Favorite childhood books

[Wicked-N-Erotic]

I'm sure everyone has a book or two that they've read as a child that has stuck with them through the years for one reason or another. What ones made an impression on you?


Here are mine

Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Where The Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up and Light In The Attic by Shell Silverstein

Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - this one was one I read as a young teen and loved it

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - also read as a young teen

The Red Badge Of Courage by Eric J. Gislason

Later I fell in love with the likes of Stephen King, Koontz and Barker. Horror books are my favorite.


I fell in love with reading very young and could go on all day with a list as long as my arm, so I'll stop here and maybe I'll see some books from you all that I've read too. Or maybe even some that I could get for my kids. Of the first six I listed I have gotten all but Mouse Soup so far for my kids and they have loved them.

Wicked

 

[Guest]

From an older generation:

Stories by The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson.
Also Beatrix Potter, and encyclopedias. Never 'got' Nancy Drew.

Oh, and Little Lulu comics!

Perdita

 

[Wantonica]

I loved Shel Silverstein, the Boxcar Children series, also the Raggedy Ann and Andy books, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys... (definitely not in that order). My ultimate favorite was The Princess and the Goblin. Uncle Remus intrigued me, if only for the interesting language portrayal. Okay, I'm on a roll now, Wicked... Judy Blume, Ray Bradbury, a book about rabbits (Watership Downs, I believe); I grew up without a television, and read, read, read. Annie of Green Gables, The Secret Garden... you are bringing back memories. Thanks!

Hugs,
Wantonica

 

[Dirty Slut]

See Jane Run...

See Jane run from spot... Oh chit, not dogs again. LOL In truth I was a Dr. Zeus fan, then a George Orwell groupie, and would have flaunted myself at Ray Bradberry before Gene Roddenberry found his way onto my TV. I love those old star trek shows with the cute mini skirts, and skimpy outfits for the women. Of course Herman Melvile is nothing to sneeze at either. Don't ya just love the mine is bigger than yours metaphore of it all? I had a real thing for Archie comics at around 13, before my first love.

DS

 

[Wicked-N-Erotic]

Oh how could I have forgotten Judy Blume, I loved her and yes it was Watership Down, another very good one. I believe my fav Blume book was Freckle Juice.

 

[M.A.Thompson]

All time, hands down favorite...

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

I now read it to my children and it is still just as wonderful.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

One of the things I love about teaching hte younger grades is that I get to revisit childrens lit

The Lion the witch and the wardrobe
From the mixed up files of mrs basil e frankweiler
The babysitters club
Shel Silverstein
Jack Prelutsky
Tamora Pierce
Dr Seuss

New to me but I love them...
The Magic Treehouse
Harry Potter
Junie B Jones
Flat Stanley

 

[jfinn]

Loved Nancy Drew, also Trixie Belden (out of print now, rats)and I belonged to The Happy Holister's Book of the Month Club until I read everything they had. The Little Princess and The Secret Garden were favorites and I wore out my copy of The Velveteen Rabbit. Sherlock Holmes was a biggie, but I got over that. Hated The Wind in the Willows, Badger and Toad bored me to tears. Cryed at Charlotte's Web too, but that was more because it ended than anything else. Stuart Little was okay, but not as good.

My all time absolute, no shit this was the best, favorite was Frog, The Horse That Knew No Master. It was written by a retired calvary officer about a real horse he found when he was stationed at the Panama Canal after WWI. The horse had been labled a killer and this was a chronical of how he turned him around. Great stuff for a horse crazy kid. It's impossible to find now. I wish I still had my copy for my equally equine obsessed niece.

Jayne

 

[Dirty Slut]

I love horses...

And not the way that pervert sending that feedback thinks either. LOL

DS

 

[The_old_man]

The only ones I remember were:

U-boats by Lowell Thomas,
Sea Adler by Lowell Thomas,
I Married Adventure by Osa Johnson.

I read many others but they are not remembered.

 

[Jenny _S]

Re: See Jane Run...

See Jane run from spot... Oh chit, not dogs again. LOL In truth I was a Dr. Zeus fan, then a George Orwell groupie, and would have flaunted myself at Ray Bradberry before Gene Roddenberry found his way onto my TV. I love those old star trek shows with the cute mini skirts, and skimpy outfits for the women. Of course Herman Melvile is nothing to sneeze at either. Don't ya just love the mine is bigger than yours metaphore of it all? I had a real thing for Archie comics at around 13, before my first love.

DS

The book was called "At Play".... See Dick. See Jane. See Dick dick'n Jane. See Spot. See Spot humping Dick's leg. Run, Spot. Run. etc...

Ummm... Tom Swift. (Does that date me?)

 

[English Lady]

OK well i read Lots as a kid!

i Loved Roald Dahl especially the BFG!

C.S lewis's seies of books lion the witch and the wardrobe(the last battle being my fave of the series)

Lloyd Alexanders Book of three and that whole series..I loved Gurgi!

Meg and mog books!

Beatrix Potter ...

grimm tales...

Terry Pratchett's Truckers and Johnny and the dead and only you can save mankind

The famous five but especially the secret seven by Enid Blyton.

Books like Jane Ayre and Wuthering heights...

I loved the depford mice trilogy too but i can't remeber who they were by!

i will probably come back with more later*L*

 

[Dirty Slut]

My all time bed time story as a child was...

