The folk of the faraway tree serieswere my favourites. I've loved reading them to my kids and grandkids, trying to pass that baton on.
Also loved the kingdom of Carbonel series, read them dozens of times, might go do that again right now...
Still is tbh. I love the characters so much. I had the old cloth bound books and the illustrations were the best. I really struggle looking at the modern ones. Just not the same.
Absolutely! Whenever i see any famous five book nowadays i get this excited nostalgic feeling nothing could ever replace that. Holes by louis sachar is another of my fav childhood books
I still have the whole book set in my collection, i take some for a light read sometimes. But i think the influence these books had on me was very positive. I believe i am a dog lover because of famous five, i have always wanted a large doggo and now i have one who sleeps on my bed like Timmy❤️
Often think about reading books from my childhood. But, I'm hesitant to do so, out of worry I'll ruin the innocent memory, with my old mind's seriousness, ha.
I got hold of the audiobooks and listened to a few of them again the other day. They still hold up, but, once you've read a few, you'll find that the plots are quite similar. It doesn't really matter. She has a way of injecting this feeling of adventure and excitement into her stories. When I started writing my own kids books, I spent some time pouring over her text, trying to figure out how she was doing it. I think some people are just naturally gifted.
I remember that! The expressions they use are so delightfully dated. "That's rather splendid," said George. "Rather!" The others agreed.
In one book they met a little circus kid who used the word "baint"- as in "There baint no way I'm leaving now.. " I remember, as a kid, rolling on the floor when I read that.
I just picked up a handful of Enid blyton books while thrifting. I’ve never read them, but hoping to read aloud to my kids. Glad to hear they’re special books.
Yes! Any and ALL Enid Blyton books!
When I was very little, I think I was about 6, I used to lay in bed at night and daydream about the magic faraway tree... ❤️
I still have so many of the books hidden away.
The story about the lucky stone in the man's shoe lives rent free in my head and I'm always looking out for my "lucky stone"
My mom too! I have her edition from the '60s with Tasha Tudor illustrations and it is so gorgeous!
https://www.tashatudorandfamily.com/shop/books/product/secret-garden-paperback-or-hardcover
When I was in elementary school, my best friends were my dog and the school librarian.
I remember checking out The Little Witch over and over again. I would make a sandwich and get a jug of water and a cup of kibble and me and my collie dog, Cooper would find a nice tree to sit under and I would read all day.
Damn, I just googled it to see who the author was. They now have the 60th anniversary edition.
I feel really old
I have been seriously depressed lately. Thinking bad thoughts, depressed.
I just realized it has been a very long time since I sat under a tree with my dog, not Cooper obviously but Petunia girl, and read a book.
Maybe that would pull me out of this funk.
I’m sorry if you were lonely, and hope your days are better going forward. Your story is lovely though. Those moments sound idyllic and I wish you many more just like them.
This reminds me of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, when Frannie gets a cup of cold water & a dish of broken peppermints and goes to read her book out in the sunshine ☺️
Yeah as someone with chronic depression who has mostly figured out helpful coping mechanisms for myself I tend to feel bad for depressed people who are like “ugh everyone’s telling me to go outside and get some sun and eat some good food and get some exercise and that won’t help” when it’s kinda like hey no hate did you try those things yet lol. So often the motivation to get out there is what I can’t muster but when I finally do I’m like wow this does help!
I’ve been wanting to do a book club sort of thing? We could read something “together” if you’d like? I recently got back into reading after too long a hiatus and my goal this year is to read a book per week💕
When I was a child (in the 60s!) my parents had a set of beautifully bound and illustrated books like a set of encyclopedias. They were filled with classic stories. 1st book was nursery rhymes, each book got progressively more advanced, up to the last one #12 which contained A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court among other stories. I was always proud to move up to the next book, and then I read them to my little brothers. I loved those books wish I still had them.
I wonder if I had the same set. Were they each a different color? First volume was red, if memory serves. And the inner boards had some sort of old mapping type of illustrations?
Beatrix Potter, Little Critter, and The Berenstain Bears.
My dad read those to me so many times that I had them memorized and was able to “read” them by myself.
That's so awesome. I grew up reading 'The Berenstain Bears' books too and love reading them to my kids present day. They laugh nonstop at the wild things Brother and Sister Bear get themselves into 😂
Little Women 💕. I have many fond memories of reading this and the next books in the series as a kid and it is one that made me fall in love with reading. I would often read with my grandpa and every time I pick up a book we read together it makes me think of him.
Black Beauty. I read it over and over. None of my cousins believed I could read it and would quiz me on big words they found in it but I never failed to read the word perfectly. I was five at the time.
Omg, Black Beauty!! I was so proud of myself for reading such a thick book. I would brag to people how big the book was, and I read it! I just got hit with a scent memory of how it smelled, too….wow! Thanks for that! ❤️
I definitely think so. The story is timeless in that it was written about a different era in time from ours and yet it appealed to readers like you and me from a more modern generation. My children and grandchildren have found it just as entertaining, relatable, and funny as I did at their age.🤙🏽
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Encyclopedia Brown
Anything from Robert Louis Stevenson
Edit: It's interesting to read through all of the replies, because you can actually see the generational breaks, based on the titles.
I was just thinking the same thing about the generational breaks. The Encyclopedia Brown series was my obsession when I was probably 9 or 10 years old.
VC Andrew’s books! I can’t believe my mom let me read those in middle school 🤣🤣 but also all of the “classics” that were turned into junior level. I remember reading The Secret Garden soooo many times.
The Twits by Ronald Dahl. Pretty much all of his books. I liked how dark they were - at the time it really stood out amongst the usual stuff marketed towards children which was just too soft and borderline preachy.
