What Were Your Favorite Books as a Kid?

Not your favorite children's books now, but the favorites you read when you were a young'un. I had a brief flash of nostalgia and thought back to the books I remember most fondly, when I used to get lost in books for hours before my adult brain put a stop to all that nonsense and I started just reading for class -

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken; this book just stuck with me. I still remember vivid character details, though I'm hazy on the plot.

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl; I remember reading this one with the covers pulled over my head and a flashlight because my parents started to impose bedtime rules on reading. I finished it in about two days.

Where the Sidewalk Ends/A Light in the Attic - Shel Silverstein; this is one of my favorite books ever, hands down. I haven't read it in about ten years, so I really need to and see if it's as incredible as I remember.

The Worst Witch Series - Jill Murphy; I found these when I lived in England (we from the US to London when I was about 8 and moved back when I was 10 or so). I remember when the Harry Potter books came out a few years later I snubbed them as mere imitations of the Worst Witch, and refused to read them until I was 14.

Horrible Histories - these books inspired my love of history. They're engaging and funny (for 10 year olds, at least). I think I still have most of them, though they are severely battered.

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass - Lewis Carroll; my parents bought me a copy of Through the Looking-Glass that was a reprint of Carroll's handwritten manuscript (why don't more publishers publish handwritten manuscripts? That would be so awesome.) I finished it overnight.

Watership Down made me cry for days

Sideways Stories from Wayside School - Louis Sachar; anyone remember the story about the non-existant 13th floor, and one of the students gets stuck there for a few days? My dorm didn't have a 13th floor, and I thought of this book.

Boxcar Children I devoured these

Nancy Drew - I eventually graduated to Sherlock Holmes, but I will never forget Nancy.

The books from my chidhood which I remember with the greatest fondness were The Mad Scientists Club, The Spaceship Under the Apple Tree, and The Forgotten Door. I read them and re-read them over and over. My mother must have thrown them out because they were falling apart. I still have a nonfiction book from my childhood that I've managed to hold onto. The front and back covers have long since diappeared, but I believe that it was called The World Around Us. There was also a novel by Robert Silverberg called Time of the Great Freeze which was a partcular favorite of mine. I wish that I still had those books. I don't think my mother realized how important they were to me. I remember hiding one of them in the closet under the towels to keep her from throwing it out, but when I went back for it, it was gone.

The childhood favorites I fondly remember are (in no particular order):

All Astrix Comics
All Tintin Comics
The Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer
Everything by Enid Blyton, in particular the Mallory Towers and Famous Five series
Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene
The Hardy Boys series by Franklin W. Dixon
The Wind in the Willows
Alice in Wonderland
The Secret Garden

Whoops... forgot one... The Bobbsey Twins series by Laura Lee Hope.

Fav books - Mmm.. (What Katy Did) and (What Katy Did Next)
Anyone else rmember them?
Also one that stays with me is (Ash Road by Ivan Southall) hoping that book will instill a love of reading in my relucatant readers at home, boys aged 15.
Can anyone suggest other book for boys that age. They don;t read unless they have to.

Deenie by Judy Blume--I was born with a disability and I was able to connect with Deenie on so many levels.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson--the first chapter book I read on my own and one of the reasons I love reading so much.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl--even though the vermicious knids scared the crap out of me!

ETA--I forgot my favorite picture book and my first book love!
The Monster at the End of this Book--this book has Grover (the muppet) trying to keep the reader from getting to the end of the book... I read that thing until the binding fell off and my mom had to get me a new one. A couple of years ago, they reprinted this wonderful Golden Book and I snatched it up!

The Trixie Belden series; I learned to read on these books (with help from my older sister) and always loved the group of friends, their sort of secret club, the fun they had . . .

When I was eight my mother went to her mother's funeral and came back with boxes of books, so I read a lot of books from the early 1900s--Pollyanna, Georgina of the Rainbows, Polly of Pebbly Pit (and others in that series), Two Little Women, and one of my very favorite series, Prudence of the Parsonage. These were very wholesome, moral stories, and my world view was probably somewhat naive because of that!

But within a year or two I was also reading the James Bond stories, pretty much the other end of the spectrum! And Gone with the Wind, which I read before I was ten--I remember my mother making a special trip with me to see the movie, and we had to stay overnight in a motel because the bus home didn't run that late.

