Favourite Children's books

[jimbob]

What are your favourite childrens's books, both those that you enjoyed as a child, and those that you enjoy(ed) reading to children?

I'll start with one that has just (Oh Joy) been reprinted in the US...

J P Martin's "Uncle" (http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-York-Review-Childrens-Collection/dp/1590172396/ref=sr_1_1/104-1398625-7513503?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185615668&sr=1-1)

A brilliantly insane book (illustrated by Quentin Blake, which is always a good sign).

And the author manages to subvert what he was saying:

"For instance, he used, when he was young, to find it difficult to tell the truth always, but he wasn't a very clever liar, because he couldn't help blowing softly through his trunk when he was telling a lie, and people got to know of this. Also he once borrowed a bicycle without permission when he was at University, and being rather heavy, broke it. People have long memories for such deeds in a great person"

Buy it, and then the rest might get published...

[rymdman]

The Possum That Didn't (Frank Tashlin, 1950) was made into an animated short film as well. His other books for 'children' are also rewarding. Had to hunt many years to track this one down, both the film and the book...

Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak, 1963)

And a little book shaped like winter mittens about little animals using the mitten as a house in the winter season, of czech origin originally I think. I don't know the english title if it has one, and not sure about the swedish either at the moment but I think it was something like "the mitten". :)

[Damien Evans]

I see "Where The Wild Things Are" has already been mentioned, good

Here's one my Aunty used to read to her kids: Possum Magic

I used to like the Magical Faraway Tree series when I was a kid

[Temporal Renegade]

Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson.

Yes, it's 50 years old, but the book helped get my imagination up and running.

So, you can either thank (or blame) that for how I turned out...
:D

[MelBrooksfan]

As a child I recall enjoying the books of Eric.. Eric Carl? The painted illustrations were great to look at.

[Tressa]

Beauty and The Beast (I can't remember which version)

Green Eggs and Ham

Spooky story anthologies

[Wheezebucket]

Harold and the Purple Crayon!

Big time.

[sgf8]

The Forgotten Door
Any of the Beverly Clearly books
The tripod series (John Christopher)
The Chronicles of Narnia
Trixie Belden books
The Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Phantom Tollbooth

I lived to read in those days
Susan

[LibraryLady]

Well, um, let me think....

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
The Secret Garden
Anne of Green Gables (Not sure if that counts as children's)
Invincible Louisa
Prehistoric America

To be honest, I haven't thought about that last one for a long time, but I dearly loved it and read it over and over when I was seven and eight. I especially liked the part about the La Brea tar pits!

[Temporal Renegade]

Harold and the Purple Crayon!

Big time.

Great minds think alike, it seems! :D

[TheDoLittle]

The entire Dr. Suess (Theodore Suess Geisel) series of books, even the ones written by Theo LeSeig, P.D. Eastman, and Stan and Jan Berenstein.

Though it might be little intense for very young children, Shel Silverstein's childrens books are also tops on my list.

Although not really considered "quality" children's books, one might also think about some of the classic (silver and bronze age) comic book compilations. Marvel comics has done this with their "Essential" series and DC has their "Archive Editions". My nephews are big on Spider-Man, Batman, and Superman and they love it when they can come over and reading my comics.

[jimbob]

Of course "The Whether Man" is an obvious fan of Norman Juster's "The Phantom Tollbooth", and a fine book that is too.

[fuelair]

Tales About Timothy, David and the Phoenix, several myth/legend books - including Grimm,etc. that told the stories correctly (though at the time I did not know their were not correct ones). Dr. Seusses', (heavy in 1st &2nd grade),Alice and Through, David Copperfield (read to us in fifth grade!).
Later: Wild Things, Paddington Bear (!!), Anne of GG, Drummer Hoff, Rabbit's Wedding, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (ALA/IF fan!!so read - and enjoyed - the books).

[veggie doll]

As a child I recall enjoying the books of Eric.. Eric Carl? The painted illustrations were great to look at.

Eric Carle. He did some amazing work - The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a classic.

I love anything by Roald Dahl for children.