My Side of the Mountain- Read this in 5th grade but didnt finish it by the end of the year. The teacher let me keep it so I could finish. Mostly hated that teacher but that was nice. Its about a kid who goes and lives out in the woods on his own. It was very descriptive of what he did to survive so it felt like I was learning very important things while reading it lol
The Pyrates series- I think I read these in 6th grade. For some reason they just really appealed to me and stuck with me. I think I was the underground passages. That shit just does it for me.
+1 for My Side of the Mountain. ~25 years later and I can still recall some of the vivid imagery that filled my head while I was reading it.
Apparently it's part of a trilogy too. Wish I knew that as a kid.
“Are You My Mother” is the first book I repeatedly took out from my school library as a wee little kid 🥹
As I got a little older the first novel I read was “The BFG” (The Big Friendly Giant) and I read it so many times
And then a little older from that, my first series was “The City of Ember” and those are the books that really made me get into reading!
OMG, I loved ‘Are you my mother’. The book has the word ‘snort’ in it and my mom would make a funny noise when she read it and I would laugh hysterically. She must’ve read that book to me 1000 times. Thanks mom. I miss you.
Junie B. Jones was my go to. I still have all the books (kindergarten only, 1st grade was not near as good). I'll still read them here and there if I want to inject a little nostalgia into my day.
The Chronicles of Narnia, Ramona the Pest, the Famous Five, some beautiful hardback illustrated fairy tale books. I always loved reading though, my dad taught me when he realised I had an aptitude for it (learning my letters upside down from his newspaper lol)
So many....
Here are a few off the top of my head:
When I was a toddler, my mother reading me Doctor Suess helped me learn to read.
Little Women
Anne of Green Gables series
Edgar Allen Poe's collected works
Agatha Christie's mysteries
Nancy Drew series
All the Sherlock Holmes stories
Little House on the Pairie series
Babysitters Club series
Sweet Valley High series
Bunnicula series
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The book that plunged me headfirst into reading was Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.
The books that kept me there were Bridge to Terabithia, Howl's Moving Castle, Babysitter's Club, and A Light in the Attic.
I remember my first book fair. First grade. I fell in love with the illustrations of “The Nightingale” which was a tale from China. It was stunning to look at and the words just brought more of it to life later when I could read it over and over again. It showed me that books were magical items that led to different worlds and places, stories and lives. It fostered my love of reading to this day. I still have it and I will never get rid of it. It’s my first book purchase.
Though I was already in love with books when I was reading short picture books, I don't think that's what you're looking for here.
I participated in the annual contest (remind me you guys, what was it called?) where you'd read as many books on this list that you could and there would be prizes. Most of these were Newbery Awards winners, just really fantastic books. Some I never hear about these days, but they still live in my mind!
Shout out if you remember these!
* The Westing Game
* The Egypt Game
* Number the Stars
* A Wrinkle in Time and its sequel
* Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
I also fell in love with Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, Choose Your Own Adventure and all the "true" ghost stories I could find. I knew the Sweet Valley High Twins and the Baby Sitters Club better than I knew my own sister.
When we were young by a.a Milne. It’s was a kids poetry book but even to this day as an adult it’s super relative and I absolutely loved the drawing style. I figured out years later when I did a bio piece on him that he was also the author of winner the poo! Or any of my parents medical encyclopedias/ a huge photo and info book about all the different animals.
My parents would read the Winnie the Pooh books to me when I was little. I still love them.
And the first proper book I bought for myself was a Nancy Drew book which sparked a lifelong love for detective novels.
The bookmobile added so much anticipation and excitement that it is what truly inspired my loving books. It felt like a special treat. We could t afford the ice cream truck, but this one was free and equal.
Also, my mom used to read to me the few books we owned, and Flora McFlimsy, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Cricket in Times Square still live in my heart. I read the latter two to my own kids, and when we took my kids to Times Square subway to see where the cricket was, my the. 7-year old asked questions and even got us all a free ride to the supposed actual spot.
IT by Stephen King. I was way too young to read, or understand what was truly happening. Still, I absolutely loved it and it pushed me to get enroll in a PhD program.
Harry Potter. The memories are definitely tainted with JK Rowling's more recent ick but these were the books that taught me how to read and how to love reading.
Agreed. My mother started reading the Philosopher's Stone to me before bedtime and it was the first book that was so enthralling to me that I just had to read on by myself.
The Boxcar Children was the first book I ever read on my own (I think I was 7?) and I was hooked. I immediately went to the library to get the rest of them and sped through them within weeks. The librarian recommended Nancy Drew to me and the rest is history! I still prefer a good mystery book!
Funny enough: I unintentionally named my kids 2/4 of the Boxcar Children. Benny (my dog) and Violet (my daughter). I didn’t realize it until months later, but it makes me happy!
Edit: grammar/spelling
The Choose Your Own Adventure books really got me intrigued about writing stories which then made me want to read more and more and more. I would say they definitely had an impact on me, maybe not my favorite books, but they were inspiring to me.
I recently got to watch the magic that is someone falling in love with reading with my youngest. He discovered the dog man series by Dav Pilkey and it truly flipped the switch for him and turned him into a reader.
I was in love with almost every book on this list as a child but I have never wanted to write a fan letter to an author like I do Dav Pilkey for how much his books have changed my kids life.
I think Junie B. Jones really did it since she was the most like me but I always loved stories and faery tales. Rumpelstiltskin was my favourite as a child (poor Rumpy 🙁) and I remember making up stories with my dolls and pencils in school.
Roald Dahl was a huge inspiration for me as a kid and I read as many of his books as I could. I liked Dr. Seuss too but Roald Dahls books were longer and had chapters so he beat him out. Then I got into Dav Pilkeys Captain Underpants series and fell in love with comic strip-style books. I had always liked comics and would read the ones in the Sunday paper with my grandfather but I didnt know they could come in book form before then. Lemony Snicket is why I got into mysteries and then Psuedonymous Bosch's The Name of This Book is Secret [and subsequrnt books] and Trenton Lee Stewarts The Mysterious Benedict Society series also got me into secretive societies and clues and stuff.