I'm not quite sure when I read my first Georgette Heyer, but I've always loved her books and reread them often.

Oh, yes--Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom--wonderful books.

It wasn't books for me, it was comics. In the Sunday papers was a separate section with comics and puzzles. It was in color, the very contrast of the B&W grown up paper. Easy to find and made great gift wrap too. Then came the Archie comics, Superman comics, and my favorite - Casper the Friendly Ghost with Wendy, the Good Little Witch.

I never thought of comics, but I loved those too--Superman, Batman, the Flash, the Justice League of America, etc. Every time I think of the garbage bag full of these thrown out during a move, I sob mentally.

Oh my, you don't want to know what collectors price them at, just don't look. I have baseball cards too, but not in mint condition. I don't have the comics either anymore, but I then went to serial books like The Man from Uncle series. They are original with little crescent shaped mouse nibbles on pages.

Ann M. Martin's Baby-sitters Club series was my absolute favorite. I read other girls' series of the time (The Gymnasts, Girl Talk, Camp Sunnyside Friends, Sleepover Friends, etc.) but BSC was it for me. I eventually acquired some 80 BSC books and I swear I read every single one of them at least 3 times over and some much more than that. Ah, good times.

Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
Lad: A Dog - Albert Payson Terhune
Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks With a Circus - James Otis Kaler
The Bobbsey Twins series - Laura Lee Hope
Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
a big book of fairy tales by Hans Christian Anderson

Two books that I loved as a child were Julia Ward Howe Girl of Old New York by Jean Brown Wagoner and A Sundae with Judy by Frieda Friedman. About 5 years ago, after being haunted for many years by memories of both books, I finally did an online seach and was able to add them to my library.

>12 SqueakyChu: Yes, Lad: A Dog!! It's one of the few titles I remember even though I don't own it -- it isn't on my bookshelves where I can come across it every so often. I need to reread it and see why I loved it so much.

Hands down my favorite was Harriet the Spy. It's still easily in my all-time top 10.

Also:
Nancy Drew series
Encyclopedia Brown series
The Bobbsey Twins series
Fifty Famous Fairy Tales
Taffy's Tips to Teens

My childhood best friend loved Watership Down and I keep seeing it on LT so I want to read it, too.

Many many many of my childhood favorites have already been mentioned, but I want to add:

Little House on the Prairie and the rest of the series
the Betsy-Tacy books

My favorite children's book both as a child and now is The Butter Battle Book, I love(d) The Lorax as well. A little later, it was Bobbsey Twins, The Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, and The Babysitter's Club. I think I read Where the Red Ferns Grow about 10 times in 2nd and 3rd grade, I would take it out of the library EVERY time we went.

When I was just starting to read, it was Fox in Socks ... by the time I was 10 or so, I was really into Doc Savage books and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar series.

When I was really young, I used to make my mother read Pussy Willow all the time. It's about the only book I can remember someone reading to me... and she used to dread it because it was such a long story.

Other favorites when I was a little older:

The Chronicles of Narnia - my favorite one of these changed every so often, but I especially liked The Last Battle
The Nancy Drew series
Little House in the Big Woods and the rest of the series
Encyclopedia Brown
Hardy Boys
Mandie and the Secret Tunnel and the rest of the series (though I was too old for it by the time there were 30 some odd books)

I've had so many favorites it would be hard to narrow down. My timeline from as little as I can remember up through highschool is as follows:

Are You My Mother?
The Serendipity books
Ramona the Pest
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
White Fang
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Prydain series
Watership Down
The Xanth series
The M.Y.T.H. Adventure series
The Unicorn Creed

Those are the ones I remember at the moment.

Pre-elementary:

smokey the bear

When I was in elementary school my favorites were:

Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators
Bridge to terabithia
light in the Forest
White Fang
Call of the Wild
Adventures of Tom sawyer
Huck finn
my side of the mountain
when the legends die
mouse and the motorcycle all of them
bunnicula all of them
zork choose your own adventures books
and my absolute favorite where the red fern grows
There were a lot more...but it was a long time ago.

As a teen I liked all the Dragonlance and Xanth novels along with Winter of the World Trilogy, the Iron Tower Trilogy and that's all that's coming to mind at the moment.

