 'My Teacher is an Alien' series by Bruce Coville.

'My Teacher is an Alien'
'My Teacher Fried My Brains'
'My Teacher Glows in the Dark'
'My Teacher Flunked the Planet'

I read a few of Coville's other books too. I too read alot of comic books, Spider-Man being my favorite to this day.

www.dahcstudios.com:welcome:
(http://www.dahcstudios.com)

[firehorse]

Harold and the Purple Crayon. Still one of my favorite books, because it reminds me that there are creative solutions to every situation.

Unfortunately, there is no Harold smiley. In its place, I present to you "jumping purple blob thing" :Jump: :Jump: :Jump:

[BuffySquirrel]

When I was young, "The Horse and His Boy" by CS Lewis. As I got older, "Smoky" by Will James.

Spot the connection...

I still have "Smoky". My sister got the Narnia books, however, so I recently replaced "The Horse and His Boy".

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotedeadhorse.gif

[mudflat_marsh_hawk]

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Horton Heard a Who

The Boxcar Children

The Famous Five books by Enid Blyton

Caddie Woodlawn

Harriet the Spy

All the Madeline L'Engel books

An obscure little book called Under Plum Lake -- anybody here ever read it?

[katiebug57]

I'm going to date myself, but my very most favorite books as a kid was split between two: Half Magic and the Kingdom of Carbonelle.

The K of Carb. is about a cat who is king of all cats in the city; I have looked and looked for a copy, gone through searches, etc., but can't find one. If anyone knows where I might locate such a book, please let me know!

Thanks a bunch,
katiebug

[soloset]

Half Magic was a great book! You have no idea how often I wished even half of what I wished for came true back then.

While it's almost impossible to pick, my all-time favorite (by just a little bit over some others) was "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel".

[Anaparenna]

"There's a Monster At the End of This Book!" with Grover from Sesame Street.

Um. That one's still on my nightstand, albeit in the cabinet underneath. Along with Oscar's book from the same series, can't remember the name now.

Where the Wild Things Are

Howard and the Purple Crayon

The one about the cat who wanted to be a fireman.

Stone Soup

The Hundred Penny Box

Stella Luna (which I didn't read until I was an adult, but still love.)

My new favorite: The Alley Cat's Meow (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0152019804/qid=1114046007/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-9904413-4187265). Best quote: "She was my, oh my, oh my..."

[katiebug57]

Soloset--

Re: Half Magic. I often wondered what it would have been like if I could have wished (only twice as much) that I had been born into a different family. I tried to reconcile how I could be me and yet not be me because I wasn't born with the same parents. Crazy!!!

[Chacounne]

The one about the cat who wanted to be a fireman.


That would be Pickles :)

Chacounne

[soloset]

I would have wished I had twice as few siblings, myself!

Although I seem to recall at least one of the kids tried that in the book and it didn't work out so well. :)

[katiebug57]

Soloset--

Yeah, I remember that, too, and that was what prompted some of my thinking along those lines. I mean, how do you figure out how you can be yourself if the yourself you are isn't really you because you're born into another family????

Katiebug

[Anaparenna]

That would be Pickles

Yes! I knew somebody would know that!

[CalicoBean]

So many of my favorites have already been listed!

My all time favorite was Burnett's A Little Princess. A couple that haven't been mentioned & that I loved are the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books by Betty MacDonald and The Swing in the Summerhouse. Anyone remember those? Can't think of the author for the latter off the top of my head. Oh, I also remember loving The Middle Sister. I think it was a Lois Duncan book, but it's been out of print for some time.

[ScottAJohnson]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Peter & Wendy
and
Bunnicula (Yes...I know...)

[Gehanna]

The Ghost of Windy Hill (http://www.whatihaveread.net/biblio/book_0189.html)
Written by Clyde Robert Bulla

Snoopy and the Red Baron (http://www.whatihaveread.net/biblio/book_0571.html)
Written by Charles M. Schulz

[Richard White]

My folks used to pick me up those Whitman 99-cent hardbacks at the grocery store when I was younger. I still have most of the ones that I bought in a box upstairs.

