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As I was digging through a crate in my basement last night searching for my copy of On The Road, I came across a caches of books I had loved as a child. The top three were:
The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster). There are no words to describe how much I loved this book. It's about a young boy that, via a tollboth (don't ask) winds up in a mystical land and has adventures.
Harriet The Spy (Louise Fitzhugh) An eleven year-old New York girl spies on her friends and neighbors, with disasterous results.
Half Magic (Edward Eager) Four children in the 1940's find a magic charm that works by halves--you have to wish for twice the amount of what you want. Wacky hijinks ensue.
What about you guys?
--Beowulf "Yes, I re-read them!" Girl
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bthyb, in high school I had a French teacher who burst into tears at the suicide scene. Right in the middle of the lecture, she just started sobbing. None of us knew what the hell to do.
I have to admit I cheated--my friend Frank had an English copy of The Little Prince and I used to read it after I had completely bungled the French version.
--Beowulf "Ecoute et Repete" Girl
-------------------- Please visit my blog and leave a comment! It's all pretty and pink and quite funny. Go here: http://beowulfgirl.blogspot.com/ Posts: 1790 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Jan 2001
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quote:Originally posted by BeowulfGirl: Half Magic (Edward Eager) Four children in the 1940's find a magic charm that works by halves--you have to wish for twice the amount of what you want. Wacky hijinks ensue.
I liked Half Magic until I read The Story of the Amulet by E. Nesbit and realized what a rip-off Eager's book was (though IIRC he did reference the original story). Nesbit's trilogy of Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, and The Story of the Amulet are true classics.
Where the Wild Things Are is, of course, the Best Book Ever!
pinqy
-------------------- Don't Forget! Winter Solstice Hanukkah Christmas Kwanzaa & Gurnenthar's Ascendance Are Coming! Posts: 8671 | From: Washington, DC | Registered: Feb 2000
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His Dark Materials are my favorite Youg Adult books. But I read them as an adult.
As a child I loved many, many books. Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising books. To Kill a Mockingbird. Lord of the Rings. I also enjoyed The Phantom Tollbooth. Just about anything by Zilpha Keatly Snyder. Oh, such a long list!
-------------------- A Lie can run around the world before the Truth can get its boots on. - Terry Pratchett
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions; but everyone is not entitled to their own facts. - Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan Posts: 2495 | From: Connecticut | Registered: Oct 2000
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It depends on what age you're after. I can still remember my parents reading me Mog and King Rollo books over and over again when I was very young and I'm keeping the tradition alive with my little one. As I recall, I tended to read an eclectic mix of books from about 10 onwards, including Lord of the Rings, the Tarzan series, Biggles (my dads from when he was young), Narnia, Discworld, Wodehouse and Conan Doyle. I think the main reason for that was that the school library had a large selection of old books (50s and 60s, which is old to me at least) and it was nearly matched by my parent's bookshelves at home. I'd say my favourites were the Narnia series (classics, and for good reason), the Hobbit (the full trilogy is a bit dense) and anything by Conan Doyle (including professor Challenger).
-------------------- Do the weetabix ask such questions? I think not! Posts: 76 | From: Lytham, Britain | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:I liked Half Magic until I read The Story of the Amulet by E. Nesbit and realized what a rip-off Eager's book was (though IIRC he did reference the original story).
pinqy, believe it or not, Eager actually references E. Nesbit in Half Magic! At the beginning of the book, all of the children fall madly in love with E. Nesbit's books at the library!
-------------------- Please visit my blog and leave a comment! It's all pretty and pink and quite funny. Go here: http://beowulfgirl.blogspot.com/ Posts: 1790 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Jan 2001
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When I was very little, I liked the Dr. Seuss books.
Later, I liked the Shel Silverstein books (like, The Light in the Attic). I still like those books. I still really like his The Giving Tree. That book always makes me tear up.
I also liked the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary. My niece is 9 and she really likes those at the moment as well.
And, Nancy Drew books. I liked those because they were quick reads.
ETA: And, The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks. I think I could "ETA" all day!
ETA2: Mother Goose and nursery rhymes in general. In case you hadn't noticed, I really liked rhymes as a child!
-------------------- "My name is the symbol for my identity and must not be lost." Motto of the Lucy Stone League. Posts: 1815 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Jul 2004
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When my kids were small I was partial to a book called Meanwhile Back at the Ranch by Trinka Hakes Noble.
Posts: 544 | From: Onalaska, WI | Registered: Nov 2005
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pinqy is right about Where the Wild Things Are. Max was my hero.