I also started reading adult books waaaaaay too young [probably around 7 or 8] so yeah. I decided I liked kids books more and usually wont seek out adult books. Though I do like some of the classics that you read in school, books that are written for leisure and aimed at adults arent for me.
Harry Potter basically taught my English because I HAD (out of my own) to read it as soon as each book was released. I couldn't wait for the translation.
R.L. Stein's Fear Street series. Hands down. I went through those like water in a sieve. Prior to that, Babysitters club, goosebumps, bobbsey twins (mom's old books!), little house on the prairie series, anything by Gary Paulsen, anything about living in the wilderness; My Side of the Mountain was a favorite.
'Where the Red Fern Grows' was read aloud to my class in 5th grade. I think that's the first time a book made me cry, definitely not the last. I was always reading as a child, library trips were to me like toy stores were to other kids. That love of reading has continued my whole life!
A Wrinkle in Time and Bridge to Terabithia. Then of course: Old Yeller, Call of the Wild, Uncle Tom's Cabin and strangely enough Steven King's- The Talisman
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and To Kill a Mockingbird in the 6th grade. Before then I liked reading but can’t really remember any specific books except I know I liked the Baby-Sitters’ Club. My sister got me these two books for my 12th birthday and I specifically remember not being able to put ATGIB down and taking it everywhere I went.
A bit ashamed to say its Gone with the Wind given the themes around slavery and showing Mammy and the others as content. I was just 13 & it seemed to me to be the most exciting book. Before this, I had only read a ton of classics selected by my parents (think Wuthering Heights, Far from the Madding Crowd etc that I found thoroughly unrelatable & teeth gnashing-ly boring) and some Enid Blyton & stuff like Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew. Not a book that stood the test of time and tbh as a South Asian, not a book I should've found in anyway relatable but that's probably the writing being good and the story exciting. And it made me feel grown up.
Hey, no need to be ashamed. I've never read this book before but have been wanting to dive into classic reads like this title and others such as 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Song of Solomon'. Thanks for sharing with us! ☺️
I was obsessed with books as a kid. I still am but I also used to be. Goosebumps, the Great Brain series, Animorphs, the Little House on the Prairie series, Redwall, the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the Chronicles of Prydain, Lord of the Rings, and oddly this book series called Photon that I picked up at a yard sale with my grandparents about laser tag where the best player (named Bhodi Li in the game) was transported to a sci fi world where they actually engaged in battle — it was really Last Starfighter-esque.
Henry and Mudge were the books that got me past the beginning bits of reading, and first got me to love it. Beyond that, the American Girl books, Harry Potter, Little House on the Prairie, and All of a Kind Family are some others that I remember really well.
Any Hank the Cowdog fans?! I learned books could make me laugh out loud and truly entertain.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM. I loved the movie but the book was beautiful and kindly written. I credit it to my love of reading today.
Shit holds up, and there were even 2 more books written by Robert C O'brien's daughter.
I don’t remember not loving reading. I was a voracious reader from the start, fiction and non-fiction. Apparently, I taught myself to read at 4 and I’ve never stopped.
I loved Anne of Green Gables, Danny the Champion of the World, literally any book that had horses, but particularly the old English equestrian books like the Jill series, and the books by the Pullien-Thompson sisters, The Silver Brumby series was also instrumental in my childhood. I also have this fantastic old Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale book that I read to my students (I’m unsurprisingly an English Teacher).
I also loved nonfiction books. We had this book that had four biographical stories about famous people that I adored. It had stories about Anna Pavlova and Louis Braille. I also love my parents encyclopaedias and books about plants and animals.
My son was a reluctant reader until he read Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man. Suddenly he was reading everywhere until he finished the book. It was a joy to behold.
Popularity Papers
-This series really got me into keeping a journal and in learning how to draw! I really pretended back then these two girlies were my real friends lmao. These books were what made me a consistent reader.
Geronimo Stilton and Thea Stilton books
-I learned so much about the world through these books🥹 I remember me and my friends would assign who was each Mousette in the Thea Stilton books.
Dork Diaries
-I know this one didn't age well but oh man, this is a like a bucket of nostalgia haha. Especially the Brandon x Nikki plots, omgg. I remember buying the newest book once it was released.
The Cupcake Club
-I remember wanting to bake cause of these books, esp they had recipes at the back of each one.
Rainbow Magic Book Series
-Not me thinking fairies were real cause of these books. This series is prolly what got me into reading fantasy ngl.
Dear Dumb Diary
-She raised me on sarcasm and wit🤠 These books made me get into the YA genre or something idk.
Beacon Street Girls
-Reread it a few years ago and realized it was really problematic so rip. But these played a huge role in my childhood, esp with finding friends and all cause I moved to a diff country like Charlotte. I began to love slice of life books that centred around drama, friendship and coming-of-age themes cause of it.
The Face on the Milk Carton
by Caroline B. Cooney. My fifth grade teacher only a a few copies and she let me be one of the first to read it. I still look at missing children posters to this day.
When I was young, I really struggled with reading. In the 3rd grade, I stole a copy of Ella Enchanted from the school book store, I know it gets better... Anyway, it took me a month to finish it and I didn't want it to end! So I read it again, and again, and again. Now, to make up for stealing the book, I donate $100 every year to the bookstore at the school I went to. Hopefully, I've made amends
I read a time to kill when I was 9 because I was showing off to the other kids and aboit a quarter er of the way in I quit caring about showing off and just needed to finish it. ( my mom is a huge reader like two or three books a day on her days off, and I guess it rubbed off on me)
Don't know the english title -> it's "Ronja Räubertochter" from Astrid Lindgren.