The Brains Benton (http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/brains_benton.html)series by George Wyatt were my absolute favorites. Barclay "Brains" Benton and Jimmy "Operative Three" Carson introduced me to the whole concept of "kid detectives", which then led to the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Robin Kane, Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators.

Of course, these books led me to Sherlock Holmes.

I also loved the Troy Nesbit, esp. the Indian Mummy Mystery, The Forest Fire Mystery and Sand Dune Pony.

Plus, I remember summer vacation when I was 8. I read every copy of the Black Stallion series that the library had. I was checking them out four books at a shot and returning them the next week to get the next set.

(edit: Just remembered a series I used to read at my grandparents house in the summers. The Bobbsey Twins was a very entertaining read back when I was 8-12.)

[imaginelane]

:D Hi! I just posted this same msg. on my own group ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homelearningnews/ ) yesterday, so when I saw this I hadta write.

Reeeedy, OK! (didn't you ever hear a cheerleader?:Cheer: )...

The Golden Books, and anything Snoopy :snoopy: , Sherlock Holmes, Harriet the Spy, The Silver Robin, The Trolley Car Family, The Five Bright Keys, The Five Little Peppers, The Borrowers, The Littles, The Little House books, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Encylopedia Brown, Thomas Alva Edison (I think that's right, it was another detective kid like Encylopedia Brown), The Girl Scout Handbook. Another good youth book is A Room of My Own, but I read it later, and Never Miss a Sunset, Tornado Jones, and Gene Stratton Porter books, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. I also liked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and there was a Barbie book. All of my childhood ones are the old series, not the new rounds. :Soapbox: I've seen some of the newer editions of some stuff, and I don't find it to be nearly as good, but since I am sure those writers would not want to know that, I shall keep them nameless.
Then as a teen there was F. Scott Fitzgerald's books, Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner.

[Pat~]

It'd be hard to pick one favorite, I was and am such a book junkie, but some that immediately come to mind are:

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Any of the Chronicles of Narnia (esp. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), by C.S.Lewis

and the first favorite book I ever had, an obsolete 'Giant' book named Little Ballerina, by Dorothy Grider (1958). (I actually found an identical copy of the book at our local thrift store a few years ago!)

[theinkslinger]

One of my favorites was RASCAL by Sterling North. That book left me with a longing to have a pet racoon, which happened when my kids were in first and second grade. My raccon's name was Arrow. I had her for almost a year. It was a real heart breaker when we released her even though I knew all along I would.

Donna

[DiscoDan]

R. L. Stine's Goosebumps series.

Originally, I liked them for the raised and textured covers. And then I actually read them; now all I read is horror and suspense. Stephen King, Peter Straub, Chuck Palahniuk, et cetera.

Same here, goosebumps was a huge inspiration for me. I read them by the dozen when I was around 9, and even started writing my own goosebump stories at that time. Now I pretty much stick to adult literature, but every now and then I'll read one to revisit old times.

[Lane02]

When I was little, I remember the Frog and Toad books and the Berenstein Bears.

Then I moved on to Judy Blume (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, SuperFudge, etc.) and Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby books.

And as a teenager I read a lot of Sweet Valley High and VC Andrews.

I read so much I probably have a zillion favorites if I thought enough - but these stick out.

Even now as an adult, the books I buy are often "kids" books (Rowling, Tolkien, Stroud, etc.)

[oneidii]

Hmm...better late than never. I was (and am) an animal person. I loved Rascal, The Black Stallion series, My Friend Flicka series, all Marguerite Henry books, other various horse books that never made it past their first printing, and whatever else I could scrounge up, to include the animal encyclopedia that I received as a birthday present. Later on I got into the Heralds of Valdemar (horse aspect, LOL) and everywhere else. I would read anything with writing on it.