Pre-elementary:

smokey the bear

When I was in elementary school my favorites were:

Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators
Bridge to terabithia
light in the Forest
White Fang
Call of the Wild
Adventures of Tom sawyer
Huck finn
my side of the mountain
when the legends die
mouse and the motorcycle all of them
bunnicula all of them
zork choose your own adventures books
chronicles of narnia

and my absolute favorite where the red fern grows
There were a lot more...but it was a long time ago.

The Babysitter's Club series consumed most of my elementary school life, as well as the Little House books. I also really liked The Boxcar Children..although I can't remember now what they were even about. Nobody's Fault by Patricia Hermes was a random book I used to check out of the library over and over. I also really loved anything scary.. The Fear Street series, Goosebumps, Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark. Shel Silverstein's books, Charlotte's Web & the Wayside School books were other favorites.

Ahh, now I want to go to the library and read all of these again.

My dad always read us books like The Rainbow Goblins by Ul De Rico or The Lady with the Ship on her Head by Deborah Lattimore. I always wonder if thats why I become a artist, everything we read was so visually interesting!

Well, I have to start off with a cliche, but Are you there God? It's me, Margaret was a big fave back in the day, as were most all of Judy Blume's ya books. Among the stand-outs for me were Tiger Eyes, Deenie, and, of course, Forever. I also loved C.S. Lewis and Alice in Wonderland. And a little known book called The Distant Summer by Sarah Patterson, who was only 14 when her book was published. Longing to be a writer when I was only 14, her young success inspired me (for a short time). Apparently, she hasn't been published since, so what do I know?

.19. Jenson_AKA_DL:

I loved, loved, loved the rats of NIMH!!

Does anyone remember the movie? I saw that way before I ever read the book. I also remember a similarly-styled favorite, the great mouse detective or something.

And My Side of the Mountain is FANTASTIC.

I loved all of Roald Dahl's books, Little House on the Prairie, the Dear America series, although my favorite was the first one about Remember Patience Whipple, Anne of Green Gables, Princess Nevermore, For the Love of Pete, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, Mrs Frisbee and the Rats of NIMH, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, and Charlotte's Web. I read all of those so many times that I can generally still remember the characters and events from the books - I almost never can a few months after I've finished a book now. I also loved The Boxcar Children, Animorphs, and sometimes Goosebumps books.

Orlando the Marmalade cat books, Enid Blyton's "adventure " series ( The island of adventure, the castle of adventure, etc) , the LAura ingalls Wilder books, Marianne dreams, The gone away lake books, HArriet the spy, Beatrix Potter. That's all I can remember at present. Does anyone else remember Orlando the marmalade cat ?

I read every L. M. Montgomery book I could get my hands on, but Emily Climbs was a special favorite. I eventually had to replace my copy because the cover fell off. I was also obsessed with the Animorphs series. Every month I'd wait for the next book to hit the shelves. I bought the chronicles books, the "Megamorphs" books, and even those choose-your-own-ending books they issued. Words cannot express my dismay when K. A. Applegate ended the series. I still can't bring myself to get rid of my copies even though I haven't touched them in years.

The Boxcar Children - I had completely forgotten about them. I loved the first one, but didn't pursue the series. Also loved Nancy Drew, Little Women and Little Men, Ann of Green Gables, Heidi, Winnie the Pooh, Dr. Suess, Bobbsey Twins, and Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. That was perhaps my very favorite.

Well, let's see...any Nancy Drew (The Clue in the Diary was my first), Caddie Woodlawn, Little Women, a biography for young children about Louisa May Alcott (don't remember the name, but I checked it out repeatedly in third grade), any Encyclopedia Brown, The Secret Garden, a biography on Houdini (again, no memory of the name of the book, but repeated readings), a book of poetry by Edward Lear and a pivotal book for me, A Wrinkle in Time.

Oh, my gosh, how could I forget? The books by Edward Eager, beginning with Half Magic. I loved those books. I read them to my daughter a few years ago and found that they are still wonderful.

Anything by Roald Dahl, Christopher Pike and V.C. Andrews - ah, so trashy!