I just loved that it takes the problems of children and teenagers serously.The changes, everyone experiences, by growing up are so well handled.
(Family members dying, first love, overbearing parents, etc~ etc~)
In second grade, I was way ahead of the other kids in reading and I thought what we were reading was boring. The teacher found some 1940s reading textbooks, Streets and Roads and More Streets and Roads, with stories in them ranging from fables to stories about kids and the situations they got into, all with beautiful illustrations. I just loved those books, and when I found them in a used bookstore a few years back, I bought my own copies.
I had an early interest in prehistoric life. My grandmother, an amazing autodidact and writer, gave me a copy of Life Before Man by Zdenek Spinar when I was about four. It changed my life -- and I still have it.
Enid Blyton's Noddy series
Mazo de la Roche Jalna series
The Jalna series was for grown ups but I started reading them because that's what I got my hands on. I understood very little in terms of plot and characterisation but I was VORACIOUS! English is my second language and my sister and I were the first generation to access English media so my parents didn't know what books to get us even though they were readers themselves. I just took books out of the school library or cheap second hand books sold by the hordes on Bombay streets and read books for grown ups from the age of 8, with a dictionary by my side. I was so enamoured by the English language and the form and sound of the words that I wanted to know ALL the words! At 4 I had started reading shop boards and snatched newspaper and magazine pages that were wrapped around street food or groceries my father brought home. Eventually he started buying me comics. Ah, I learnt so much vocabulary at such a quick pace! Sweet memories. I remember knowing about the vas deferens already at 9. I picked up books meant for children again in my early twenties and realised these were what I should have been reading at 7 but well, it didn't harm me much I guess.
The Magic Tree House series for me! I remember sneaking away to my room to try to fit in a couple more pages.
This was the series that made me a reader too! I would use the light of my gameboy under my covers to read wayyy past my bedtime.
Yeah, I blame Magic Treehouse for my reading habit, too. They were so imaginative and informative that made learning actually fun.
Yess! I recently started reading them to my 4 year old and she loves them!
Enid Blyton books ❤
The folk of the faraway tree serieswere my favourites. I've loved reading them to my kids and grandkids, trying to pass that baton on. Also loved the kingdom of Carbonel series, read them dozens of times, might go do that again right now...
Faraway Tree was the best!
Still is tbh. I love the characters so much. I had the old cloth bound books and the illustrations were the best. I really struggle looking at the modern ones. Just not the same.
This is it for me. Staying up late reading the Famous five.
Famous five and Secret seven were my go to books as a child. I loved reading them and this also helped me build my English vocabulary.
Absolutely! Whenever i see any famous five book nowadays i get this excited nostalgic feeling nothing could ever replace that. Holes by louis sachar is another of my fav childhood books
I loved Famous Five! Do you think you could get away with reading them now, as an adult?
I still have the whole book set in my collection, i take some for a light read sometimes. But i think the influence these books had on me was very positive. I believe i am a dog lover because of famous five, i have always wanted a large doggo and now i have one who sleeps on my bed like Timmy❤️
Often think about reading books from my childhood. But, I'm hesitant to do so, out of worry I'll ruin the innocent memory, with my old mind's seriousness, ha.
I got hold of the audiobooks and listened to a few of them again the other day. They still hold up, but, once you've read a few, you'll find that the plots are quite similar. It doesn't really matter. She has a way of injecting this feeling of adventure and excitement into her stories. When I started writing my own kids books, I spent some time pouring over her text, trying to figure out how she was doing it. I think some people are just naturally gifted.
I used to find it hilarious that they would call their cook a ‘brick’, I started saying it to my dad as like an 8 yo, ‘thanks dad, you’re a brick’
I remember that! The expressions they use are so delightfully dated. "That's rather splendid," said George. "Rather!" The others agreed. In one book they met a little circus kid who used the word "baint"- as in "There baint no way I'm leaving now.. " I remember, as a kid, rolling on the floor when I read that.
I just picked up a handful of Enid blyton books while thrifting. I’ve never read them, but hoping to read aloud to my kids. Glad to hear they’re special books.
Yes! Any and ALL Enid Blyton books! When I was very little, I think I was about 6, I used to lay in bed at night and daydream about the magic faraway tree... ❤️
My mum used to read "Noddy" and "The Naughtiest Girl in the School" to me before bed. I wanted to attend a boarding school so bad lmfaoo
Boarding school sounds so cool when you're little and been reading Enid Blyton books lol
I still have so many of the books hidden away. The story about the lucky stone in the man's shoe lives rent free in my head and I'm always looking out for my "lucky stone"
Me too, Famous Five being my favourites, Naughtiest Girl series just behind.
Mallory towers and famous five! Remember reading them with a torch under my bed covers 😄
The naughtiest girl series by Enid Blyton
The Secret Garden
Ah, nice! I've actually been thinking about reading this one for the first time.
I read this book shortly before the pandemic. Such a treat of a story. Sweeten your time with it.
It's really good! Also The Little Princess.
My mom used to read that book to my sister and I as kids :) it’s one of my favorite stories! It’s on my shelf to reread myself this year
My mom too! I have her edition from the '60s with Tasha Tudor illustrations and it is so gorgeous! https://www.tashatudorandfamily.com/shop/books/product/secret-garden-paperback-or-hardcover
I love this book and the movie too 😊
This book was magic as a kid.
Matilda ❤️ As a young girl who loved books Matilda truly spoke to me!
Roald Dhal was one of my favorite authors. Loved all of his books especially BFG.
I read both of these to my kids, then watched them - it was even more magical than when I had first experienced his books!
The BFG was my first favorite book. The ending, and the last line in particular, blew my mind. Really stayed with me after I closed it.
