Weekly Question - Jan 1 - Your first book

[Samantha]

Reading through all the books everyone read when they were young is like being in a little time machine.

I don't remember what my first book was but Madeline comes to mind, I feel like some of it was reading and some of it was memorized. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, In the Night Kitchen and The Wump World were early favorites.

While it still has picture I know Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings was a book that I read on my own that required more comprehension.

I think for non picture books the one that comes to mind is Beezus and Ramona

[Tilda]

Bembelman's Bakery

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Samantha wrote: "Reading through all the books everyone read when they were young is like being in a little time machine.

I don't remember what my first book was but Madeline comes to mind, I feel l..."

My daughter memorized enough of Madeline to be able to turn the pages and say the words as if she was reading, at least for part of it. I'm sure the rhyming helped.

[Nadine in NY]

Samantha wrote: "Reading through all the books everyone read when they were young is like being in a little time machine.

I don't remember what my first book was but Madeline comes to mind, I feel l..."


Madeline was my first favorite book!!! Not the first that I could read myself, but the first that I loved and asked to have read to me. When I had kids of my own, I excitedly bought the Madeline books to read to them! And ... they had NO INTEREST

[Jennifer W]

I don't remember the first book I was read or the first book I learned to read, but I remember making my parents read Fox in Socks over and over and over again. It made me laugh when they messed up.

I think the first book I read by myself might have been Here's Pippa! Twelve Stories for Reading Aloud or Reading Alone

But my funny reading story is that I came home furious after the first day of kindergarten and swore that I was never going back. My parents asked what was so horrible and I said that the teacher had said we weren't going to learn to read this year. I guess I figured there was no point in going to school if not to read!

[Hannah]

This thread is so fun! Love everyone's funny stories about reading as a kid and the reminders of so many of the kids books that I loved.

To the Madeline fans, I also loved those books (but I was also moderately traumatized by them. There was one in particular that scared me so much, the one where she falls into the river?) But I definitely have fond memories. My mother bought me this amazing shirt from Out Of Print with the Madeline cover on the front, and I still wear it all the time: https://outofprint.com/products/madel....

[Jill]

I can't remember my parents reading to me, although my mum was an avid reader. I know I could read before I went to school, as I remember reading to my dolls and Teddys. I think it was the Noddy books. The first book I remember being read to me, was read by the headmistress of my infant school. It was The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett, and then I remember reading My Naughty Little Sister which was given to me by my sister who was 9 years older than me. Think she must have thought that was funny. I then went on to read Enid Blyton The Secret Seven books and from there I read all the Agatha Christie books I could get from the library.

[Samantha]

Robin, it sounds like your daughter and I had a similar experience to with "reading" Madeline. I kind of wonder if the memorization helped me learn to read the words and thus helped me learn to read.

Nadine, I can't believe your kids had no interest, seems impossible!

Hannah, I don't recall being scared but now that your mention the river it does evoke a bit of dread - do I need to read the all the Madeline books again (lol)? That shirt is delightful and that Out of Print website might end up being a killer for my wallet!

[Pam]

I remember a Golden Book I liked was Nurse Nancy.

[Amanda]

My dad read to me a lot when I was little. I vaguely remember The Monster at the End of this Book, but I'm not sure if that's a real memory or not.

I do remember reading The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales to my younger brother.

And I think the first book I really remember picking out for myself was The Haunted Mask. I have a memory of scouring the library stacks looking for it.

[Jennifer]

I am loving this trip down memory lane reading everyone's comments! These are a few of the books that stand out as some of my earliest memories:

- Frog and Toad Are Friends
- Each Peach Pear Plum
- In the Night Kitchen
- Bread and Honey

[Samantha]

Jennifer wrote: "I am loving this trip down memory lane reading everyone's comments! These are a few of the books that stand out as some of my earliest memories:

- Frog and Toad Are Friends
- [book:E..."

How could I forget Frog and Toad! I love those books, I actually follow a Frog and Toad Bot on twitter the quotes are often a nice palate cleanser from the rest of my timeline.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Frog and Toad books are great for talking about friendship with kids, friends can be different but still like each other. Another one for that is George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends. My kids and I loved any book .by James Marshall.

[Lizzy]

There is also a lovely instagram account of crochet ed Frog and Toad… doing things around the house.

[Lee]

There are lots of books I remember reading or having read to me. Most of which I can't recall the name of - my mother read me a lot of self-help and Wiccan/magic books to sleep when I was really little.

A few picture books I remember that stuck with me are The Rainbow Goblins, Outside Over There, Paperbag Princess 40th Anniversary Edition, and Where the Wild Things Are.

The first author I remember actively reading as a child was Gail Carson Levine with books like The Two Princesses of Bamarre (I still have my original copy), Ella Enchanted, and The Wish.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

You were really into princesses! My daughter liked a picture book that had wonderful pictures of princess dresses but neither of us could remember the name of it later.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Just a note to say that these weekly question threads remain open, so feel free to go back to previous weeks to respond if you ever want to.

Or new members who join during the year, you can still chime in on any of the threads.

[NancyJ]

Sherri wrote: "I thought I remembered books being read aloud on Captain Kangaroo. Yes, I'm old. I googled it & found out 27 books were read aloud on the show. These are the ones I remember & loved so much I bough..."