[orphia nay]

When I was a child/teen I loved and re-read many times:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Through the Looking Glass
The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I am David
My Side of the Mountain
Little Women
The Winnie the Pooh books
The Dr Seuss books
The Outsiders
The Twelfth Day of July series by Joan Lingard
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle


As an adult, some children's books I have read and enjoyed are:

The Harry Potter series
Numerous Horrible Histories books
Numerous Horrible Geography books
Numerous books by Jackie French
The Artemis Fowl series
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

[jimbob]

My wife is now reading Uncle to the kids

"Don Guzman is really a very good oil watcher, despite his habit of smoking whilst on the oil lake"...

[parrotslave]

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley and the rest of the series.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein still brings me to tears every time I read it.

Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt just for the fond memories it brings back.

Ferdinand the Bull by Munro Leaf

[steve s]

The Tintin and Snowy series of books.

The Phantom Tollbooth.

The two Alice in Wonderland books.


Steve S.

[CplFerro]

How Fletcher Was Hatched (http://www.amazon.com/How-Fletcher-Hatched-Wende-Devlin/dp/1892657007)

It's about a large brown dog who feels concern that his mistress has turned her affections from him to the new yellow chicks that have arrived. He hatches a plan of his own to regain her attention...

Cpl Ferro

[Unfit4Command]

Curious George was also a good series for me. I also remember liking The Caboose Who got Loose.

[The Whether Man]

One of my favourites as a child, before I read The Phantom Tollbooth, was a book of my mother's from when she was a girl. It was called The House With the Twisting Passage.

After that I grew up on a diet of The Famous Five and Biggles and later expanded into The Three Investigators.

[Ranb]

How to eat fried worms.
JD Fitzgerald's Great Brain series.
Beautiful Joe.
Secret Seven series.
The Three Detectives series.
Soup (Robert Peck)

Ranb

[Meri]

Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson.

Yes, it's 50 years old, but the book helped get my imagination up and running.

So, you can either thank (or blame) that for how I turned out...
:D

I still want a crayon like the one in the book. Best imaginary toy ever.

Other books would be:
The Boxcar Children
Bruce Coville's books (Aliens Ate My Homework)
Redwall
Black Beauty
The Black Stallion
Fox in Socks (my favorite Dr. Seuss.)
The Berenstein Bears (My mother says she had to hide our copy of "No Girls Allowed" so I wouldn't ask her to read it everyday)
A Wrinkle in Time

Also a bunch of old children's books that my Grandparent's had kept, mainly the Happy Hollisters and the Bobbsey Twins. I also remember two books about dogs "Beautiful Joe" and "Clarence the TV dog", I found at their house.

Children's books I've read as an adult are:
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
the young adult books in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (The Tiffany Aching books and Amazing Marice and His Educated Rodents)
and, of course, Harry Potter

[Marquis de Carabas]

A Winkle in Time
Is that a potty-training guide?

[Meri]

Is that a potty-training guide?

I have no idea what you're talking about. I certainly didn't have any typos or anythin in my post.

:whistling

[Ove]

As comparatively young (around 12) i stumbled upon Kiplings: "Stalky & Co". I am not sure i understood it completely the first many times i read it but it is still to this day (im 49) my favoutite book. And of course the "Harry Potter" Series .
Other kids favourites was the Enid Blyton books (ohh yes and i dont blush ;) ) and other similar ones. I must admit though that i nearly died laughing when i saw Russ Abbott make his version of the Blyton books in one of his series...

[pgwenthold]

I still like the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. And I was a HUGE fan of all things Beverly Clearly. I was in love with Beezus, and Ramona just gets things so well.

One book I read a lot when I was little was "The Silver Spoon Mystery." Don't know who the author was, but I just loved that book.

I also liked Where the Red Fern Grows.

[LibraryLady]

One book I read a lot when I was little was "The Silver Spoon Mystery." Don't know who the author was, but I just loved that book.