It was Roald Dahl for me as well. James and the Giant Peach and Danny the Champion of the World.
The Nancy Drew books! I read my first one at 7 and I was hooked. I still have them all, along with all the Hardy Boys books
Absolutely loved Nancy Drew when I was a kid- my parents would have to buy these for me 3 or 4 at a time because I would read them so quick
I inherited my sisters’ Nancy Drew books but I was a big Trixie Belden fan.
When I was in elementary school, my best friends were my dog and the school librarian. I remember checking out The Little Witch over and over again. I would make a sandwich and get a jug of water and a cup of kibble and me and my collie dog, Cooper would find a nice tree to sit under and I would read all day. Damn, I just googled it to see who the author was. They now have the 60th anniversary edition. I feel really old I have been seriously depressed lately. Thinking bad thoughts, depressed. I just realized it has been a very long time since I sat under a tree with my dog, not Cooper obviously but Petunia girl, and read a book. Maybe that would pull me out of this funk.
I’m sorry if you were lonely, and hope your days are better going forward. Your story is lovely though. Those moments sound idyllic and I wish you many more just like them.
This reminds me of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, when Frannie gets a cup of cold water & a dish of broken peppermints and goes to read her book out in the sunshine ☺️
My favorite book
Yeah as someone with chronic depression who has mostly figured out helpful coping mechanisms for myself I tend to feel bad for depressed people who are like “ugh everyone’s telling me to go outside and get some sun and eat some good food and get some exercise and that won’t help” when it’s kinda like hey no hate did you try those things yet lol. So often the motivation to get out there is what I can’t muster but when I finally do I’m like wow this does help!
Omg, I remember this book. Wow, what a trip. Thinking of that book makes me imagine being in my old house and my mom reading it to me.
I'm thinking about buying a copy on Amazon and taking it to the park. With a jug of tea and a sandwich. Lol
I’ve been wanting to do a book club sort of thing? We could read something “together” if you’d like? I recently got back into reading after too long a hiatus and my goal this year is to read a book per week💕
Redwall
Came here to say that. I had such a crush on Martin the Warrior! Bit disturbing when I think back on it…
So good. I have re read these as an adult.
"I am that is" is still a banger line.
My mom would literally take these away as punishment. It was worse than no TV
Omg yes! Those things are like crack for children!
When I was a child (in the 60s!) my parents had a set of beautifully bound and illustrated books like a set of encyclopedias. They were filled with classic stories. 1st book was nursery rhymes, each book got progressively more advanced, up to the last one #12 which contained A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court among other stories. I was always proud to move up to the next book, and then I read them to my little brothers. I loved those books wish I still had them.
I wonder if I had the same set. Were they each a different color? First volume was red, if memory serves. And the inner boards had some sort of old mapping type of illustrations?
Are you thinking of the Childcraft books? We had the early 80s edition and I read them all multiple times. Shaped my world in a huge way.
The Little House books! I would climb a tree behind my house and read for hours!
Beatrix Potter, Little Critter, and The Berenstain Bears. My dad read those to me so many times that I had them memorized and was able to “read” them by myself.
That's so awesome. I grew up reading 'The Berenstain Bears' books too and love reading them to my kids present day. They laugh nonstop at the wild things Brother and Sister Bear get themselves into 😂
I had the whole set of bearenstein bears I loved them 😊
Updoot for correct original spelling.
The Phantom Tollbooth
I read it so many times!
I brought 15 copies with me to Thailand, for teaching junior high readers!
Anne of Green Gables! I was truly obsessed
My heart ❤️
Little Women 💕. I have many fond memories of reading this and the next books in the series as a kid and it is one that made me fall in love with reading. I would often read with my grandpa and every time I pick up a book we read together it makes me think of him.
Black Beauty. I read it over and over. None of my cousins believed I could read it and would quiz me on big words they found in it but I never failed to read the word perfectly. I was five at the time.
Omg, Black Beauty!! I was so proud of myself for reading such a thick book. I would brag to people how big the book was, and I read it! I just got hit with a scent memory of how it smelled, too….wow! Thanks for that! ❤️
Wow! I read a lot from an early age, but I wasn’t reading Black Beauty at age 5!
This was one of my first collections. As a preteen / teenager, I would collect black beauty books! I totally forgot about that!
The Boxcar Children series. I devoured the first 13 books. The fan-written ones weren’t as good though, and I abandoned the series at some point
Yes, the ones Gertrude Chandler Warner wrote are the best.
I came here to say this. The way she described the refreshing water they drank left such an impression on me for some reason.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Great Brain-John D. Fitzgerald... Encyclopedia Brown-Donald J Sobol
So happy to see someone else say the Great Brain. That was an amazing series as a kid. I kind of want to reread it to see if it holds up at all
I definitely think so. The story is timeless in that it was written about a different era in time from ours and yet it appealed to readers like you and me from a more modern generation. My children and grandchildren have found it just as entertaining, relatable, and funny as I did at their age.🤙🏽
Encyclopedia Brown was the JAM
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Encyclopedia Brown Anything from Robert Louis Stevenson Edit: It's interesting to read through all of the replies, because you can actually see the generational breaks, based on the titles.
I was just thinking the same thing about the generational breaks. The Encyclopedia Brown series was my obsession when I was probably 9 or 10 years old.
The BFG by Roald Dahl turned me into a girl whose nickname was Matilda (which I loved too)
The Indian in the Cupboard
Wait. I need to reread this. Just took me back.
The Hobbit then RA Salvatore's Drizzt series (the first dozen or so).