I had a raccoon too, named Truman, and an opossum named Ike. That darn Rascal book was so good.

[DJP]

The first book I recall was Where the Wild Things Are, I was so fascinated by the artwork.



I loved that one, too. Now I worry if the pics are too scary for my kids! LOL
I really liked the Babysitter's Club series when I was in junior high.

[GrammarScribe]

Oooh, great topic!

I loved Frances Hogdsden Burnett as a kid--I used to read A Little Princess and The Secret Garden over and over again. Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia was another favorite. And I loved all of Judy Blume, E.B. White, and Roald Dahl's stuff. Ooh, and the Ramona books.

*happy thoughts*

[thistle]

Oh, it's so difficult to pick just one. I remember the Encyclopedia Brown books were the ones that really stimulated my appetite for books.

My favorite from when I was in elementary school: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. What a fabulous mystery!

Other faves from that time: Rascal, Where the Red Fern Grows, Bridge to Tarabithia, My Side of the Mountain and any book my dad had lying around the house...

Now that I have my own kid, I list the Olivia books and the Harry Potter books among my favorites, too.

[IWrite]

Little Bear by Maurice Sendak
The "Betsy" Books by Maud Hart Lovelace
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konisburg
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Anything by Judy Blume or S.E. Hinton

[Roger J Carlson]

It's sad and a little bit frightening to see so many books listen here that didn't even exist when I was a kid. ("Can you say 'old'? Sure you can.")

I mentioned The Story Hat earlier, but my very earliest memory of a book was one called "Kerry". It was a realistic story about the life of a squirrel. In the end, Kerry was killed by a martin, but somehow it was a happy ending anyway.

I wish I could find a copy.

[Unique]

A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle

All Hardy Boys &
Nancy Drew

[PixelFish]

I'm assuming you're looking for favourite children's books? Because I had a lot of favourite children's books, but ironically, when I was really little some of my favourites were Dune and Godel, Escher, and Bach (which I started reading for the pictures, and the for the Achilles-and-Tortoise dialogues, and only later go into for the metaphysics and paradox and recursive dissections)


Favourite kids books:

First, let me applaud those who have already mentioned Narnia, The Westing Game, Anne of Green Gables, etc. etc.

Picture books - Andrew Henry's Meadow
St. George and the Dragon - (I forget who wrote it, but Trina Schart Hyman illustrated it with gorgeous pictures)

Newberry Books - The Witch of Blackbird Pond

YA Fantasy - Tamora Pierce's Lioness Quartet
Robin McKinley's Beauty and her Damar books. (Well, actually MOST of McKinley's works)

[PattiTheWicked]

When I was really small, my absolute favorite book was Higglety Pigglety Pop. A few years ago, my mom found our original copy from my childhood, still in decent condition, and sent it to me. I read it to my kids, and they enjoy it as much as I did. I also am partial to Go Dog Go, because the big dog party in the tree is very cool.

Later, I was big into the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series. I read all of them in one summer. I liked the Little House books too, although by the time I got to them, they were way too easy for me to read.

My biggest problem was that I wasn't really reading children's books for long. I started reading before I was four, had started on the LOTR series by the time I was nine, and read Shakespeare at age ten, so I missed out on a lot of "kids' books," because I was reading things that were geared towards grownups. In looking back, I wish I had actually read more kid-oriented stuff. I'm reliving my childhood now, with my own kids, and I usually get one or two children's books out of the library just for me.

[PattiTheWicked]

My favorite book as a kid... well, that depends on my age, as my favorites kept changing. But, I have always remembered a series of books very fondly. They were called The Great Brain series by someone named Fitzgerald, I think. They were about a boy and his older brother; the latter claimed to have a "great brain" and the stories were told from the point of view of the former. Very funny, full of little mysteries... I wish I still had them for my kids. What a good idea!! I'll go search them out!

