Children's Books discussion
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Childhood Books
I loved reading the Rescuers series by Margery Sharp. Alas, they're out of print.
The Rescuers are out of print??? Shocking! Did you see the blog post on Brian Unbound at the School Library Journal site? Marshall Cavendish is accepting suggestions of OP books to reprint. If you feel strongly about The Rescuers (or whatever other title), email Marilyn Mark, Associate Editor of Children's Books at mmark@marshallcavendish.com.Anyway, as to childhood books, I used to have a thing for The Seamstress of Salzburg by Anita Lobel. I loved the detailed illos.
Hi Jane,There were a couple of books that inoculated me against reading for years. One was See Spot Run, and the other was The Cat in the Hat. I hated those books so much that I opted out of reading til I was nine, and then the first book I actually read on purpose was Oliver Twist. It took me a year to read it, but it hooked me onto reading and made me want to become a writer as an adult.
I think the reason I hated those two classic children's books is because they assumed children were stupid.
From grades 4 to 8, all I read were big fat novels by authors whose last names began with either A,B,C or D.
Marsha
www.calla.com
My favorite book from childhood? Mr. Pudgins by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen.I read it over and over and over again. I recently found my old copy in my parents basement and finally have it at home again. Mr. Pudgins is a babysitter and when he puffs on his magic pipe wonderful things happens (this all sounds rather suspect to me now that I'm an adult but trust me, as a child it was great.)
My favorite chapter was when the family was having plumbing problems and Mr. Pudgins made pop pour from the faucets instead of water. One sink ran orange soda, the bathtub ran rootbeer, the kitchen sink grape soda... you get the idea.
Long out of print but if you are luck enough to be able to find a copy buy it immediately. You won't be disappointed!
I'd love to hear if anyone else has read it!
My favorite books from childhood were the tripod series by John Christopher. My 4th grade teacher read The White Mountains to us in class, and I went to the library to get the others. I read those books over and over, and they got me started on my love of science fiction and fantasy, which I still enjoy reading today.
In response to Marsha: See Spot Run, I can understand the offense taken. But Cat in the Hat! If a book could sing and dance for its reader, it would look and sound like the Cat in the Hat. It was the first book I read without any help at the ripe age of three.Other gems that I appreciated as a kid:
Ramona Quimby, Age 8
The BFG
Choose your Own Adventure
Hi Banzai,Think about what The Cat In the Hat is about --
Two kids, left home alone. Are their parents concerned about their safety? No. They're admonished to keep the house clean. So when the giant monster cat comes and threatens them with violence, all the kids are worried about is keeping a clean house. The book gave me nightmares. The illustrations also creeped me out. Green Eggs and Ham bothered me too, but mildly compared to Cat in the Hat.
Some of my favorites that I read over and over:Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
Dr. DeSoto by William Steig
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink - I read this so many times growing up!
Also the entire Ramona series :)
Marsha, My theory is that the Cat in the Hat is an imgainary figure, like the parade on Mulberry Street or the Circus McGirkus. Thus there was no real need for the kids to be scared.
Tiff,
You mentioned some great books there.
When I first saw Cloudy With... i almost passed it by, thinking it was one of those lame joke books. I'm so glad I gave it a chance, what a great book.
Diane,
Reading the Tripods in Fourth Grade must have been a real trip! There are some heavy duty things in there. Especially the "butterfly collection." True masterpieces, but I think I would recc. them to a 6th or 7th grader.
-Sam Riddleburger
Sam-I'm sure I missed a lot of stuff by reading them at a young age, but I went back and reread them many times, even as an adult. My son just finished reading the tripod series recently, and he's 17. He just wasn't interested in them earlier, but really liked them now.
Hey Sam,Of course the Cat is an imaginary figure, but it was terrifying for me nonetheless, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I think that's why they altered the story when they made the movie.
I love Roald Dahl's, The Famous Five, and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The last one leaves a very long impression on me.
I loved the Famous Five too, and was always surprised that they weren't more universally appreciated like Nancy Drew. Just discovered the Jenny and the Cat Club (Esther Averill) series, about a posse of cats and their capers in 1940s Greenwich Village. Would love to hear of other books/series in the same vein -- the intriguing adventures of kids/animals in atmospheric locales, heavy on imagination and memorable characters...
Does anyone remember the series of books about Hawkeye and Amy? They were kid dectectives who solved cases around town. The last page of the story was a picture clue and to see if you figured it out you'd turn to the back of the book and have to read the solution in a mirror. They were great!
Izzy--Never heard of Hawkeye and Amy, but I will check them out! Thanks.
P.S. Cat in the Hat is kind of freaky when you think about it...still, I am creating a reader's theater of that book for my teen council. They are going to put it on for the little ones. I also wanted to let the teens do older reader's theater readings for kids their age or maybe adults. Does anyone know of a good source for prepared scripts and/or have ideas for stories or plays? I know about Aaron Shepard of course, but he doesn't have a whole lot for older kids...