Dorothy Sterling

[Buckaroo]

Tom Sawyer. Read it again and again and again from third grade on.
The Forgotten Door.
Most of Heinlein's juvenile stuff.
The Black Stallion.
The Hardy Boys.
The Three Investigators.

[Buckaroo]

As comparatively young (around 12) i stumbled upon Kiplings: "Stalky & Co". I am not sure i understood it completely the first many times i read it but it is still to this day (im 49) my favoutite book.
Didn't hit S&Co. until I was a teen (after watching the BBC series), but loved it to death.

[pgwenthold]

Dorothy Sterling


Wow, I never realized it was by a famous author.

[Alice Shortcake]

I'm 47 and I still enjoy reading Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Other childhood favourites:
What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge
Bambi by Felix Salten (I think that's how the author's name is spelled)
The Sword in the Stone by T H White (far better than the awful Disney film)
Little Women by L M Alcott
Elidor and other books by Alan Garner
The Borrowers series by Mary Norton

One of my biggest favourites was The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. I re-read it a couple of years ago and was sorry to find that it hadn't aged well, which is something to bear in mind if you're looking for a trip down memory lane!

[Ove]

Didn't hit S&Co. until I was a teen (after watching the BBC series), but loved it to death.

BBC SERIES!!!!!!!!!! Was it good ??? -just curious but there has been too many rotten adaptations and i would hate that done to my favourite book.

[aries]

I loced the tales and stories by Jules Verne, from Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea to A captain of 15 (I think that is Verne??) It's been a while ;)

I also loved all Astrid Lindgren's books, especially Mio, my Mio. And the stories about Pippi Longstocking, too. And of course, the books about the Brothers Lionheart (or Lionheart Brothers?)

[pgwenthold]

A couple of others I should mention:

_Anything_ Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Charlotte's Web by EB White

A friend and I had a Charlotte's Web reading race in 4th grade (I think). We started when school started at 8:30. Reading as much as we could during school time. We both turned to the last page at the same time, at 1:30, and I finished it seconds before he did.

[Thinking in CT]

A couple of others I should mention:

_Anything_ Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Charlotte's Web by EB White

A friend and I had a Charlotte's Web reading race in 4th grade (I think). We started when school started at 8:30. Reading as much as we could during school time. We both turned to the last page at the same time, at 1:30, and I finished it seconds before he did.

What a wonderful young reader story. I would also be sure to include "Stuart Little". White never talks down to his readers and he is an incomparable stylist. Also by the time a kid is in 7th or 8th grade he should have his own copy of "Elements of Style" by Strunk and White, the best book on writing ever written. I have had a copy (not the same copy to be sure) for over 45 years and I refer to it all the time.

[juniper_ann]

I liked historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. I tried to shorten the list, but...couldn't throw anything out.

Favorite books as a child (in roughly chronological order):

[birth]
Great Big Animal by Feodor Rojankovsky
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear
The Angelina Ballerina series by Katherine Holabird
American Girls series by various Authors
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
Little Women, and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Green Gables Series by L.M. Montgomery
The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
The High King by Lloyd Alexander
A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry
The White Mountains by John Christopher
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Wrinkle in Time quartet by Madeleine L'Engle
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
[9th grade]

I read a lot of my favorite books out loud to my siblings after I’d read them. The only one I remember enjoying reading out loud better than reading to myself was The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Comedy is always better in a group.

[Momzahippie]

Where the Wild Things Are. already mentioned several times. But I remember being on the waiting list in elementary school for that book. Everyone loved it.
Also, Where the Sidewalk Ends. Can't remember the author. It was a book of poetry.

[Momzahippie]

Just looked it up Shel Silverstein Where the Sidewalk Ends. Excellent funny poetry perfect for kids and of course adults who are always kids at heart.

[sackett]

"Once upon a time, on an altogether uninhabited island on the shores of the Red Sea, there lived a Parsee man, from whose hat the rays of the sun were reflected in more-than-Oriental splendour."

"Them that takes cakes
That the Parsee Man bakes
Makes dreadul mistakes!"

Kipling, of course.