Rob:banana:

Oh, man! I loved the Great Brain -- TD and JD! I always thought they were neat because they were illustrated by Mercer Mayer, who I just love. They were always getting in trouble. Remember the one where they finally got indoor plumbing, with the magic water closet?

[chelle21]

I have so many my gosh ok my favorite childhood books was The Secret Garden, A Little Mermaid,oh and I can't get enough of Madaline I've been reading everybody's post but the three children books everybody forgotten to mention is The Carebears, Rainbow Brite and My Little Pony Tails those was my favorite books when I was a child now my 6 year old sister watch and reads the same books I use to read.


http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_14_6.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZNxdm801YYUS)

[Unique]

[QUOTE=PixelFish]

Favourite kids books:


Newberry Books - The Witch of Blackbird Pond

QUOTE]

Ooh, I forgot about that one; I remember it was a goodie. Think I'll check it out next trip to the library. Thank you!

I wish someone could also tell me how they do that 'double' quote thing in a post. (I am such a TechnoNot) (I better stop saying that or my name is going to change.)

[PixelFish]

[QUOTE=PixelFish]

Favourite kids books:


Newberry Books - The Witch of Blackbird Pond

QUOTE]

Ooh, I forgot about that one; I remember it was a goodie. Think I'll check it out next trip to the library. Thank you!

I wish someone could also tell me how they do that 'double' quote thing in a post. (I am such a TechnoNot) (I better stop saying that or my name is going to change.)

Well, hit the quote button when replying...:)

I think yours broke because the close tag is broken. You are missing a [ followed by a /.

[MsRasputina]

Oh, man! I loved the Great Brain -- TD and JD! I always thought they were neat because they were illustrated by Mercer Mayer, who I just love. They were always getting in trouble. Remember the one where they finally got indoor plumbing, with the magic water closet?

Yes! Another Great Brain fan here -- I loved those books. I think I especially liked the one when Tom went to Catholic school for a year and poor JD kept trying to emulate his swindling ways, with dreadful results. Goodness, I haven't thought about those in ages.

I also really enjoyed "Harriet the Spy" and its sequel "The Long Secret." I also liked M.E. Kerr's books when I was a little older, but I had to hide those from my mom. She took a peek at "Is That You, Miss Blue?" and hit the roof when she read a line about the main character being horny.

[Fried From Dixie]

What a great question, it really takes me back. I didn't get into reading until I was eight or nine; the library was far away and trips to the one at school were rare. When I finally moved and the library was in walking distance I found I loved to read. I usually got insomnia during the summer months so I read all night. Mr. Penny's Race Horse was my favorite for some reason. I must have read it twenty times. Later I read mysteries such as the Hardy Boys and then I discovered Emily Loring. While the other girls got their books confiscated (Sweet Savage Love) mine were deemed "clean" enough to keep and I think I read every one the library had by her. I write suspense/ thrillers now!

[Sailor Kenshin]

I had so many! Walter Farley's Black Stallion series, Big Red, The Jungle Books, Heidi, Understood Betsy. I always had a book open.

[eldragon]

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

When a bit older, I read all the Little House on the Prairie books .........

still an avid reader at 41.

[RenaissanceWriter]

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.

If only I had a daughter to pass on the book...

[All Journey]

The Chronicles of Narnia were a definite favorite. I can't tell you how many times Mr. L helped this kid escape through the wardrobe. :)

[JANE007]

Dr. Seuss... Green Eggs & Ham!!!

I even have my daughters nursery handpainted in Dr. Seuss characters, i'm a big fan!!

[Kaya3]

All your choices are so interesting and I love many of the same ones--The Secret Garden, A Wrinkle in Time, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Little Princess, etc.

I'd also add:

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder and The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by (gasp!) Julie Andrews Edwards.

Kelly

[firehorse]

HARRIET THE SPY.

I kept a spy notebook, just like Harriet.