Hawkeye and Amy was great! I love to read them when I was still in elementary school. Me and my friends used to hid the new series on other shelves, under different categories, so the other kids won't borrowed it before we do. For kids, the stories and cases were intriguing.
I loved Encyclopedia Brown, and the author's other books - Two Miniute Mysteries. Read every Nancy Drew that was out. I'd never heard of The Famous Five before this group, but I'm going to check them out.
They updated the Encyclopedia Brown series. They are paperbacks with a modern looking kid on the cover. When I replaced the older ones (the ones I read in elementary school) with the newer ones, they really started to circulate. Sometimes it's all about the packaging.Suzanne
I agree, Suzanne, definately about the packaging. Our "Alice" books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor are constantly in circulation--at the least the ones with the new covers are! No one wants the less-mature looking '80s version.I also loved Encyclopedia Brown. And Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. L'Engle books and The Secret Garden really made the transition from little kids books into more YA-type books.
Although, I must guiltily admit to having had a huge crush on a certain type of choose your own adventure fantasy books. I would really get a kick out of it if I could find those again! :)
I loved Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards. It was on a list of recommended books for kids who were adopted, so my parents got it for me, and it was perfect. I also loved Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Edwards, too, and give it credit for me paying more attention to what's around me, colors and textures, etc.Other favorites were:
Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Hateful Plateful Trick by Scott Corbett. It's that magic chemistry set, again, and everyone ends up smelling like their least favorite food.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
and Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Hi Izzy and Indisha,I Love The story of Hawkeye and Amy too. I read them when I was at elementary school. I read the the Indonesian translation. They're great! And I collected them. However I cannot find them now since my family renovated our house. Too bad....
The original Boxcar Children book was the only one I really liked. I didn't care for the mystery series.I adored Ramona and Henry Huggins and anything written by Beverly Cleary really. I read pretty much anything I could get my hands on. My parents were a little floored when I started reading their Shakespeare collection in the 4th grade.
My favorite books were by Laura Ingalls Wilder (loved those books) and my 3rd grade teacher was the reason why. She read us the first one and I was just hooked. I had never been able to read until she worked magic on me. After that I became a voracious reader and in 5th grade I developed a love for Drew. As I got older, I got into the Fear Street series by R.L. Stine and loved those. I read basically anything I could get my hands on from 3rd grade on.
Tiffany I remember in 3rd grade there was nothing that I wanted more for Christmas than the Little House on the Prairie Boxed Set! I bet a ton of little girls fell in love with reading with the help of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read them over and over again!
Ditto for me on the original Boxcar children book - other ones that stick out in my memory are A Wrinkle in Time, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Johnny Tremain, and Peppermints in the Parlor (which I can't remember the author of, but I always think of it around the Halloween time of year).I'm brand new to this site, btw, and I thought this forum might be a good idea to start investigating material for my upcoming stay-at-home-dad stint we're adopting a child within the next week or so - I'm already making book lists :)
Congratulations on your adoption!THE MIXED UP FILES and LITTLE HOUSE books were favorites of mine also. I read the LITTLE HOUSE books over and over again too! Then read them again to my daughters (2 times!), which was interesting to me because they seemed so different to me as an adult - a little scary and overwhelming to read the stories from a parent's point of view. But of course as a child I identified with Laura and not her parents, and she felt protected by them.
Re the MIXED UP FILES - after seeing the new Greek and Roman galleries at the Met Museum I had really mixed feelings. They are beautiful, of course, but no trace at all of the old cafe with the fountain (the dolphins were removed years ago) where Claudia and Jamie collected coins!
Pee Wee ScoutsSweet Valley Kids
Baby Sitters Club
and when I was even younger:
Little Critter
Beinstienbears
My absolute faves were:The Henry Huggins/Beezus/Ramona books by Beverly Cleary.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
I loved the Little House series of books when I was a kid. I was also hooked into The Baby-Sitters Club series & the American Girl series. Nancy Drew was good, too. Altough those were the top 3 series. I was one of those kids that was occionasionally "forced" to go outside. I was always reading. Even read in the lunch line in High School so I didn't get bored while waiting for my turn. I don't have a lot of patience. Never have.
I am a lover of the Little House series. When I heard they were going to update the cover illustration to attract todays generation of readers I was so sad and immediatley went out to by the series with the original cover! I also fell in love with reading in the 3rd grade when my teacher gave me one of the books as a Christmas gift. I will never forget Mrs. Fergusen! I loved Nancy Drew, Choose Your Own Ending adventures, Sweet Valley High series, The Baby Sitters Club, and I was always reading so I am sure there are more I just can't remember right now!
The Great Brain SeriesAnd the one who ate soggy tomato sandwiches, I think it was Harriet the Spy...
Series I loved were the Little House books, Sue Barton - Student Nurse, etc. - I went through a phase when I was young when I thought I wanted to be a nurse- Trixie Belden, The Little Colonel - very politically incorrect but I loved them nonetheless - and Nancy Drew. Other favorites that were not part of a series were Little Women, Heidi, The Secret Garden and Sara Crewe by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
My favorite book as a child was "Where the Wild Things Are". I still love this book.