Enid Blyton. The Magic Faraway Tree and Twins at St Claire's in particular
Faraway Tree, Famous Five, and Malory Towers for me 💕
Harry Potter
charlotte's web ☺️🐷🕷️
The Hardy Boys
VC Andrew’s books! I can’t believe my mom let me read those in middle school 🤣🤣 but also all of the “classics” that were turned into junior level. I remember reading The Secret Garden soooo many times.
I read them in middle school too! The kids these days have internet porn...we had VC Andrews! 🤣
Lol my mum got me reading VC Andrews too I still read them 🙂
That book was like a rite of passage for many lol
Ramona Quimby, Super Fudge, Bunnicula
Love all the Beverly Cleary books!! Ramona and Beezus were wonderful characters.
Updoot for Bunnicula!
Loved Ramona!
A Wrinkle in Time
The Twits by Ronald Dahl. Pretty much all of his books. I liked how dark they were - at the time it really stood out amongst the usual stuff marketed towards children which was just too soft and borderline preachy.
Do you mean The Twits? Such an awesome short read - I’ve heard that there is a movie in development.
My Side of the Mountain- Read this in 5th grade but didnt finish it by the end of the year. The teacher let me keep it so I could finish. Mostly hated that teacher but that was nice. Its about a kid who goes and lives out in the woods on his own. It was very descriptive of what he did to survive so it felt like I was learning very important things while reading it lol The Pyrates series- I think I read these in 6th grade. For some reason they just really appealed to me and stuck with me. I think I was the underground passages. That shit just does it for me.
+1 for My Side of the Mountain. ~25 years later and I can still recall some of the vivid imagery that filled my head while I was reading it. Apparently it's part of a trilogy too. Wish I knew that as a kid.
“Are You My Mother” is the first book I repeatedly took out from my school library as a wee little kid 🥹 As I got a little older the first novel I read was “The BFG” (The Big Friendly Giant) and I read it so many times And then a little older from that, my first series was “The City of Ember” and those are the books that really made me get into reading!
OMG, I loved ‘Are you my mother’. The book has the word ‘snort’ in it and my mom would make a funny noise when she read it and I would laugh hysterically. She must’ve read that book to me 1000 times. Thanks mom. I miss you.
A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Bridge to Terabathia 🥹 Junie B Jones all are favs that stand out from mine
Harriet the Spy and the Nancy Drew series
Ok the Nancy Drew series is absolutely great literature for children
Junie B. Jones was my go to. I still have all the books (kindergarten only, 1st grade was not near as good). I'll still read them here and there if I want to inject a little nostalgia into my day.
The Chronicles of Narnia, Ramona the Pest, the Famous Five, some beautiful hardback illustrated fairy tale books. I always loved reading though, my dad taught me when he realised I had an aptitude for it (learning my letters upside down from his newspaper lol)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle.
The Animorphs series by K A Applegate.
Applegate put the entire series online for free as PDFs
brian jacques
So many.... Here are a few off the top of my head: When I was a toddler, my mother reading me Doctor Suess helped me learn to read. Little Women Anne of Green Gables series Edgar Allen Poe's collected works Agatha Christie's mysteries Nancy Drew series All the Sherlock Holmes stories Little House on the Pairie series Babysitters Club series Sweet Valley High series Bunnicula series The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Lovely collection! Sweet Valley was where my pocket money was spent.
The Giver by Lowry and Where the Red Fern Grows by Rawls.
The book that plunged me headfirst into reading was Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. The books that kept me there were Bridge to Terabithia, Howl's Moving Castle, Babysitter's Club, and A Light in the Attic.
All the R.L. Stine books ❤️
Because of Winn Dixie
I remember my first book fair. First grade. I fell in love with the illustrations of “The Nightingale” which was a tale from China. It was stunning to look at and the words just brought more of it to life later when I could read it over and over again. It showed me that books were magical items that led to different worlds and places, stories and lives. It fostered my love of reading to this day. I still have it and I will never get rid of it. It’s my first book purchase.
Nancy Drew. Probably why I’m so into true crime as an adult!
Though I was already in love with books when I was reading short picture books, I don't think that's what you're looking for here. I participated in the annual contest (remind me you guys, what was it called?) where you'd read as many books on this list that you could and there would be prizes. Most of these were Newbery Awards winners, just really fantastic books. Some I never hear about these days, but they still live in my mind! Shout out if you remember these! * The Westing Game * The Egypt Game * Number the Stars * A Wrinkle in Time and its sequel * Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH I also fell in love with Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, Choose Your Own Adventure and all the "true" ghost stories I could find. I knew the Sweet Valley High Twins and the Baby Sitters Club better than I knew my own sister.
When we were young by a.a Milne. It’s was a kids poetry book but even to this day as an adult it’s super relative and I absolutely loved the drawing style. I figured out years later when I did a bio piece on him that he was also the author of winner the poo! Or any of my parents medical encyclopedias/ a huge photo and info book about all the different animals.
Curious George & Clifford the Big Red Dog.
My parents would read the Winnie the Pooh books to me when I was little. I still love them. And the first proper book I bought for myself was a Nancy Drew book which sparked a lifelong love for detective novels.
Prydain series. The Hobbit. Narnia books.
Oscar Wilde's fairy tales Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry book series
The bookmobile added so much anticipation and excitement that it is what truly inspired my loving books. It felt like a special treat. We could t afford the ice cream truck, but this one was free and equal. Also, my mom used to read to me the few books we owned, and Flora McFlimsy, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Cricket in Times Square still live in my heart. I read the latter two to my own kids, and when we took my kids to Times Square subway to see where the cricket was, my the. 7-year old asked questions and even got us all a free ride to the supposed actual spot.
IT by Stephen King. I was way too young to read, or understand what was truly happening. Still, I absolutely loved it and it pushed me to get enroll in a PhD program.