I remember Dick and Jane! My mother still remembers too. I remember book on Captain Kangaroo.

The others I remember reading to my kids, but they were old copies, so they might have come from parent’s attic.

The first series I remember getting for myself were the Betsy and Tacy books. I followed them as they grew up and went to college I think. I was 7-8 years old and was allowed to walk there myself. Thing were different then.

[Rose]

I have no memory of the first book someone read to me, as that was when I was teeny tiny, but the first book I ever read to myself was Hop On Pop, followed shortly thereafter by A Midsummer Night's Dream.

[Tracy]

I remember 'having read' several of my earliest real books:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlotte's Web
The Phantom Tollbooth
etc.,
but the one I actually remember the process of reading is Harriet the Spy. I remember thinking that Harriet was SO smart, and also "how could she like tomato sandwiches?!". At the time I hated tomatoes and mayonnaise (the most likely condiment used on said gross sandwich).

[Lisa]

I dont remember ever not reading so remembering the first book is hard. The first books I remember well, after things like Dr. Seuss, would be things like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Frog and Toad Are Friends, Mr. Popper's Penguins etc and then a little later Trixie Belden and the Mystery Off Old Telegraph Road, Nancy Drew: #1-64 and the like.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

I loved Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. I don't think she's as well known today as she should be.

[yare]

the book i have the most vivid memory of reading/being read to was from the series the magic treehouse, the dawn of the dinosaurs. i might've been sitting with my mom on a couch we still have as i pointed to each word while reading it aloud. i've always had fond memories of reading, this one's probably my favorite one (:

[Hannah]

I loved Mrs, Piggle-Wiggle, too! But my copy of it was very old and given to me by my aunt, I think. I never met anyone else my age who read them.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

I hadn't remembered they were written by Betty MacDonald who was famous for The Egg and I. The original illustrator was Hilary Knight, who is known for Eloise and many other books. I see a later edition was illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

[Hannah]

Oh my goodness, now that you say that, I can totally see the similarity in style! Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle looks just like a grown-up Eloise!

[Lizzy]

I also loved Mrs Piggle Wiggle…. Loved all her zany solutions for problems.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

And the solution was usually letting the kids do what they thought they wanted to - never washing, staying up all night, etc. - sometimes with little enhancements added to reinforce the point.

[May]

Either We're Going on a Bear Hunt or The Yellow House, I think.

[Kendra]

When I was a teen, my family had a family reunion where we ended up in a cabin with no TV/movies, 2 toddlers and only one book - We're Going on a Bear Hunt. To this day, every one of us can recite that book. lol.

[Bana AZ]

Kendra wrote: "When I was a teen, my family had a family reunion where we ended up in a cabin with no TV/movies, 2 toddlers and only one book - We're Going on a Bear Hunt. To this day, every one of ..."

That is adorable.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

As far as families knowing certain books by heart - Often families have sayings taken from books (also movies and TV, of course). When I was little, we had a book called The Polite Little Penguin. It doesn't seem to be on GR, which is surprising because the author is the very famous Margaret Wise Brown, who wrote Goodnight Moon and many more. This one is longer than just a picture book. There is an adult raccoon and a child penguin. As they go on a trip, the raccoon tries to teach the penguin manners, and the penguin often misinterprets or uses them at the wrong time, leading to humorous problems. After at least one disaster, the raccoon says, "Rack, Rack, more to mop up!" My mother used to say this at appropriate times, and I still find myself saying it, though we didn't have the books for my kids so nobody really knows what I mean!

[Kit]

The first book I ever remember being read to me was The Cat in the Hat. My grandma read Dr. Seuss books to me every day after kindergarten. :) So began my love of reading!

[Rosemary]

I still have some of my childhood books, and the oldest one is
Orlando the Marmalade Cat: A Seaside Holiday. There's an inscription so I know this was given to me by my maternal grandparents in my first summer, when I was 4 months old :) We were on holiday in Aldeburgh where this book is set.

[Joyce]

My earliest book I remember was my mother reading The Very Little Girl. My mom read this to me so many times. I actually still have it over 50 years later although it is a bit worse for wear. Then the second one I remember that my mother and I read together was a book that was a little two character play. The Old Man and the Tiger

[Michele]

The first book I read was Go, Dog, Go! I always gave this book to my dad to read to me so many times that I memorized the words. One day I realized each spoken word matched a written word. I would point to each word as I read it. When I realized the same written words were in many of my toddler first reads books I was off on my reading journey.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Michele wrote: "The first book I read was Go, Dog, Go! I always gave this book to my dad to read to me so many times that I memorized the words. One day I realized each spoken word matched a written word. I would ..."

Brilliant, you taught yourself to read! I think my son did the same between books and Sesame Street. Somehow he knew a lot of written words when he was 4.

[John]

Other than Golden Books, I remember the first book read to me as The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Portions of it were read each day by my 5th grade teacher.

[J]

First book was Corduroy. This was before kindergarten, my mom would take us to the library and let each kid pick out a number of books to have read to us and I would always pick this as one of my books - no matter how many times I had it read to me before.

It was also likely the first book I 'read' myself. I remember that I had memorized it so that I could 'read' it to myself even though I didn't know how to read.

For actual reading, I remember in 1st grade reading to my brother, who would have been 2. His favorite book was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. First chapter book I read was also 1st grade, it was The Mouse and the Motorcycle.