Alice,Have you read about the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are? It sounds fantastic! And is directed by Spike Jonze who is a big kid himself. I am very excited.
I remember reading Nancy Drew. They were my favorite decetive novelsas a kid. I also read the Bobbsey Twins after I got the series for my birthday in about 5th grade I think.
Aah, I have a Hawkeye and Amy book in my classroom - someone was reading it the other day! I remember loving Anne of Green Gables, Nancy Drew, A Secret Garden and Little Princess. I had another favorite that had a cat named Whilimena Shakespeare in it that I know I loved but can't recall the name of right now.
I loved the Childhood's of famous americans series, they have updated them recently and so I have been trying to collect the originals. They are biographies of famous people but only their childhoods, they are fabulous. The Little House books of course and The All of a Kind Family Series. Plus just about everything all of you have mentioned.
I loved all of the Ramona Books! I read and re-read them dozens of times. I loved Judy Blume, Joanna Hurwitz (the Nora series especially), Barthe DeClements (Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade), and Lois Lowry (the Anastasia books). I remember those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books and I also remember when the Sweet Valley High and Babysitter's Club books were popular.
Hi Jane,I was just thinking about Enid Blyton the other day. I loved her books and read as many as I could find in my school library in Germany, believe it or not. I enjoyed her other series, too. I don't know what it is called in English but they all had similar titles... "The Secret of the..." I loved escaping into their mysteries and wished I could solve some big important mystery myself!
My fave books as a child run the gammit:The whole Wrinkle in Time series
The Boxcar Children series
Trixie Belden series
Anne of Green Gables
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
ANY Judy Blume book
Little House series
The Secret Garden
Jane Eyre
ANY Paula Danziger book
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler
The Phantom Tollbooth
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Cay
Charlottes Web
Stuart Little
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
A Cricket in Times Square
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Little Women
Little Men
I could go on....
I read anything when I was younger, from Anne of Green Gables to The Babysitters club. I still collect Little Critter books. I loved Bunnicula and Tales of the 4th Grade Nothing. Also, I grew up in Texas and they had the Bluebonnet Award, so that guided a lot of my reading. It made me fall in love with Louis Sachar, Lois Lowry and Jerry Spinelli.
I loved Enid Blyton's school series - Naughtiest Girl, St Claire's and Malory Towers. When younger (ages 6 - 7), my favourites were her Enchanted Wood and Wishing Chair books. Some time later I discovered Jennings (Anthony Buckeridge)- it cracked me up! Can't remember when i first read Little Women, but I know I have loved it since. Recently, my 9 year old daughter read an abridged version, and it moved her so. Such lovely insights into family ties and friendship.
Marsha said: "From grades 4 to 8, all I read were big fat novels by authors whose last names began with either A,B,C or D." Wow Marsha, what an unusual kid! You remind me of my mom. Her goal as a kid was to read every fiction book in the library! She didn't do it, but she did read a lot!!!!
I remember liking Pippi Longstockings as a child and Peter Churchmouse, and several others from my children's reading club. I think "Black Beauty" was my favorite childhood book.
Hi I'm new here. I love book of all kinds. Some of my favorite children's books are: The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Bobbsey Twins myseries
The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Where the Wild Things Are
The King's Stiles(this is a Dr. Suess book that has been out of print for sometime. Thank goodness I still have mine.)
The Dark is Rising series
Nancy Drew
There are too many to name and so many new ones that are terrific.
Hi everyone! I am looking for two books that I read when I was a child. Unfortunately, I don't know the title of either book. I'm hoping someone will recognize these and remember what the titles were. I read these books in the 80s.The first was about a girl who was either kidnapped or lost as a baby/toddler. She was raised by a man just a few miles from her home. She would pass by an old, gray stone house, and was told never to go there. She decides to explore the house and begins to discover her identity, and that she used to live in that house.
The other book was about a girl who discovered a house that used to be a church. I don't remember a kidnapping with this book, but the girl did have some family tie to the house.
I know it's not much to go on, but any help would be appreciated. I have two little girls and would love to share these books with them.
I'm new to the site, so if there is another discussion group that's dedicated to finding old books, I'd appreciate it if someone could direct me to it.
There is a group called What's The Name of That Book???PLEASE read the directions for posting before you post there, though. People are more likely to want to help you if your thread title is NOT something like, "I can't remember the name of this favorite old book".
I read and reread all the Edward Eager books many times over, as well as all 14 Oz books (even as a kid, I dissed Ruth Plumly Thompson, I guess, or rather, I think it was that the library didn't stock them). E. Nesbit's magic books were also clear favorites. I had a set of My Book House by Olive Beaupre Miller that I think were an aunt's or great-aunt's. I read all of those too.
Children's Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (other topics)Sideways Stories from Wayside School (other topics)
Just want to share a bit of my first children books I read. When I was in the 3rd grade of elementary school, I really loved to read "The Famous Five (series)" by Enid Blyton. They increased my imagination of adventures in nature.
Nature is fun ^_^