I loved the Roald Dahl, the Lad: A dog books, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie books, anything by Beverly Cleary, especially having to do with Ribsy, and I was also a big Dr. Seuss lover. There was also another book I adored that I read over and over, Little Witch, I couldn't get enough of it!

All of the Nancy Drew series, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Charlotte's Web, Where the Red Fern Grows, My Side of the Mountain, Just as Long as We're Together, Lois Duncan, and Goosebumps... that's all I can remember for now

I still have a couple of my old Hardy Boys books. I remember fondly the flyers we would get at school from Scholastic Book Services; I used to beg my parents to buy me the latest Encyclopedia Brown book, as well as several others. I loved the Narnia books, and also At the Back of the North Wind, The Princess and the Goblin, and The Princess and Curdie. And I remember reading The Incredible Journey several times.

I also forgot to mention Walter Farley's The Black Stallion series. Loved them, though the first was certainly the best.

Hey, I was just thinking about Trixie Belden today and whatever happened to her. I loved her because she was a horse person. I was thinking of the new kids' series today and that is what brought to mind Trixie because that is the series I read. I don't know if there were as many series around then. I moved onto Agatha Christie in high school. I guess it was the mystery thing.

My all time favorite book as a kid was A Wrinkle in Time. I also loved the Ramona Quimby books, Nancy Drew books, Black Stallion books, and Dr. Seuss. I remember that my grandfather gave me a special copy of Alice in Wonderland which I treasured and now can't find. I also loved Lassie, Come-Home and Black Beauty, both books made me cry, and I do not know if I could read them now. I also remember loving Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates and I would read every book of fairy tales at the library. I loved seeing all the books out there when my kids were young, and I still buy kids books now (for the kid in me and the possibility of grandchildren).
--BJ
ETA In addition to the Ramona books, I liked the books about Ribsy and Henry Huggins.

>36 ejj1955:,
Oh, how did I forget about Walter Farley's books?? I LOVED that series, plus anything written by Marguerite Henry, especially the Misty of Chincoteague books. I STILL really want to go for the pony round up some year. Maybe when I have kids we'll read the books and go.

#6.. One of my favorite storytime themes when I was doing preschool storytime was "My mom read me these books when I was little and I'm old". I'm 27, but the students seemed to get a kick out of me calling myself old. I read The Monster at the End of this Book to my preschool students.

Anne Of Green Gables series, Little House on the Prarie Series (still reading those!), any Marguerite Henry books, Little Women, The Babysitter's Club series, The Black Stallion series, The Story of Ferdinand, any Jack London books such as White Fang, etc. and probably lots more that I can't remember!!

Little House on the Prarie, Ramona Quimby, any Enid Blyton I could get my hands on, Goosebumps, Horrible Histories, Redwall, The Babysitter's Club, The 'Animal Ark' series........thats what I can remember off the top of my head!!

It has been happy-making to read these messages and see the names of beloved old favorites: the Narnia books, JRR Tolkien, Half Magic, Secret Garden, the Alcott books, Wrinkle in Time, the Farley series and Georgette Heyer. Add also The Princess and Curdie, Curdie and the Goblins, Heinlein's juveniles (Have Spacesuit Will Travel, for example) and Traveller in Time by Allison Uttley. I also really loved classic Theodore Sturgeon.

Just fixed typo.

#43 bk04011

omg I LOVED A Traveller in Time and still do. Another favourite is The Great House by Cynthia Harnett which was my first 'historical' love and remains a comfort read when I am feeling sick or tired. I'd recommend The Great House to anyone who loves historical fiction.

I loved my poetry picturebook Hilda Boswell's Treasury of Poetry. I learned to read from that book, but stupidly left it behind when I moved out of my parents home to get married. Last year my husband tracked a copy down for me as a gift. Love it!
I also remember reading The Hundred and One Dalmations by Dodie Smith over and over. It was a firm favourite!
I loved Enid Blyton, especially The Wishing Chair stories. I read most of Roald Dahl's children's stories. Though I liked Danny, Champion of the World the best and read it many times, I did enjoy rereading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory often as well.
I don't recall what I read between those simpler tales and my mid-teen phase of horror books. How did I get from Enid Blyton to James Herbert? Yikes!

I loved Nancy Drew, maybe that is why mysteries are still my favorite. Little Women Little Men that is why I collect
Louisa May Alcott and Box Car Children I read alot when I was young, just can't remember to many.

Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune and any other of his dog books,
Black Stallion by Walter Farley and any other of his horsey books
Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders
and of course, Nancy Drew, any and all
oh and B is for Betsy

(this was fun!)

Danny Kaye's Stories from Faraway Places by Danny Kaye which I can still recite to this day.
My Treasury of Tales from Many Lands in Colour. By Bancroft of London.
and "Young Folks Library" a set of books with various stories from Peter Pan and Robin Hood to Sinbad and King Arthur. These books always moved with us and since my dad was in the army that was alot.

I remember absolutely devouring Nancy Drew books. I wouldn't mind reading one again just for the heck of it, for old time's sake. :o)

I also loved The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

When I was a child in Norway there was this awesome book club kinda thing on childrens TV. I think it was weekly or monthly, and after each program I went straight to the library to rent the featured book. There where a lot of good ones, but my favorite by far was this series about vampires: Der kleine Vampir - the Little Vampire - by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg

Though I remember finding my grandfathers copy of Sexus by Henry Miller and was mighty impressed.

Nancy Drew, of course (and I have a big box of the old yellow hardcovers my dad just shipped to me from California because he wanted them out of his garage).

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder...I had a bit of an obsession with ancient Egypt as a kid.

The Secret Garden, Encyclopedia Brown, Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing, Anne of Green Gables series (well, only really the first three, I think I lost interest when she grew up).

The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series...oh, and one of my very favorites, The Borrowers series.

Edited to add...can't forget Harriet the Spy. I remember keeping a notebook for awhile after reading that one, spying on people, I guess.

Little Women--everything Alcott
Little House books/L.I. Wilder
Beverly Cleary, especially Otis Spofford
Trixie Beldon series
Cherry Ames series
My Side of the Mountain
A Wrinkle in Time
Donna Parker series
As a pre-teen, I read all of DuJardin's "twin" books--
Double Date was the first--they were in high school; and ended with Double Wedding, I think. they were twins, Pam and Penny
And one that I related a lot to was called "Poor Felicity"--Felicity was a plain and sickly girl who traveled the Oregon Trail, but becomes strong and independent
And so many more I can't think of right now!

I think my favorite book from childhood was The Boxcar Children. I remember this being read to my third grade class a little each day and me never wanting it to end. I've been an avid reader since I was taught to read, but that is the book I remember most. As I got older I started getting into Nancy Drew, The Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley Twins series.

Loved the sadder ones by Astrid Lindgren, i.e. Mio, mein Mio and Die Brüder Löwenherz. Same goes for almost everything by Enid Blyton.

thought of some more...all series from that I read in the 60's

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
Pippi Longstocking
Miss Pickerell

Archie comics
and does anyone remember "Millie the Model" comics? My sisters & I adored those! There were paper dolls in each issue, and we would spend hours making clothes for them.

>51 AlaMich:, 55 - Mrs. Piggle Wiggle! Everyone always gives me blank stares when I mention her. I sometimes feel as if I fell into some alternate universe and read those books.

Ah, how I longed for a visit from Mrs. Piggle Wiggle where she'd have some creative solution for whatever issue I would be having (who knows) and how I'd agree to learn and learn from it! Although I never wanted to be the kid that was seeded from being dirty - that one always creeped me out. :)

Hardy Boy Series
Nancy Drew Series
Encyclopedia Brown
Little House Books
and does anyone remember The Happy Hollisters?

Now I am enjoying watching my son and daughter read some of the same series I read. My son actually has 257 Hardy Boy Books in his library.

The Chronicles of Narnia
Winnie the Pooh
The Anne of Green Gables books
Enid Blyton's St Clare's Series
The Chalet School books
The Redwall books
Harriet the Spy
The Saddle club books
The Nancy Drew stories
The Hardy Boys mysteries

And I'm sure there's a whole bunch more I've forgotten.

EDIT: But of course - Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John. That was my favourite of all her books, but I also enjoyed Rainbow Garden, The Tanglewoods' Secret and Twice Freed.

Narnia
LOTR
Half Magic
Wrinkle in Time
Secret Garden
Louisa May Alcott, especially Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Jo's Boys and An Old Fashioned Girl

Okay, I thought of another series that I really liked, but can't remember the name... it was about a motorcycle riding mouse. I think his name was Ralph, but I maybe wrong about that... anyone else remember this?