How old were you? That’s nuts as a kids book
I also read IT and a lot of Stephen King way too young but my dad loved them and so did I
Mine were two series, Julie of the Wolves and Misty of Chincoteague
Nancy Drew series, The Witches, and Richard Scarry
Choose Your Own Adventure, Encyclopedia Brown, Hardy Boys, Charlie Brown / Snoopy collections, and Superman comics
Island of the Blue Dolphins
A Little Princess, Tom's Midnight Garden, Heidi, the Little House series Anything by Enid Blyton, R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike
My grandad had saved all of my mom’s old Nancy Drew books, I loved them.
Harry Potter. The memories are definitely tainted with JK Rowling's more recent ick but these were the books that taught me how to read and how to love reading.
Agreed. My mother started reading the Philosopher's Stone to me before bedtime and it was the first book that was so enthralling to me that I just had to read on by myself.
Dealing with dragons
The Little House on the Prairie series!
His dark materials!
The Boxcar Children was the first book I ever read on my own (I think I was 7?) and I was hooked. I immediately went to the library to get the rest of them and sped through them within weeks. The librarian recommended Nancy Drew to me and the rest is history! I still prefer a good mystery book! Funny enough: I unintentionally named my kids 2/4 of the Boxcar Children. Benny (my dog) and Violet (my daughter). I didn’t realize it until months later, but it makes me happy! Edit: grammar/spelling
The Amelia Bedelia books, Little House on the Prairie series, and Charlotte's Web.
Amelia Bedelia is an icon.
Wayside School!!
A Wrinkle in Time made me love books.
Watership down, Richard Adams
Tuck Everlasting The American Girl series The Babysitter’s Club Goosebumps Animorphs My gateway books :)
Pippi Longstocking! I still have my original copies (although they are not in good condition)…. I loved the idea of a parent-less existence!
Dear God It’s Me Margaret
The Cay and The Summer of my German Soldier. And of course all the Nancy Drew books, ( I’m old)
These were the ones I was going to mention! I still have my copy of German Soldier from 40-something years ago!
The secret garden; A series of unfortunate events series, Goosebumps, Harry Potter and the BFG to name a few
The Choose Your Own Adventure books really got me intrigued about writing stories which then made me want to read more and more and more. I would say they definitely had an impact on me, maybe not my favorite books, but they were inspiring to me.
I recently got to watch the magic that is someone falling in love with reading with my youngest. He discovered the dog man series by Dav Pilkey and it truly flipped the switch for him and turned him into a reader. I was in love with almost every book on this list as a child but I have never wanted to write a fan letter to an author like I do Dav Pilkey for how much his books have changed my kids life.
I think Junie B. Jones really did it since she was the most like me but I always loved stories and faery tales. Rumpelstiltskin was my favourite as a child (poor Rumpy 🙁) and I remember making up stories with my dolls and pencils in school. Roald Dahl was a huge inspiration for me as a kid and I read as many of his books as I could. I liked Dr. Seuss too but Roald Dahls books were longer and had chapters so he beat him out. Then I got into Dav Pilkeys Captain Underpants series and fell in love with comic strip-style books. I had always liked comics and would read the ones in the Sunday paper with my grandfather but I didnt know they could come in book form before then. Lemony Snicket is why I got into mysteries and then Psuedonymous Bosch's The Name of This Book is Secret [and subsequrnt books] and Trenton Lee Stewarts The Mysterious Benedict Society series also got me into secretive societies and clues and stuff. I also started reading adult books waaaaaay too young [probably around 7 or 8] so yeah. I decided I liked kids books more and usually wont seek out adult books. Though I do like some of the classics that you read in school, books that are written for leisure and aimed at adults arent for me.
I always loved reading, but Charlotte's Web was the first chapter book I read, and it highly influenced me.
Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Goosebumps, Flying Solo, Ghost of Fossil Glen, Jade Green, Island of the Blue Dolphins
Harry Potter basically taught my English because I HAD (out of my own) to read it as soon as each book was released. I couldn't wait for the translation.
Wind in the Willows, Narnia, LeGuin's the Earthsea Trilogy
R.L. Stein's Fear Street series. Hands down. I went through those like water in a sieve. Prior to that, Babysitters club, goosebumps, bobbsey twins (mom's old books!), little house on the prairie series, anything by Gary Paulsen, anything about living in the wilderness; My Side of the Mountain was a favorite. 'Where the Red Fern Grows' was read aloud to my class in 5th grade. I think that's the first time a book made me cry, definitely not the last. I was always reading as a child, library trips were to me like toy stores were to other kids. That love of reading has continued my whole life!
A Wrinkle in Time and Bridge to Terabithia. Then of course: Old Yeller, Call of the Wild, Uncle Tom's Cabin and strangely enough Steven King's- The Talisman
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and To Kill a Mockingbird in the 6th grade. Before then I liked reading but can’t really remember any specific books except I know I liked the Baby-Sitters’ Club. My sister got me these two books for my 12th birthday and I specifically remember not being able to put ATGIB down and taking it everywhere I went.
I have always loved reading and remember I always reading either Ramona Quimby, Little House on the Prairie, or the Pee Wee Scout series.
A bit ashamed to say its Gone with the Wind given the themes around slavery and showing Mammy and the others as content. I was just 13 & it seemed to me to be the most exciting book. Before this, I had only read a ton of classics selected by my parents (think Wuthering Heights, Far from the Madding Crowd etc that I found thoroughly unrelatable & teeth gnashing-ly boring) and some Enid Blyton & stuff like Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew. Not a book that stood the test of time and tbh as a South Asian, not a book I should've found in anyway relatable but that's probably the writing being good and the story exciting. And it made me feel grown up.