Also, THE HOBBIT, which I read so many times you could quote a sentence and I could tell you what chapter it was in.A woman after my own heart! In high school, my best friend and I wrote notes to each other in Elvish (can you say GEEK? :D)

Also...
-Danny, Champion of the World (Roald Dahl)
-Harold and the Purple Crayon (still love it for what it says about imagination)
-All the Little House on the Prairie books
-any and all horse-related books
-The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (I was a depressed 10-year-old)
-Ferdinand the Bull
-Encyclopedia Brown
-Lots of Greek myths
-Freaky Friday

When I was very, very young, I loved the Ant & Bee series.

I can't recall the title, but a book about a dog that found a glove and thought it made him a king... anyone remember this? It was so sweet (and beautifully illustrated)

This wasn't a favourite, but it had a lasting impact: Who's a Pest? It was kind of an awful little book.

Maurice Sendak and Dr. Seuss scared me (esp. Aaron the Alligator in the Seuss dictionary), but I loved Richard Scarry.

Oy... I'm on a roll now!

[firehorse]

Much of my childhood was spent lying under the bed reading a book :ROFL: When other kids went out for recess, I'd sit under my desk and read (I was about nine); at home, I'd sit in various closets and read. I guess I really wanted a secret fortress and never got one ;).

[brinkett]

Any of The Famous Five books by Enid Blyton (+ other Blyton series). The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew. TinTin.

[GailKavanagh]

I still have many of the books I loved as a child, and reread them over and again. I read The Chronicles of Narnia, Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan and stacks of Enid Blyton stories to my kids (their favorite was The Faraway Tree) and they have passed them on to their own children. My grandson, a great reader, is beginning the Narnia books now. My youngest daughter has inherited my love for the Moomin books of Tove Jansson and I have still have the full collection on my shelves. I remember the pleasure I got from reading The Finn Family Moomintroll and my joy when I discovered there were more Moomin books.
My mother loved Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men and Jo's Boys and passed them on to me, along with What Katy Did, and What Katy Did Next.
Like many little girls growing up in Ireland and England, I was pony mad. I read all the Tamzin and Punchbowl books by Monica Edwards, all Ruby Ferguson's Jill books, anything by the Pullein-Thomspon sisters, Black Beauty, and Walter Farley's The Black Stallion over and again.
Other favorites were books set in boarding schools, like Blyton's Malory Towers, Elsie J Oxenham's Abbey books, and Enid Brent-Dyer's Chalet School series.
These books made me a book lover and collector. It still gives me a thrill to discover an old copy of a childhood favorite.

Gail

[Stephanie Olsen]

I see all of my old favorites here and many more that I'm making note of to read to my kids. Thanks, everybody!

steph

[LieselGarmach]

I loved the Bobbsey Twins books.

At one time, I even had fanfic about them, when I was in elementary school. I threw it away when my mother told me it will wrong to use someone else's characters for my own stories.

[Demonica]

I see so many of my favorite books here: some that came easily to mind, like The Chronicles of Narni and The Hobbit; others, like the Phantom Tollbooth, and The Black Cauldron, I had to be remined of, but were also favorites, and just about every book mentioned with horses or animals in it (Gerald Durrell, who wrote about his animal collecting adventures). Those "girl's classics" like the Little House series always irked me slightly - give me a good nature story where death and loss are played with less sentimentality. One author that many of you may not know because his books are oh so English is Arthur Ransome. He wrote a series called Swallows and Amazons, where the kids are on vacation and allowed to sail around, camp on islands and have all kinds of adventures. I can still reread these with pleasure. Many of them have been reissued in American paperback editions recently.

[rowriter]

All Walter Farley's books
Anything by Shel Silverstein
Ramona by Beverly Cleary
Heavenly Horse of the Outermost West by Mary Stanton (I just saw there's 2 sequels, I must have them!)
Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy
(this was originally a different thread, then i noticed there was already a thread! sorry!)