I could ETA all day too, but Anne McCaffery's Pern series, CS Lewis' Narnia books, Pierce Anthony's Xanth series and the Little House on the Prairie books are some of my young self's favorites. I've reread all of them several times.
-------------------- ~tough as nails yet nice as pie~ For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction - and sometimes a scar. "and don't threaten anyone with your pants today!" - Frog_Feathers daisys does Myspace Posts: 3206 | From: Molalla, OR | Registered: Jun 2004
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OOHHH I love children's books! Once upon a time I wanted to be a teacher, and reading time was my favorite.I even started a collection of faves, which I am very excited to start my own little goober off with. Some faves that haven't been mentioned(I love the ones that have): The whole "Miss Nelson" series. Anything by Tomie dePaola (esp The Clown of God) Silverstein, Sendak or Seuss. "Purple Green and YelloW" "The Paper bag Princess" (I could do this all day) ETA; Goober decided to help mommy type.
Posts: 73 | From: Long Island, NY | Registered: Aug 2005
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Mine was "Happiness is a Warm Puppy" by Charles Schultz. I lost my copy when I was a kid, but managed to find one at a garage sale a few years ago.
Posts: 106 | From: Dumont, NJ | Registered: Jun 2006
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Debatable whether it's a children's book , but Edward Gorey's Amphigorey was one of my favourites as a child.
A is for Amy who fell down the stairs B is for Basil assaulted by bears C is for Clara who wasted away D is for Deasmond thrown out of a sleigh
and so on ...
Good call on Where The Wild Things Are
-------------------- Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before ... he is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. - Kurt Vonnegut Jr Posts: 134 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2005
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While I'd agree with some of the things listed above, I'd also have to mention "The Three Investigators," which I absolutely adored growing up, and I think they've (at least some of them) been reprinted since. They don't age quite as well, but still.
And in the same vein, whenever we got the "book clubs" from school (lists of books that you could buy, kids would take them home to the parents who would approve of anything the kids wanted to buy and provide the money, then they'd be brought back in to the teacher) I bought any of the Encyclopedia Brown books that I could, and devoured what the school library had as well. Those were absolutely wonderful, although by their nature they lost a bit on re-reads. Unfortunately, I have no idea about any availability of those books. (Ye gods, I'm feeling the urge to hit Amazon.com to revisit some of my childhood...)
ETA: Totally forgot about some other things...
I also wanted to mention the books by Jim Kjelgaard which I also checked out and devoured from our various school libraries whenever I could find them. He tends to write animal stories, often from the animal's point of view, but they're "real" animal stories as opposed to the type where the critters talk to each other, yadda yadda.
And of course what list of this type would be complete without at least a mention of the various Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories and their knock-offs? Maybe not the greatest of classic lit, but tons of fun.
-------------------- -,-'-,-<<0
This space for rent Posts: 275 | From: Maryland | Registered: Jan 2006
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I second Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, and also the Chronicles of Narnia series. I will also throw in Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath, Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse, and Lucy M. Boston's The Children of Green Knowe (although I didn't read any of the others in the series). Quite possibly my all time favourite, though, was Pat O'Shea's The Hounds of the Morrigan.
quote:Originally posted by Cleetus Awrightus-Awreetus: Debatable whether it's a children's book , but Edward Gorey's Amphigorey was one of my favourites as a child.
A is for Amy who fell down the stairs B is for Basil assaulted by bears C is for Clara who wasted away D is for Deasmond thrown out of a sleigh
Forgive my pedantry: The Gashlycrumb Tinies (which you quote) is but one of the many tales in Amphigorey by Edward Gorey.
And if you have Amphigorey, then you must include Amphigorey Too and Amphigorey Also as well.
I'm currently fighting the good fight to get everyone I know to read Megan Whalen Turner's books, The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia.
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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Some of my favorites growing up were "The Chronicles of Narnia", most particularly "The Magician's Nephew". I also loved "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George, "The Search for Delicious" by Natalie Babbitt, "The Castle in the Attic" by Elizabeth Winthrop, "Tom Saywer" by Mark Twain, all of John Bellair's books, but especially "The House With a Clock in it's Walls", "The Monster's Ring" by Bruce & Katherine Coville and "The Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgeson Burnett. I was a big reader as a kid, but these were particular favorites, read over and over.
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I think someone already mentioned them, but I read and re-read all of the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary.
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Chalk me up for the Ramona books too, along with "Ellen Tebbits". Beverly Cleary really knew how to write children well. The things that Ramona thought about and did, were always things that I could relate too.
Also "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" and "Superfudge" by Judy Blume.