Peter Pan of course, and my mom couldn't read it too often as far as I was concerned. LOL

DS

 

[oggbashan]

Different Age

Arthur Ransome: Swallows and Amazons
John Buchan: Thirty-Nine Steps
Rider Haggard: King Solomon's Mines
R L Stevenson: Treasure Island
Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist
Fenimore Cooper: Last of the Mohicans
Mark Twain: Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Yankee at King Arthur's Court
Rudyard Kipling: Just So Stories, Jungle Book, Rewards and Fairies, Puck of Pook's Hill, Kim
Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe
W E Johns: Biggles
Baden-Powell: Scouting for Boys
Eagle Comic with Dan Dare and MacDonald Hastings
Ian Fleming: James Bond series
Bernard Shaw's Plays especially Arms and the Man and Major Barbara.
National Geographic for the bare breasted natives, the ubiquitous red shirts and the adverts for consumer goods we never saw such as refridgerators.
Henty
Frank Richards: Greyfriars
Sapper: Bulldog Drummond
Jeffrey Farnol
Asimov: Foundation trilogy
Leslie Charteris: Saint
Charles Kingsley: Heroes
Iliad
Odyssey
Shakespeare

That list is not in order of reading and not comprehensive. Is it any wonder I'm a secondhand book dealer?

Og

 

[ag2507]

Re: Different Age

Arthur Ransome: Swallows and Amazons
John Buchan: Thirty-Nine Steps
Rider Haggard: King Solomon's Mines
R L Stevenson: Treasure Island
Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist
Fenimore Cooper: Last of the Mohicans
Mark Twain: Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Yankee at King Arthur's Court
Rudyard Kipling: Just So Stories, Jungle Book, Rewards and Fairies, Puck of Pook's Hill, Kim
Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe
W E Johns: Biggles
Baden-Powell: Scouting for Boys
Eagle Comic with Dan Dare and MacDonald Hastings
Ian Fleming: James Bond series
Bernard Shaw's Plays especially Arms and the Man and Major Barbara.
National Geographic for the bare breasted natives, the ubiquitous red shirts and the adverts for consumer goods we never saw such as refridgerators.
Henty
Frank Richards: Greyfriars
Sapper: Bulldog Drummond
Jeffrey Farnol
Asimov: Foundation trilogy
Leslie Charteris: Saint
Charles Kingsley: Heroes
Iliad
Odyssey
Shakespeare

That list is not in order of reading and not comprehensive. Is it any wonder I'm a secondhand book dealer?

Og

I love it! You've even got Biggles, Sapper, and Arthur Ransome though I read ALL their books, not just the one. I also owned a complete collection of The Saint by Leslie Charteris. Haggard's She and the Return of She, I loved, as well as Buchans Island of Sheep etc. The complete Hannay set.

And let's not forget Noddy, the Famous Five and Secret Seven.

AG

 

[destinie21]

I loved Judy blume books from Ramoana to Blubber. she also has a few books for adults that I've enjoyed.
Tuck Everlasting was good too . I also enjoyed anything by Charles Dickens and John Stienbeck.

I seem to remember reading Christopher Pike books and
I Tina (the autobiograophy of tina turner) when I was in fourth or fifth grade though those aren't really childrens books

 

[Just-Legal]

Hmm

Lion the witch and the wardrobe
Which Witch
Worst Witch series
Nancy Drew
Any Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl

 

[destinie21]

Hmm

Lion the witch and the wardrobe
Which Witch
Worst Witch series
Nancy Drew
Any Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl

Iloved the lion the witch and the wardrobe. wasn't that an ongoing series of books?
also anything by the real V.C Andrews

 

[oggbashan]

I forgot The Arabian Nights as translated by Burton - the full unexpurgated version which my parents thought was about Sinbad the Sailor

Og

 

[Wantonica]

Ronald Dahl

Has anyone ever read Ronald's erotica? I recently purchased one at the library book sale called "Switch Bitch". Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Glass Elevator and James and the Giant Peach are listed under his previous works at the beginning of the book, along with other books of adult erotica.

I forgot to mention Beverly Cleary, The Mouse and the Motercycle, The Borrowers, Old Yeller, The Prince of Central Park and The Three Toymakers.

Smiles,
Wantonica

 

[Belegon]

Got to agree on Maurice Sendak and CS Lewis. My dad introduced me to Tolkien, Lewis and Heinlein early. Also read Asimov and Le Guin's Earthsea books in my early teens. I also should give a nod to Marvel and DC comics.

 

[Guest]

I forgot The Arabian Nights as translated by Burton - the full unexpurgated version which my parents thought was about Sinbad the Sailor

Ogg, thanks for the midnight laugh. Perdita

 

[Quint]

Madeleine L'Engle--"A Wrinkle in Time," "A Wind in the Door," and "A Swiftly Tilting Planet." The first series I remember my mom reading to me, and then me continuing to read them by nightlight after she told me to go to bed. Reason why I needed glasses so early, I'm sure. The mental picture of the man with red eyes still haunts me.

"Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" series; I never read one without going through all of them. It was terrific when my best friend just bought the set randomly and I was able to get reacquainted.

Read "The Hobbit" in 4th grade and the rest probably a year later.

(When is childhood again?)

Even more fantasy. Brian Jacques' "Redwall" series, up until probably the seventh book. Good animal stories with improbable but lush food descriptions. Terry Brooks' "Shannara" series in 4th and 5th grade, again. I remember reading "The Wishsong of Shannara" at an uncle's wedding. Started on the "Forgotten Realms" books sometime late 5th grade. Big into Piers Anthony, partly for the fantasy and partly for the sporadic smut.

Has anybody else ever read "A House for Hermit Crab"? I'd love to find an illustrator like that for my own. I'd treat him very nicely.

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

There were plenty. But I'll just mention my favorite four,
all by A. A. Milne.
When We Were Very Young.
Now We Are Six.
Winnie the Pooh.
The House at Pooh Corners.

 

[Quasimodem]

Don't tell me I'm the only kid who enjoyed reading E. Nesbitt.