The Mouse and the Motorcycle!

anything at all by Beverly Cleary, really.

Yes!!! That was it... duh! I just couldn't get that name out of my mouth (fingers)....I also liked Ramona from Beverly Cleary as well.

I loved the Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh all of them
The Phantom Tollbooth
Tuck Everlasting
The Westing Game
Bunnicula all of them, esp. Howliday Inn
Everything Roald Dahl
The Secret Language
Charlotte's Web
Encyclopedia Brown
The Christy Miller series (anyone read those?)
All of the Wayside School books
Shel Silverstein
Black Beauty
The Littles all of them
Bridge to Terabithia and Where the Red Fern Grows
Chronicles of Narnia definitely loved The Magicians Nephew the best
Freddy the Detective
Harriet the Spy
The Indian in the Cupboard series
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic series
Midnight in the Dollhouse
Number the Stars
So many wonderful books! Thanks for a walk down memory lane.

#63...oooh, bookworm, I'd forgotten about The Westing Game! Loved that book!! And The Phantom Tollbooth, of course.

Many of the series we read when we were kids are being turned into graphic novels:
Hardy Boys
Nancy Drew
Baby-Sitters Club

Malcolm Saville's Lone Pine Club
Enid Blyton's Five Find-Outers series
E. Nesbit The Wouldbegoods; The Phoenix and the carpet; Five Children and It
I liked some of the Chalet School books but not all.
Elsie J. Oxenham's Abbey Girls series
The owl service by Alan Garner
The Secret garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
There was also a series of books called The (colour) fairy Book, e,g, The Blue fairy Book, The red fairy book, etc written in the 19th century.
The public library I used was very old-fashioned!!

My Grandma`s bookshelves were a treasure trove of old books that had belonged to my father and aunt. I especially remember Elsie Dinsmore and English Orphans Lots of Horation Alger books that I read before my cousin absconded with them. I am old, so you can see how old these titles must be! A few years ago, I did find a reprint of the Dinsmore book.The first Grown-Up book I remember was A Member of the Wedding. The librarian in our little town library was wonderful to encourage kids to read.Forgot How Green Was my Valley--it was wonderful.

>67 kerrlm:

See my list in post #7; I grew up reading older books, too, and remember Elsie Dinsmore.

>67 kerrlm: and 68, I remember Elsie Dinsmore...one of the only books that made me cry as a kid. I read several sequels, too, but stopped when they were all adults still living with their mother. :-)

Hmmm... let's see... Matilda and the other Roald Dahl books (I also liked Boy but never owned it), Enid Blyton's Famous Five, her farm stories (like The Children of Cherry Tree Farm) and school stories (St. Clare's and Mallory Towers). I read The Animals of Farthing Wood, Louisa May Alcott's The Chase, Lucy's Daniels' Animal Ark books, Anne of Green Gables and Swallows and Amazons, Chronicles of Narnia, Diary of a Young Girl, St. Tiggywinkles wildlife hospital stories by Les Stocker, and those really teenybopper books like the Point Horrors and Point Romances - and Sweet Valley High! I remember The Enchanted Horse by Magdalen Nabb always making me cry, and books being read to us at school - The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, Charlotte's Web and something about a little owl that had the whole class giggling. Wow, what a journey down memory lane!

OK, I had to edit this because I totally forgot about my obsession with Nancy Drew! I read voraciously, but at one point my teacher had to gently point out that I'd read nothing BUT Nancy Drew for weeks at a time and maybe I should give it a little rest! I reread What Katy Did over and over, and The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, and I collected Judy Blumes, and The Indian in the Cupboard, Animorphs, Goosebumps... I'd forgotten some of these until right now. The Babysitter Club books were more teeny ones, and Helen Cresswell's Return of the Psammead. OK I really have to stop now!

Ellie, was the little owl that had you all giggling Plop, the Owl who was Afraid of the Dark? My brother had that book and we both loved it.

For some reason the touchstone isn't loading.