[Jens22]

My first favorites: Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel and The Three Little Horses by Piet Worm (I still have these, cracked spines, my first scribbles, and all)

A little older: The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs (and my first exposure to Edward Gorey's illustrations)

The Swing in the Summerhouse by Jane Langdon. I finally managed to score a used copy last year, but upon re-reading it, it seemed a bit didactic. There's a cool fantasy scene where Ralph Waldo Emerson hosts a spelling bee though (it's even cooler now that I know who Ralph Waldo Emerson IS).

[Simran]

My favorites that I've read over and over are Little Women and the Anne of Green Gables series. I still have all my original books from when I was around 9 years old. Oh yeah and The Little Yellow Volksey was one of my earlier favorites. It's about a little yellow volkswagon and the family that owns him. Just before my mom died a few years ago she found some one who was selling it (through Yankee magazine I think) and bought it for me. :)

[ricaykw]

I always loved Where the Red Fern Grows.

[rowriter]

I remembered a few books I loved when I was way younger:
"Chester the Little Pony"
and
"The Lonely Doll" by Dare Wright (such great photography images in this book!!!)

[littlemunkiegirl]

I read Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, the Box Car Children series. I loved little golden books, in fact I still own The Pokey Little Puppy and I call my beagle that sometimes because she is Pokey and she's little.

Oh, I LOVED Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher but I can't remember who wrote it. I read a lot of books and I can't think of one that was my ultimate favorite.

[Lady of Prose]

About the age of twelve, I started reading Earle Stanley Gardener's Perry Mason mysteries. I've read them all. What is intriguing about that is that the character building, process of elimination, and antagonist shift taught me to solve most all the mystery movie and novels of today, without knowing the ending. My friends have challenged me on several and it has been fun.

Gardener's style of writing, though a different genre, has influenced my style of writing to an extent.

[Susan Pevensie]

My very favourites, that I still read occasionally, are the Narnia books. I'm just reading the Voyage of the Dawn Treader to my daughter. I also loved Stig of the Dump, Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, anything with horses in - Josephine Pullen? Oh, and Mary Plain! Mary Plain was utterly brilliant and has all but disappeared - a great crime!

S

[September skies]

As a little kid: The Three Little Kittens (they lost their mittons....my, I can still recite it by heart)

I always loved "Are you my mother?"

Later, Ramona the Pest and then all of the Nancy Drew mystery books...I read every single one. Sometimes, one a day. I was an avid reader.

[Grey Malkin]

This has been bugging me, because I just can't remember. I never finished The Fantastic Mr Fox or Flat Stanley. I was more into Meccanno. But the first book I bought would have been when I was eleven: The Eleventh Pan Book of Horror Stories. I didn't read Charlotte's Web until I was sixteen. Can't help feeling something is missing from my childhood, but I can still build a Meccanno train, crane and digger, and I'm a dab hand with flat-pack furniture! :)

[TeddyG]

Tom Swift Series

Martian Series by Burroughs

[Lyra Jean]

Oh me next me next!

Little House on the Prairie series...and anything else by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Anne of Green Gables and I want to read Emily of New Moon
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Berenstien Bears
Helen Keller
Diary of Anne Frank
Anything about Jews in hiding during WWII
The Secret Garden
Mr Moon I had my mom read it to me so much she turned it into a song or so she told me
Curious George
Little Women
Anything by Anne Rinaldi

I think that about covers it...in fact I still read most of these books.
I keep telling everyone I was born 100 years too late but no one believes.
Wishes she was a pioneer.

[Susan Pevensie]

Little House on the Prairie!! I forgot about those, although I remember crying and crying when Jack died!


S

[Lyra Jean]

Little House on the Prairie!! I forgot about those, although I remember crying and crying when Jack died!

I don't like the TV series. They don't even pretend to follow the books. :mad:

[psharmon]

Nancy Drew Series
Hardy Boys
Little House on the Praire (of course)
Charlotte's Web...I still love this book.

[kikazaru]

Addie Pray (later published under "Paper Moon" and the made into the movie Tatum O'Neal won an oscar for)

Baby Island - I loved this one, about 2 sisters (about 11 and 12) who were shipwrecked on an island with several babies.