[Gregory]

The Dark is Rising and the Chronicles of Narnia. But mainly as a child, I was absorbed by the Hollow Tree books, three brilliant and regretably out of print books about a raccoon, possum, and crow who lived together in a giant hollow tree.

[Spindrift]

Jules Verne - just about everything I could get.
Tom Sawyer (over and over)
Rick Brant series
Childhood of Famous Americans series

[CJOKUSAP]

Some great choices there ladies and gentlemen( Much safer than messing about with them apostrophes when Gravy is around).Enid Blyton's 5 and 7 series were read until they were dog-eared, although my favourite Blyton book was, "The Boy Next Door". I also used to love "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and anything to do with King Arthur( might be a British thing?)!

[Gregory]

Oh oh oh. Also, The Boy Who Reversed Himself. And the Oz books.

Does anybody else here remember the Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark books? The stories weren't much, but the illustrations terrified me as a child.

[Jon.]

A couple of more obscure ones that I loved as a pre-teen:

I Am David by Anne Holm. I think it was originally written in Danish. It's about a boy who escapes from a concentration camp he's been in for as long as he can remember. The descriptions of his experiences, as he sees things he's never seen before, like an orange, are moving and beautiful.

The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill. Very amusing and subversive story of pushcart owners in New York who bring the city to a halt with peashooters and pins.

[saraban]

Five Children and It

Story of the Amulet

Phoenix and the Carpet

House of Arden

Enchanted Castle

Wet Magic

All by E. Nesbit

[LibraryLady]

I'd like to add to my list:

The Green Knowe books
It's Like This, Cat
The Blue Cat of Castletown
Cherry Ames, Student Nurse

[orphia nay]

A couple of more obscure ones that I loved as a pre-teen:

I Am David by Anne Holm. I think it was originally written in Danish. It's about a boy who escapes from a concentration camp he's been in for as long as he can remember. The descriptions of his experiences, as he sees things he's never seen before, like an orange, are moving and beautiful.

The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill. Very amusing and subversive story of pushcart owners in New York who bring the city to a halt with peashooters and pins.

I listed I Am David in my favourites earlier. Nice to meet another fan. :) I read it several times while I was growing up, and again just recently. My admiration for it has not diminished. It is a powerful tale of a boy fending for himself (similar in that way to My Side of the Mountain), and his insights into things we take for granted are very moving and deep. The ending always brings a tear to my eye.

[Corpse Cruncher]

Grim brothers Fairy tales, Narnia and Hans Andersons Fairy tales are among my all time favourties.

Black Beauty, Treasure Island, gave me pirate ideas all those years ago,The Secret Garden being another and What Katy did next.

There were so many I loved reading as a child and although I went through a period of not reading I am now re-introducing my love of literature to myself.

[orphia nay]

The Secret Garden! Thanks for reminding me, CC. I loved it, and read it several times. Also A Little Princess.

I was an avid reader (still am). While my sisters were riding horses and going to shows and gymkhanas, I was reading (and drawing).

[jimbob]

I have just finished reading "The Jungle Book*" to my kids, My wife has just finished Arthur Ransome's "Secret Water"


*surprisingly not wince-inducing, given its era (try getting past the worldview in H Rider Haggard's "King Soloman's Mines", ouch).

The previous book, that the kids enjoyed my reading was Diana Wynne Jones "Power of Three", I was really pleased to find that at a secondhand bookshop, as I clearly remembered that from childhood. I am wondering if they are too young for "Archer's Goon" This was also the cause of one of the best radio Times listings, "Archer's Goon is in the kitchen demanding his £2000, but who is Archer?" Just before the Jeffery Archer libel trial where he was accused of paying a prostitute £2000...

I saw some reviews of the Uncle stories I mentioned in the OP (Has anyone else come across them?)

Many people seem to have missed the subversive streak in J P Martin's descriptions. Fawningly stating that Uncle is wonderful, whilst the behaviour is obviously of a pompous and vain "boaster", whilst one of his allies (Dr Lyre, real name "A. Liar") is a liar, for example.