-------------------- "That would be really dangerous, you know. Indiscriminately extricating someone from the petrified corpse of a supernatural creature." - My Husband Posts: 4308 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Jun 2003
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After the Ramona books, my favorite librarian (Mrs. Patwell! ) got me into them.
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Oh where to start. The Ramona books, Treasure Island, The Chronicles of Narnia, Tamora Pierce, The Castle in the Attic along with the sequel that I can't remember the name to, Judy Blume, the Pern series, the Xanth series, Harriet the Spy. I'm going to stop now because I could go on all day.
I taught myself to read on the Hardy Boys series because my dad would read them to me, leave me on a cliffhanger and turn off the light at which point I would turn back on the light and finish the book.
I don't agree that the 3 Investigators don't age well. I still have a worn and tattered copy of The Stuttering Parrot that I reread occasionally.
The one thing I read as a kid that hasn't aged well is the Boxcar Children series.
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All Dr. Seuss books. A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de St-Exupery. Anything by Judy Blume. The Hobbit. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.
-------------------- lOoK aT yOuR SoCiAl ProBlEm. Posts: 23 | From: Montreal, Quebec, Canada | Registered: Jun 2006
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Most of these have been mentioned, but here goes...
'The Chronicles of Narnia' (especially 'The LWW' and 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader') 'The Hobbit' 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy (read when I was about 14, but I suppose that counts0 'Animal Farm' (not really a book for children, but I read it when I was about eight - I was really disappointed when I learnt later it was a political allegory)
-------------------- Andrew, Ware, England Posts: 1709 | From: Ware, England | Registered: Apr 2003
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Oh I completely forgot about Roald Dahl's books. I loved them all, The Witches, Matilda, The Twits, The BFG and Danny the Champion of the World. After I saw how much they screwed up The Witches transferring it to the big screen I've refused to see another movie based on his work.
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The Velveteen Rabbit Where the Red Fern Grows
Roald Dahl books like Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, etc.
Louis Sachar's Wayside School books and There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom
The Baby-Sitters Club series
Beverly Cleary's Ramona books
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We're doing Encyclopedia Brown and Charlotte's Web now, two of my favorite books as a kid.
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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I can read Charlotte's Web without sniffling, but when I listened to E.B. White read the chapter with Charlotte's last scene in it--and he was fighting back sobs--I wept like a baby.
Treasure Island has been meat and drink to me, aye, so it be, since I were a wee nipper. I read it at least once a year, and one o' these days I wants to write an audio version of it fer th' Atlanta Radio Theatre Company so's I can play old Long John me own self, arrrhhh.
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My favourite book by miles when I was a kid was "Heidi", closely followed by "Heidi grows up" and "Heidi's Children" by Johanna Spyri (anyone notice a theme here? ) I've read the series so many times I can practically recite it.
The first time I went to Austria I was about 17, and I was in heaven walking on the mountains over there as it was just how I'd imagined from reading those books as a kid.
Other books that I read a lot were the Narnia series and the "Anne of Green Gables" series.
As a really young child I liked "Meg and Mog" and all the Beatrix Potter books, my favourites being Miss Moppet and The Tale of Tom Kitten.
Scout.
-------------------- "Abandon shop. This is not a daffodil, repeat, this is not a daffodil!" Posts: 661 | From: UK | Registered: Jan 2003
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Patricia MacLachlan wrote the books that most speak to me even today, for the most part, because of the surprising turns of a phrase and the way she seemed to put more between the lines than was actually in them. Here's a brief excerpt from The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt:
quote:Minna looks out the bus window and thinks about her life. Her one life. She likes artichokes and blue fingernail polish and Mozart played too fast. She loves baseball, and the month of March because no one else much likes March, and every shade of brown she has ever seen. But this is only one life. Someday, she knows, she will have another life. A different one. A better one. McGrew knows this, too. McGrew is ten years old. He knows nearly everything. He knows, for instance, that his older sister, Minna Pratt, age eleven, is sitting patiently next to her cello waiting to be a woman.
I loved everything she ever wrote, though her most famous books (Sarah, Plain and Tall and its sequels) are in my mind her least impressive work.
Avril
-------------------- There is no failure unless one stops. --Ray Bradbury Posts: 2115 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Brad from Georgia: I can read Charlotte's Web without sniffling, but when I listened to E.B. White read the chapter with Charlotte's last scene in it--and he was fighting back sobs--I wept like a baby.
minor hijack--have you seen the trailer for the new version? Babe is playing Wilbur (IOW, they're doing a "live" version).
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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