The Chronicles of Narnia (Series)
Encyclopedia Brown (Series)
Wrinkle in Time (Series)
Clarence the TV Dog (Series)
Free to Be You and Me
Raggedy Ann Stories
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear (a puppet storybook)
Inside, Outside, upside Down (Picture Book)
Cowboy Dan (Picture Book)
Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever! (Picture Book)

and a whole lot more.

Oh man...what a great discussion. This has unlocked some part of my brain that had me forgetting way too many good books, and for that reason alone I love this post!! Okay, so here it goes...

The Wind in the Willows ...I forgot about this until I saw it mentioned...... I loved these stories!!

Same foes for Boxcar Children ...I adored these books and can't believe I forgot them!!

Same goes for the Wayside School stories! ...all the kids used to try to get these books before anyone else from the school library just like Where the Sidewalk Ends

And James and the Giant Peach .. I can still remember this vividly...I loved the characters..what a genius book.

Anybody remember Amber Brown is not a Crayon and the other books? I think I started reading these just because my name was Amber, but I loved these books! I always bought them in the Scholastic Reader...ahh Scholastic Reader..those were great.

When I was young enough to watch the Muppet Babies daily, oh, it just popped up in the touchstone! From Little Golden Book....my mom ordered me the whole set gradually off of some info-mercial and i LOVED those books. Unfortunately I gave them to some girls that lived next door to me once I aged a few years, and I highly regret it now! I still love the muppet babies..Gonzo all the way.

I also loved Heidi ...I still remember her straw bed vividly!

Anybody remember Silly Sally ? I loved this book! I remember when I was very young in school a librarian would come around so often and read to us and she had this as a HUGE book and would put it on an easle... "Silly Sally went to town walking backwards, upside down!" Loved it.

Oh!!!! Silly Sally just triggered a memory...once again...best discussion ever..lol.. Does anyone remember Amelia Bedelia ? I loved Amelia!! She was a maid...can't believe I forgot those..shame on me..

Where the Red Fern Grows I cried like a baby.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie ...this was so popular..such a great story!

Bernstein Bears I loved these books, and the tv show! It still cracks me up how they called each other "brother" and "sister" ..I can still remember Sister's outfit plain as day.

Angela and Diabola I stumbled across this in the school library around third grade and I thought I'd found some kind of dirty little secret LOL... it was about two sisters, and one was angelic where the other was devilish..after a brief summarization I had all of my classmates fleeing to the library to find it.

The Chimney Witches I love this book and have it on my shelf right now!

Black Beauty Enough said. I still hate thinking about that fire!

I forgot about The Story of Ferdinand until I got on here!!

Pippi Longstocking and I loved the movie just as much!

I forgot about Ramona too!!! I loved Ramona..that's another shame on me moment!

Indian in the Cupboard Still remember reading when he got shot with the tiny arrows...that was one of those books that made me leave my room and hurry and open the door up to see if my stuffed animals were moving around.

Oh! I should probably go to the book finders for this one..but it just made me think of that bear...oh shoot.....he wore a yellow raincoat? Can't think of it for anything.

Okay I think I'm done....whoo..had to get a pen and paper out so I don't forget any of these again LOL ....this has been my favorite discussion so far!!

oh, and Clifford the Big Red Dog can't leave Clifford out..!

The Bear in the Yellow Raincoat was Paddington Bear. I can't believe no one's mentioned E.B. White! ahh...The Trumpet of the Swan! I also loved The Cay, R.L. Stine, and the entire Sweet Valley High series...all the way up til Sweet Valley University when they started mentioning (gasp!) sex!

Paddington Bear! Ahhh! I was just discussing this with my mom and we were trying to remember again. You saved the day, it was driving us nuts!! And Sweet Valley High....loved those books! I never read Sweet Valley University though!

This is giving away our ages! Sweet Valley High and The Babysitter Club weren't around when I was young! I loved any of the Trixie Beldon books, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins. There was a series about a nurse too...I forget her name. And I was crazy about any Walter Farley book, especially Black Stallion and Man o' War. Oh yes -- and who could forget Anne of Green Gables, which got me reading anything and everything written by L.M. Montgomery.

Cherry Ames!

Tee-hee..you're so right lamplight...it is getting easier to differentiate the ages of different readers with this discussion.

