The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge
101 Dalmations - Dodie Smith
The Snow Goose - Paul Gallico
Impunity Jane - Rumer Godden
Finn Family Moomintroll - Tove Jansson
The Velvet Room - Zilpha Keatly Snyder
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Little Bookroom - Eleanor Farjeon
I Wish, I Wish - Lisl Weil
Adventures of The Little Wooden Horse - Ursula Moray Williams

It is so hard to choose only 10!!!!!

"B is for Betsy" by Caroline Haywood and the entire series

"Little House on the Prairie" Laura Ingalls Wilder and entire series

"The Great Brain" John D. Fitzgerals and the entire series

"Katie John" by Mary Calhoun (and entire series)

"Runaway Alice" by Frances S Murphy

"Justin Morgan Had a Horse" by Marguerite Henry (and all her other horsey books)

"Strawberry Girl" by Lois Lenski (and lots of other of hers, too.

"The Moffats" by Eleanor Estes (and the series)

"The Happy Hollisters" series by Jerry West

"Harriet the Spy" by Louise Fitzhugh

Harriet the Spy
Honey Bunch series
Cricket in Time Square
Charlotte's Web
The Velveteen Rabbit
Dick and Jane
My Bookhouse series
Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka series
Babar
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Childrens' Letters to God first edition
Eloise Wilkin Stories
Paddington The Bear series
the tale of squirrel nuttkin

Oh, how could I forget Uncle Remus?!

Just remembered one for my #9:

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales - Jon Scieszka

And for #10, I'll pick the earliest "favorite books" I had, books that at the ages of 4 and 5 nutured my still-existing love for mysteries and detective stories: Robert Quackenbush's Detective Mole and subsequent series.

All The Little House/Laura Ingalls Wilder books
Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell
A Little Princess - Frances Hodgsen Burnett
The Incredible Journey - Sheila Burnford
All The Judy Blume books
Peterson's Field Guides
Axelrod's Books on Tropical Fish Care

Yikes-I forgot Black Beauty and Hans Brinker!

Since I'm twice as old as some of you maybe I could post twice as many? No? I thought not.

Little House in the Big Woods and all the Laura Ingalls Wilder series
Little Women – Lousia May Alcott
Alice in Wonderland/Alice Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll
Book of Marvels Richard Halliburton
Beauty and the Beast: And other classic fairy tales from the old French - Quiller-Couch
Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
Heidi - Johanna Spyri
Black Beauty Anna Sewell
Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates Mary Mapes Dodge
Swiss Family Robinson - Wyss

That is the way all Bi Colored Python Rock Snakes always talk.

"'Rash and inexperienced traveler, we will now seriously devote ourselves to a little high tension, because if we do not, it is my impression that yonder self-propelled man-of-war with the armor-plated upper deck' (and by this, O Best Beloved, he meant the Crocodile), will permanently vitiate your future career.'"

(first tabulation)

1. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

2. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

3. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

4. Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb

5. Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle

6. Hans Brinker or The Sliver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge

7. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

8. Heidi by Joanna Spyri

9. The Trouble with Jenny's Ear by Oliver Butterworth

10. Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott

1. Mother Goose Rhymes/Grimms Fairy Tales/Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales/365 Bedtime Stories/365 Bible Stories -- any and all of these were the underlying foundation for being read to and learning about stories in my childhood.

2. Slappy the Duck -

This book was very important in my early childhood and I've concluded may have had long-lasting influence upon my "independent" (some would call it outright stubborn) bent of mind. Slappy went out into the world intending to become a pusson but try as he did it didn't work and he came home when he concluded it was best to be oneself as one was intended to be -- if you are a duck then be the best duck you can be.


3. Ferdinand -

4. Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees - Gruelle

5. Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates - Mary Mapes Dodge

6. Tales of Uncle Remus - Harris

7. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott (and Little Men and Eight cousins and Rose in Bloom, An Old-Fashioned Girl and on and on)

8. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

9. Swiss Family Robinson - Wyss


10. Alice In Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll


Of course there were the Anne books and the Bobbsey Twins book and Nancy Drew as well as Peter Pan and Heidi all on the long list! ;)

I love Harry the Dirty Dog! But I didn't read him until I was an adult.

1. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia in entirety)
2. The Black Stallion - Walter Farley (whole series)
3. The Lorax - Dr. Seuss
4. The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams Bianco
5. The Bobbsey Twins of Lakeport - Laura Lee Hope (whole series)
6. Winnie-the-Pooh & The House at Pooh Corner - A.A. Milne
7. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
8. The Secret of Nimh - Robert C. O'Brien
9. Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
10. Harry the Dirty Dog - Gene Zion

OK, I guess I'll stop pouting and participate.