Samantha's Secret Room by Lyn Cook. - the story of a 12 yo girl (Samantha) and her family whose difficult 90 year old grandmother comes to live with them. It was first published in 1959 but it is still quite contemporary - the secret room refers to hints about a hidden room referenced in an old journal written by another Samantha - a hundred years previous. It is a rather nice story about family, relationships, and a young girl's quest for the secret room.

[alisonbruce]

My youngest daughter has inherited my love for the Moomin books of Tove Jansson and I have still have the full collection on my shelves. I remember the pleasure I got from reading The Finn Family Moomintroll and my joy when I discovered there were more Moomin books.
Gail

When I was in grade five, we had an exchange teacher from New Zealand. He read aloud every afternoon and introduced us to the Moomintrolls, Paddington, and Roald Dahl. The trouble was, he brought these books with him. They were not yet readily available in North America - certainly not in our library. Worse, I had ear problems and was often absent for appointments with my specialist so I was in my mid teens before I finally got to collect and read these books. I've been collecting favourite children's stories ever since.

Meanwhile, as a child, I was reading and re-reading Freddy the Pig, The Thirteenth is Magic, Wind in the Willows, and my all time favourites: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and through the Looking Glass.

[KelseyF]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Berenstein Bears
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Thoroughbred Series

[ANNIE]

Cannonball Simp

[tiny]

My very favorite from my childhood is Frog and Toad are Friends. I remember them so fondly, I even had the audio tapes that read them to me before I could read. Now I have new copies because my youngest reads them.

After that, I remember Little House in the Big Woods and Alice in Wonderland, both of which were purchased for me by my grandmother and I still have.

-chris

[reph]

I can't say I had one favorite. My mother would buy a box of used books at the Salvation Army for a dollar; consequently, many books I read were old. I got imaginatively immersed in The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. It's online now. It turns out to have been published in 1890. I read it again.

The writing is terrible. Omniscient POV, which I know was common in the 19th c. but now just looks amateurish. Saidbookisms; frequent adverbs on dialogue tags. Awkward sentences. Jerky pacing. Sentimentality.

This book was very popular. Even adults liked it. It must, therefore, illustrate the power of storytelling to overshadow bad writing, except that the story doesn't seem so good, either.

[KelseyF]

Re: The Five Little Peppers:
My grandmother has that book in her guest room. My cousins and I used to play school with it when we were over because we liked Little House on the Prairie, and the book looked old. I believe it was my grandmother's favorite book as a child, or perhaps even my great-grandmother's who passed it down.

[flotsamarama]

I depended on a not-very-well-stocked Air Force base library when growing up, and fell in love with Edward Eager's books. I bought several for my kids a few years ago and was disappointed they didn't love them as much as I had.

[emeraldcite]

The Gammage Cup (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009YAR3W/002-0377141-1308850?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance)

[blargh]

Too many to mention, but the ones that come immediately to mind are:

Secret Sea by Robb White
The Phantom Tollbooth
Journey to the Center of the Earth
War of the Worlds
Catcher in the Rye
Wind in the Willows
Alvins Secret Code
Call it Courage
A Wrinkle in Time

I own every one of these books today, and have read each of them at least once in the last five years or so. Still a kid, I guess.
:)

[PrettySpecialGal]

The Narnia series, definitely- oh- and Little House, as well. Both places were so far away from my real life, I just lost myself there.

[Storyteller5]

Anything about Jews in hiding during WWII

Rosemerry, have you read Jane Yolen's Devil's Arithmetic? It's along those lines.


Yeah, I could list dozens of books too. I'm slowly finding some of them for my son now.

What to Do with a Kangaroo (Mercer Mayer)
Where The Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak)
Babar books (Jean de Brunhoff)
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (William Steig)
The Brementown Musicians
Mr Greedy Goes Shopping (Roger Hargreaves)
Judy Blume books

[DenimSoul]

Wow! So many great books. I especially loved Dr. Seuss and still read them when I get down in the dumps. Perks me right up.