I think a subversive streak is good in children's literature, the "Agaton Sax" series by Nils Olof Franzen was good for this. And it makes it more fun for the adults to read.


Thanks Gregory for reminding me of The Dark is Rising, one of the first fantasy series that I read.

[sackett]

"How the Leopard Got His Spots" gives the Ethopian a line that modern parents wouldn't read aloud to their kids, but other than that, Kipling kept his nose remarkably clean.

"And Baviaan winked. He knew."

[a.real.girl]

I loved:

Alexander and the Magic Mouse by Martha Sanders
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The World of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

I remember reading The Value Tales to some of the kids I babysat, and those were cool.

As an adult, I love Harry Potter.

-A

[Miss Whiplash]

The Cat From Telegraph Hill by Edith Thacher
The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright
The War of the Worlds by HG Well (illustrated by Edward Gorey)

[jimbob]

"The Librarian and the Robbers" by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by (yup) Quentin Blake

Just read this to my kids
As soon as the robbers' ransome note was received by the City Council there was a lot of discussion. Everyone was anxious that things should be done in the right way.

'What is it when our librarian is kidnapped?' asked a councillor. 'Is it staff expenditure or does it come out of the cultural fund?'

'The cultural committee meets in a fortnight,' said the Mayor. 'I propose we let them make a decision on this.'

Utterly insane, but supreme internal logic...

Later on the robber chief gets shelved (alphabetically) on the library as a way of avoiding capture by the policeman, he doesn't have a library card, so can't take the robber out of the library...

[madmonk76]

When I was really little, Noisy Nora.
The Frog and the Toad books
Anything by Shel Silverstein
Anything by Dr Suess
Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass
The Chronicles Of Narnia
A Wrinkle In Time
The Hardy Boys series
The Ramona books
Anything by Judy Blume
Some series of books about a vampire bunny that I cannot recall the name of now.
a lot of Piers Anthony novels, the Xanth novels, the Incarnations of Immortality and a series of Sci-Fi/Fantasy cross-overs that he did as well.

[LibraryLady]

All of a Kind Family. How could I forget All of a Kind Family!

The family is Jewish and there's a wonderful librarian!

[jimbob]

Another quote from "Uncle Cleans Up", which I was reading to my kids, a couple of nights ago...

[Uncle and entourage are visiting "The Fish Frying Academy" run by Professor Gandleweaver" which (from context) is a con, as it takes two years of theory before being allowed near a fish, one student, who brought a crab in, saying it "Just needed turning out of its shell" is now being made to write out a thousand times, "Crab cooking is difficult, and it takes months of careful study before one can even begin to understand it".]
...stood Professor gandleweaver. He was a short stout man with shifty eyes, and he did not look very learned. Yet he must have been, for he had all sorts of diplomas pinned up on the wall behind the range.


" Yet he must have been, for he had all sorts of diplomas pinned up on the wall behind the range."

[later on, we find that Profesor Gandleweaver always burns the fish, and uses stale batter. Also (one of his employees has been working for nothing, because he had ben promised a partnership, which makes me think about the MLM thread in business skepticism.]

See why I think it is amusingly subversive, and good for encouraging sceptical thinking?

[SophieG]

Grimble and Grimble at Christmas by Clement Freud.

Beautifully written and very strange. At least they were for me when I was 12.

They are available on the net but sadly I am not experienced enough here to post the link.

[Blank]

This far and no mention of Roald Dahl... Charlie and the chocolate factory is definately worth it.

[madurobob]

My Mother had a complete set of first editions of Baum's OZ books that all of my brothers and sisters loved. My favorite was by Baum, but not technically an "OZ" book: "Queen Zixi of Ix".

Plus "the Trumpeter of Krakow" and "The Hobbit". Good stuff.

[HawaiiBigSis]

It took me about a month to remember the name of the series/author that enchanted me as a child: The "Shoes" books by Noel Streatfeild. "Circus Shoes", "Theatre Shoes", "Ballet Shoes", etc. The heroine took on a variety of roles in life and taught us all about whatever her vocation was. Great stuff for imagination and knowledge!