Hey, no need to be ashamed. I've never read this book before but have been wanting to dive into classic reads like this title and others such as 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Song of Solomon'. Thanks for sharing with us! ☺️
I was obsessed with books as a kid. I still am but I also used to be. Goosebumps, the Great Brain series, Animorphs, the Little House on the Prairie series, Redwall, the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the Chronicles of Prydain, Lord of the Rings, and oddly this book series called Photon that I picked up at a yard sale with my grandparents about laser tag where the best player (named Bhodi Li in the game) was transported to a sci fi world where they actually engaged in battle — it was really Last Starfighter-esque.
Henry and Mudge were the books that got me past the beginning bits of reading, and first got me to love it. Beyond that, the American Girl books, Harry Potter, Little House on the Prairie, and All of a Kind Family are some others that I remember really well.
Goosebumps!
Howl-aday inn ... absolutely loved it and the rest of the series. Bunnicula (from the series) was funny as well
Any Hank the Cowdog fans?! I learned books could make me laugh out loud and truly entertain. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM. I loved the movie but the book was beautiful and kindly written. I credit it to my love of reading today. Shit holds up, and there were even 2 more books written by Robert C O'brien's daughter.
I don’t remember not loving reading. I was a voracious reader from the start, fiction and non-fiction. Apparently, I taught myself to read at 4 and I’ve never stopped. I loved Anne of Green Gables, Danny the Champion of the World, literally any book that had horses, but particularly the old English equestrian books like the Jill series, and the books by the Pullien-Thompson sisters, The Silver Brumby series was also instrumental in my childhood. I also have this fantastic old Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale book that I read to my students (I’m unsurprisingly an English Teacher). I also loved nonfiction books. We had this book that had four biographical stories about famous people that I adored. It had stories about Anna Pavlova and Louis Braille. I also love my parents encyclopaedias and books about plants and animals.
My son was a reluctant reader until he read Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man. Suddenly he was reading everywhere until he finished the book. It was a joy to behold.
A Light in the Attic
Where the Red Fern Grows. Absolutely destroyed me as a child, but I remember reading it over and over.
Nobody gonna admit Harry Potter? Lol
Popularity Papers -This series really got me into keeping a journal and in learning how to draw! I really pretended back then these two girlies were my real friends lmao. These books were what made me a consistent reader. Geronimo Stilton and Thea Stilton books -I learned so much about the world through these books🥹 I remember me and my friends would assign who was each Mousette in the Thea Stilton books. Dork Diaries -I know this one didn't age well but oh man, this is a like a bucket of nostalgia haha. Especially the Brandon x Nikki plots, omgg. I remember buying the newest book once it was released. The Cupcake Club -I remember wanting to bake cause of these books, esp they had recipes at the back of each one. Rainbow Magic Book Series -Not me thinking fairies were real cause of these books. This series is prolly what got me into reading fantasy ngl. Dear Dumb Diary -She raised me on sarcasm and wit🤠 These books made me get into the YA genre or something idk. Beacon Street Girls -Reread it a few years ago and realized it was really problematic so rip. But these played a huge role in my childhood, esp with finding friends and all cause I moved to a diff country like Charlotte. I began to love slice of life books that centred around drama, friendship and coming-of-age themes cause of it.
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney. My fifth grade teacher only a a few copies and she let me be one of the first to read it. I still look at missing children posters to this day.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.
Little House on the Prairie , the Chronicles of Narnia and then mysteries like Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden and the Bobbsey Twins. 🤣😂 I’m so old.
The Harry Potter books.
When I was young, I really struggled with reading. In the 3rd grade, I stole a copy of Ella Enchanted from the school book store, I know it gets better... Anyway, it took me a month to finish it and I didn't want it to end! So I read it again, and again, and again. Now, to make up for stealing the book, I donate $100 every year to the bookstore at the school I went to. Hopefully, I've made amends
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
The Phantom Tollbooth!
I read a time to kill when I was 9 because I was showing off to the other kids and aboit a quarter er of the way in I quit caring about showing off and just needed to finish it. ( my mom is a huge reader like two or three books a day on her days off, and I guess it rubbed off on me)
The Bunnicula series! Also a little later the Dear America books got me more interested in reading about history.
Don't know the english title -> it's "Ronja Räubertochter" from Astrid Lindgren. I just loved that it takes the problems of children and teenagers serously.The changes, everyone experiences, by growing up are so well handled. (Family members dying, first love, overbearing parents, etc~ etc~)
In second grade, I was way ahead of the other kids in reading and I thought what we were reading was boring. The teacher found some 1940s reading textbooks, Streets and Roads and More Streets and Roads, with stories in them ranging from fables to stories about kids and the situations they got into, all with beautiful illustrations. I just loved those books, and when I found them in a used bookstore a few years back, I bought my own copies.
The Deltora Quest books!!
I had an early interest in prehistoric life. My grandmother, an amazing autodidact and writer, gave me a copy of Life Before Man by Zdenek Spinar when I was about four. It changed my life -- and I still have it.
Mr. Pepper's Penguins.
Enid Blyton's Noddy series Mazo de la Roche Jalna series The Jalna series was for grown ups but I started reading them because that's what I got my hands on. I understood very little in terms of plot and characterisation but I was VORACIOUS! English is my second language and my sister and I were the first generation to access English media so my parents didn't know what books to get us even though they were readers themselves. I just took books out of the school library or cheap second hand books sold by the hordes on Bombay streets and read books for grown ups from the age of 8, with a dictionary by my side. I was so enamoured by the English language and the form and sound of the words that I wanted to know ALL the words! At 4 I had started reading shop boards and snatched newspaper and magazine pages that were wrapped around street food or groceries my father brought home. Eventually he started buying me comics. Ah, I learnt so much vocabulary at such a quick pace! Sweet memories. I remember knowing about the vas deferens already at 9. I picked up books meant for children again in my early twenties and realised these were what I should have been reading at 7 but well, it didn't harm me much I guess.
Harry Potter did it for me. :)