Another book I loved way back then and still have on my bookshelf and read about once a year is "Banana Twist" by Florence Parry Heide. This book always cracks me up. I guess I just love to laugh.

[FtnHillsGuy]

S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders" Kept my attention, pretty hard to do at that age.

[blisswriter]

I was/am an escapist. I loved book because they took me away. My favorites were all over the place. I liked the Narnia series, the Wizard of Oz series, Stranger In a Strange Land, and anything by Stephen King.

[SusanR]

Ooooo, wonderful topic.

Like many dreamy, lonely children, I was a reader. I read everything I could get my hands on. But there's no question: my absolute favorite children's book was A WRINKLE IN TIME.

My younger son's favorite book is THE GIVER by Lois Lowry. Even though I read it as an adult (on his recommendation), it's right up there next to Madeline L'Engle's in my lexicon.

SusanR

[Ebelie]

Most of my favourites have already been mentioned, including "Five Little Peppers and How They Grew" and "The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles", which I didn't think other people would have heard of.

The only ones I can't remember any one else mentioning are:
"The Silver Brumby" by I don't remember who, but I have the whole series.
"The Scatterlings" by Isobelle Carmody, and later "The Gathering" and the Obernewton Chronicles, which she may well finish one day if I'm really, really lucky.
"Over Sea, Under Stone" by Susan Cooper.

Of course, my all time most exciting ever book was "The Spy's Notebook". I was sure I was a real spy because I owned it.

[blisswriter]

I remember "The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles"! Golleee, I haven't thought about that book in decades.

Does anyone remember "Because of the Sand Witches There", by Mary Q. Steele?

I also remember a book about a boy named Lewis, an old woman in his neighborhood who was a witch, and something about "Shadows", but I can't recall the name of the book. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Thanks. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

[CaelinPaul]

Favorite Book??? Where the Red Fern Grows....The only book that has ever had me crying like a baby, although the Bridge to terabithia is a close second :) Happy December all.

[Ebelie]

And speaking of December, my favourite Christmas picture book was "Morris's Disappearing Bag" by Rosemary someone.

And now I'm ashamed that I can't remember Rosemary's last name or how to use apostrophes correctly.

[SpAm]

My favorite kid book was the first boxcar children book..(not the mysteries)..and the fairy rebel

[stormie]

Some other favorite books:

Nancy Drew
Hardy Boys
The Singing Hill (illustrated by Maurice Sendak)
The Little House (PB)

[Dhewco]

I must be really strange, because I don't see any nonfiction here. I read biographies and other nonfiction in the third, fourth and fifth grades.

I can remember using my little red flyer wagon and hauling it down to the library. (This was when kids were free to walk all over town and parents weren't afraid someone would snatch them) I'd load it with the likes of John Toland's WWII books, and biographies of Nicholas and Alexandra, as well as Disney's series about famous people in history. I read some fiction, like the Star Trek books, some Jerry Pournelle in the early grades.

I also read Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, and the like, but nonfiction was my main love until about the Sixth Grade, when I turned to books like The Talisman by Straub and King. or The Rockinghorse by William Johnstone. I devoured the horror and scifi genres in the Sixth and most of the seventh. I moved to an even smaller town where the only library was the elementary schools, so my reach was limited.

At this point, I fell in love with a series ya'll haven't mentioned. Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Series.

High school wasn't a good experience for me, so I escaped by reading everything I could get my hands on. From VC Andrews to Star Trek to The Robe to biographes of presidents.


David

[emerald dragonfly]

The first book I ever read by myself (age 4) was "Harold and the Purple Crayon." Then as I got older, "Alice in Wonderlad." I always wanted to be Alice and runaway from everyone.
Today, I LOVE John Saul books..I have all his books and enjoy reading them more than once.