:)

Actually, there are just too many to think about, especially for the different stages of "childhood," so I have avoided even trying to narrow it down. Now, I'm just gonna list some random stuff.

1. Little House in the Big Woods (The Little House on the Prairie series) - Laura Ingalls Wilder

2. The Secret of the Mansion (The Trixie Belden series) - Julie Campbell and "Kathryn Kenny" (Screw Nancy Drew! Give me a tomboy girl detective!)


3. The Wednesday Witch - Ruth Chew

4. Beezus and Ramona - Beverly Cleary

5. Ramona the Pest - Beverly Cleary

6. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. - Judy Blume (This one made the rounds in 6th grade--with the girls and the boys!)

7. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Judy Blume

8. Sounder - William H. Armstrong

9. Old Yeller - Fred Gipson

10. Grimm's Fairy Tales - Jakob & Wilhelm Grimm (I still have the edition that I got in 3rd grade, and it is one book that I have read throughout my life. I think I enjoyed it more as an adult than I did as a child.)

*I tried to confine myself to pre-teen childhood.*

Adding to my list:

#8: The Boxcar Children - Gertrude Chandler Warner

I can't believe that I forgot The Great Brain series by John Dennis Fitzgerald! That was definitely my favorite series, but I forgot all about it until this morning when I was poking around this website looking for something else.

1. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - Robert.
O'Brien

2. Charlotte's Web - E. B. White.

3. James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

4. The Indian in the Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks

5. My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

By the banks of the great gray green greasy Limpopo River, oh best beloved.

I still remember getting choked up watching the movie version of The Yearling as a kid.

Oh I just remembered another! The Yearling.

Kipling's "Just So Stories"

"In the high and far off times, O best beloved, the elephant had no trunk." The Elephant's Child

"Hear and attend and listen, for this befell and behappened and became and was, O my best beloved, when the tame animals were wild." The Cat That Walked By Himself

(need I say more?)

I cried over that one!

Can't believe I forgot the Incredible Journey! I must have read that 6 times!

As others have mentioned it's been difficult to getting the list down to ten titles:

The Fairy Books - Andrew Lang

My Father's Dragon - Ruth Stiles Gannett

The Boxcar Children - Gertrude Chandler Warner

The Incredible Journey - Sheila Burnford

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Charlotte's Web - E.B. White

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Diary of Anne Frank - Frances Goodrich

In no particular order:

1. Heart: A School-Boy's Journal / Edmondo De Amicis
2. Harriet the Spy / Louise Fitzhugh
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory / Roald Dahl
4. The Wonderful Adventures of Nils / Selma Lagerlöf
5. King Matiush I / Yanush Korchak

Sticking to ten was quite challenging, but I've dropped off a few that are already represented to get there.

The Grounding of Group Six - Julian F. Thompson
Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein
The Pigman - Paul Zindel
James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
A Girl Who Owned a City - O.T. Nelson
Baby Island - Carol Ryrie Brink
Tiger Eyes - Judy Blume
The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton
Mom, The Wolf Man, And Me - Norma Klein
Harriet The Spy - Louise Fitzhugh

Island of Nose – AMG Schmidt
Swiss Family Robinson – JD Wyss
The Cave of Time (Choose Your Own Adventure #1) – E Packer
Where the Wild Things Are – M Sendak
Urashima Taro – F Sakade
Sword of Shannara – T Brooks
Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe – CS Lewis

Off the top of my head:

The Nancy Drew mysteries, Carolyn Keene
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Babysitter's Club books, Ann M. Martin
On Beyond Zebra, Dr. Seuss
Horton Hatches the Egg, Dr. Seuss
Heidi, Johanna Spryi
Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
The Black Stallion (many of the series- Black Stallion Returns, Son of Black Stallion, etc.), Walter Farley
A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance by Francis Cavanaugh
Batman from the 30's to the 70's by E. Nelson Bridwell
Red Rackham's Treasure by Herge
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman

... that's the most I could dredge up from the depths of memory.

The Riddle Master of Hed (Riddle of the stars)Patricia Mckillip
The Book of Three(the Pyrdain Chronicles)-Lloyd Alexander
Poor Jenny Bright as a Penny-Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Three from Witch world- Andre Norton
The Broken Chain - Marrion zimmer Bradley
Bridge to Terrabithia- Katherine Paterson
Lord Fouls Bane(The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever)-Stephen R Donaldson
The Hobbit-J.R.R. Tolkien
A Wrinkle in Time-Ursula LeGuin
The Adventures of Conan- Robert Jordan

Lizard Music — Daniel Manus Pinkwater
Harriet the Spy — Luis Fitzhugh
Phantom Tollbooth — Norton Juster
Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective - Donald J. Sobol
The House at Pooh Corner — A.A. Milne
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — Roald Dahl
Where the Wild Things Are — Maurice Sendak
A Spell for Chameleon (Xanth #1)—Piers Anthony
The Hobbit — J.R.R. Tolkien
Dungeons & Dragons (Original White Box set) - Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson

The original Nancy Drew books, starting with The Secret on the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene

The Babysitter's Club, starting with Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

The Fear Street series starting with The New Girl by R.L. Stein

A Wrinkle in Time by Madelyn l'Engle
Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Pippi Longstockings by Astrid Lindgren
Nancy Drew - the original ones by Carolyn Keene
The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke

The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (series by Eleanor Cameron)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)

Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates (Mary Mapes Dodge)

Men of Iron (Howard Pyle)

Nine Princes in Amber (series by Roger Zelazny)

David Copperfield (Chuck Dickens)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)

Diary of an Early American Boy (Eric Sloane)

The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice: An Homeric Fable (George Martin)

Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madelyn L'Engle

Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Are You there God, its me Margaret by Judy Blume

Empty World by John Christopher

The Golden Key by George McDonald

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien

The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams

Charlotte's Web - E. B. White

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

The Secret of Nimh - Seymour Reit

Black Cauldron - Lloyd Alexander

Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings Trilogy

By the Banks of Plum Creek
Little House Series

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Chronicles of Narnia

The Black Stallion

The Borrowers

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Misty of Chincoteague

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Hidden Staircase
Nancy Drew Series

Mandy - Julie Andrews Edwards
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis (the whole Chronicles of Narnia, really)
Curious George Rides a Bike - H.A. Rey
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
Black and Blue Magic - Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West - Marguerite Henry
The Borrowers - Mary Norton

Honorable mentions -
Harriet the Spy - Louise Fitzhugh
A Little Princess - Frances Hodges Burnett

The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame

Swallows and Amazons
Arthur Ransome

Ballet Shoes
Noel Streatfeild

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Joan Aiken

The Little White Horse
Elizabeth Goudge

Finn Family Moomintroll
Tove Jansson

Dr Doolittle and the Secret Lake
Hugh Lofting

The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
Eleanor Cameron

The Owl Service
Alan Garner

A Wind in the Door
Madeleine L'Engle

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge

Thursday's Child by Noel Streatfeild

Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright

Lion's Paw by Robb White

Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton

Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry

The Good Master by Kate Seredy

The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy

From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Enid Blyton, the entire Famous Five series (first book: Five on a Treasure Island)

Enid Blyton, the entire St Clare's series (first book: The Twins at St Clare's)

Enid Blyton, the entire Malory Towers series (first book: First Term at Malory Towers)

Diana Wynne Jones, Charmed Life

Roald Dahl, The Twits

Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Morton Rhue, The Wave

Astrid Lindgren, Ronia, the Robber's Daughter

Jan Terlouw, How to Become King

Anne Frank, The Secret Annexe

Sadly, quite a few of my Dutch childhood favourites appear not to have been translated into English. Let's just say you've all missed out...

What Miranda Knew by Gladys L. Adshead

Scarlet Monster Lives Here by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

Robin Hood by Henry Gilbert

A Dog Called Kitty
by Bill Wallace

Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O'Dell

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
by Robin McKinley

Charlotte's Web
by E.B. White

Goodbye Pink Pig
by C.S. Adler

The Girl With the Silver Eyes
by Willo Davis Roberts

The Worst Witch
by Jill Murphy

Sideways Stories from Wayside High
by Louis Sachar

"To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee--I read it the first time in 3rd grade.

"A Wrinkle in Time" by Madelyn l'Engle

"I Am a Bunny" by Ole Rissom--the first book I remember owning

"Amelia Bedelia" by Peggy Parrish

"Ellen Tebbets" by Beverly Cleary

"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

"The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare

"Where the Lilies Bloom" by Vera Cleaver

"Heidi" by Johanna Spyri

"Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls

I could easily come up with ten more.

The votes are in and "Favorite Books from Your Childhood" is the winner.

What were you reading before puberty kicked in? Which books bring back those sweet memories from the time before you knew about income taxes and STDs? What books have you hunted down to share with the children in your life?

Tell us your choices for the True North Favorites of Childhood book shelf. The 50 most popular books will be added to the shelf.

Please note -- this is NOT a list of books for children that you like, but a list of the books YOU liked as a child. You might not like the book so much now, but if you loved it then, tell us about it.



The Rules as always

1) Submit a list of 10 (max) books. Include the title and author. Please do NOT use HTML links.

2) If you are listing a series, please list the title of the first book and then the name of the series.

3) Please discuss books on the discussion thread. Do not post comments or start conversations here (I will move accidental posts to the correct thread).

In the case of tie breakers, I'll try to create a poll. This thread will close
Friday, September 26th.