[Gregory]

This far and no mention of Roald Dahl... Charlie and the chocolate factory is definately worth it.

The BFG scared the **** out of me when I was a child.

Holy crap, I just realized that Dahl also wrote "Fantastic Mr. Fox!"
"Boggis and Bunce and Bean
One fat, one short, one lean.
These horrible crooks
So different in looks
Were nonetheless equally mean."

Good times, good times.

[jimbob]

Yes Blank, a big ommission.

My (8-yr old) daughter loves anything about Dahl, including reading "Boy".

My othertwo kids do too.

I have a rule of thumb that if a book has been illustrated by Quentin Blake, then it is certainlyworth checking out.

[LibraryLady]

Not really on topic, but I just wanted to brag about a friend. (http://www.citypaper.com/bob/story.asp?id=14141)

[korenyx]

My favorite was D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. I read it so many times I'm surprised the school didn't say "Let someone else check it out!"
It has color pastels alternating with sepia tones. Beautiful book and it's a great introduction for kids.
I was so happy to find it still in print when I started working in the book store; I haven't bought it yet but give me time.

Kore

[jimbob]

My wife has just finished reading "The Hounds of the Morrigan" to the kids.

Nice tour round Irish mythology, and much enjoyed.

My six-year old son has been reading the "Greek Myths for Young Children (Usborne Gift Book) (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greek-Myths-Young-Children-Usborne/dp/0746037252) as his reading book because he was bored with the reading scheme books, I've got the Roger Lancelyn Green, "Tales of the Greek Heroes", and am going to read those out loud when it is my turn.

Roger Lancelyn Green 's books are pretty good retellings, and not too bowlderised.

My kids like the "Myths of the Norsemen" by him.

I keep wondering if there are any "Myths of the Hebrews" that I could bear to read to my kids (it's another deity, so there might be some literary merit, but the deus ex machina endings keep ruining any dramatic tension IM(H)O).

[Gregory]

By the way, the Freddy the Pig books were also children's books that I enjoyed greatly. And the Oz books.

[jimbob]

The Dark is Rising and the Chronicles of Narnia. But mainly as a child, I was absorbed by the Hollow Tree books, three brilliant and regretably out of print books about a raccoon, possum, and crow who lived together in a giant hollow tree.

I loved The Dark is Rising, and the Narnia books (although on rereading them to my kids, my wife and I noticed the heavy-handed allogory. (My wife started shaking an invisible tamborine whenever Aslan was mentioned, much to the amusement of the kids...)

I am not familiar with the hollow tree books (I feel a library request coming on).

BTW. I saw the trailer for the film The Dark is Rising, and it looks really poor.

[kleinjahr]

The Jungle books, Just So Stories etc, but then I like Kipling. Pretty much anything by the Rev. Dodgson, beautiful use of language and wordplay and I do like to go a carrolling. Songs of the South is quite good as well, the book preferably. For somewhat older children, Tarzan, Treasure Island, Black Beauty et al. Oh, and the Tom Swift books were always fun.

[Tiktaalik]

Wow. A lot of books I read have been mentioned, but then I read a lot (no T.V.).

Some others:

Margerite Henry, anything by her. As an adult, I realize that I got my first ideas of the unfairness of the traditional roles of women/men from "Misty of Chincoteague" (Maureen has to stay home & mind the chickens because she's a girl while Paul gets to go on the horse roundup because he's a boy).

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame. Loved it as a child, re-read it recently as an adult - very, very weird. What's with that part where the little lost otter has a vision of Pan?

The Door in the Wall, Marguerite De Angeli

The Animal Garden, by Ogden Nash & Hilary Knight - a very, very weird book

The Family Finds Out and The Tuckers - unknown authors

Farewell to Shady Glade, Bill Peet - an environmental book with a happy ending

Miss Twiggley's Tree, Dorothea Warren Fox - the strange lady who everyone shuns turns out to be cool in the end

Eloise, Kay Thompson/Hilary Knight (again - illustrator) - need I say more?