#77 - Lamplight, I bet the nurse you are talking about was Cherry Ames. Yes, I am of the Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins era. I remember my daughter (now 35) reading Sweet Valley High books. I remember reading and loving Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and Wizard of Oz and all their sequels. I see many of the books that I loved are being mentioned here.

Yes, Cherry Ames. Thanks. I remembered the Ames part but then I kept thinking about Nancy Nurse....There used to be a doll called that and I just couldn't get past that name!

Yeah...I get picked on for my age a lot. I think I came into Sweet Valley High nearer to the end of its reign...I think the twins' story actually started in middle school, but I remember doing extra chores just so I could buy the new one when it came out. I had Every. Single. One.

But mom has always said that I have an old soul. I first read Romeo and Juliet in fifth grade, and it has been my favorite book ever since.

Romeo and Juliet in fifth grade! Go you. I read watered down teen versions of it at that age, and didn't start reading the real stuff until at least 7th grade.

"I had Every. Single. One. " I like how you said that. LOL

Language was always my thing, and I was big into poetry, so Shakespeare just made sense.

I really did have every one. Just so you knew I wasn't playing around! :P

As everyone else has said... ROALD DAHL! When I found out he had died before I was even born made me pretty sad, but I still love his books.

Also, for whatever reason I really liked The Bailey School Kids by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thorton Jones. I think I just enjoyed the new supernatural thing each book because each one is basically the same story.

And for picture books, Owen by Kevin Henkes because it made me laugh every single time I read it.

I loved The Black Stallion series, too. And I had forgotten about Misty of Chincoteague, also the Albert Payson Terhune dog books, like Lad: A Dog and all the rest. Nancy Drew, Penny Lambert, Cherry Ames. And I can't forget Eloise.

73: I remember the Amber Brown is Not a Crayon books. Ah, the trials of having the chicken pox during a trip abroad and having a friend with a chest much larger than yours...

73-Lmao....Finally someone who remembers Amber Brown !!....I think I still have one or two on my shelf..I really need to buy them all or get them from the library just for the heck of it. Good times. I still remember ordering them out of the Weekly Reader and I got a crayon key chain with Amber Brown is Not a Crayon I think I'm wearing it actually in my first grade photo!

wow...so many books....i read the whole nancy drew and hardy boys series even the newer ones that were in paperback....the three investigators.....encyclopedia brown (made me think)....bobbsie twins.....gordan korman books (canadian author)......readers digest magazines and the condensed books (we had a subscription).....archie comics.....time magazine.....national geographic......robert munch.....judy blume...tales of a fourth grade nothing....are you there god, it's me margaret....superfudge...roald dahl....wow i read a lot as a kid still do....love my library card. oh yeah and c.s lewis...read the whole narnia series and still have it....my apologies for not properly giving author/book credit.....

I read a lot of sports books, esp. sports biographies, so much so that my teacher thought I would wind up a sportswriter (nope). Bless that woman -- when I was done with my work she would let me leave class and go to the library. It was like being released from prison.

Several times in that small school's library I read The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key, though I can't remember a thing about it except the cover: a young man falling out of what looked like a circular ship or planet.

I read Scholastic Books that the teacher ordered, but I remember few of these except that I was attracted to books about dolphins, "strange but true" tales, and books about Houdini (?).

Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary has a special meaning to me. So special that I'm not going to share it. Thank you Beverly for the mouse and his motorcycle, the way he stretched his vowels when he got sleepy, and the fact that his helmet was half a ping-pong ball.

I read superhero comics: Spiderman, Justice League, Flash. I still have the first Spiderman comic book I owned, bought in 1974 at a small town, corner drugstore where they served delicious malts at the counter. They'd give you the tall glass and the big metal tumbler (that the malt was mixed in) along with it.

Watership Down. I had a pet rabbit, briefly.

Encyclopedia Brown, Hardy Boys, the Alfred Hitchcock series with the boy detectives (one of the books was named The House With a Clock In Its Walls). Sherlock Holmes and Ellery Queen. In junior high I subscribed to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and read every issue cover to cover. I don't even remember which writers I liked. At the time, it was all pretty good. Since then, I have not read one mystery.

Then when I was about 13 I read Tolkien and got knocked off the planet. I got hooked on mythology, The Odyssey, OMNI magazine, and things were never the same.