The Bear That Wasn't, Frank Tashlin - "You're not a bear, you're a silly man in a fur coat"

Hmmm. Worst mistake: reading "Japanese Fairy Tales" at the age of eight. Look up "The Boy Who Drew Cats" if you want to know why & you'll have a good handle on my childhood nightmares - for years -

[jimbob]

Sounds like a good collection of mythology...

Some of the Greek Myths and Norse ones are pretty bloody, and unfair.

I have trouble with the patriarchial assumptions in a lot of these stories: "so her daddy decided to give his daughter, the princess to the prince who...."

[CplFerro]

Sounds like a good collection of mythology...

Some of the Greek Myths and Norse ones are pretty bloody, and unfair.

I have trouble with the patriarchial assumptions in a lot of these stories: "so her daddy decided to give his daughter, the princess to the prince who...."

Dear jim,

I can understand your mixed feelings, but, we should keep in mind that fairy tales are children's first "zone of risk" that they can put a toe into to explore. Without that, a false impression of reality builds like a snowball down a winter slope. Kids need evil witches, dragons, dragonslayers, Jack offing some large guy to steal his gold, noble archetypes of men and women from a time past. It's all just a story, right? But, stories aren't just stories to children, they're myths, and myths are a fine way to teach the childlike mind that which it is unable to conceptually grasp for lack of textual-logico-linguistic sophistication. My niece donned artificial wings once and asked me if she were a fairy. I told her she was.

Not all non-factual volumes are fiction, my friend.

Yours,

Cpl Ferro

[jimbob]

Agreed, but that doesn't stop me trying to subvert them too...

"The Wildest Brother", "Pirate Girl" , and "the Princess Knight" by Cornelia Funke (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/cornelia-funke/) are good subversions...

[D'rok]

AI Am David by Anne Holm. I think it was originally written in Danish. It's about a boy who escapes from a concentration camp he's been in for as long as he can remember. The descriptions of his experiences, as he sees things he's never seen before, like an orange, are moving and beautiful.

Seconded big-time. My Mom gave me that book when I was little. She is no longer with us. Those who remember the ending of the book can imagine what kind of emotional impact it still has on me.

Also:
The Secret World of Og, by Pierre Burton.

[KateHW]

How has nobody listed the Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole? You can't know how those saved me from all kinds of Sweet Valley Horrors.

I'm also a bit put off that my very, very favorite book of all time has been neglected here. Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. Beautiful work. His aviation novels are nearly as lovely, too.

Also, if anyone from New Zealand reads this, do they still print Charlie the Cheeky Kia and then there was one about a Captain Cook pig that we lost in Hurricane Katrina. They were two of my favorite books as a child after my grandparents brought them back from NZ (granddad was a bird enthusiast) and I've never been able to find them since. If any of you find a copy and have paypal/e-bay I'd certainly shell out for it. :)

[jimbob]

How has nobody listed the Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole? You can't know how those saved me from all kinds of Sweet Valley Horrors.

I'm also a bit put off that my very, very favorite book of all time has been neglected here. Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. Beautiful work. His aviation novels are nearly as lovely, too.

Also, if anyone from New Zealand reads this, do they still print Charlie the Cheeky Kia and then there was one about a Captain Cook pig that we lost in Hurricane Katrina. They were two of my favorite books as a child after my grandparents brought them back from NZ (granddad was a bird enthusiast) and I've never been able to find them since. If any of you find a copy and have paypal/e-bay I'd certainly shell out for it. :)
Ah Kiwis: Margeret Mahy (http://library.christchurch.org.nz/MargaretMahy/)

The great piratical rumbustification

[jimbob]

I should add that "the Great Piratical Rumbustification" is illustrated by Quentin Blake...

[Agamemnon2]

I loced the tales and stories by Jules Verne, from Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea to A captain of 15 (I think that is Verne??) It's been a while ;)

Verne was a big name for me as well. "20,000 Leagues" was the first book I ever read to shreds. Eventually, my dad bought me a new copy, which I still possess. I also had a lot of comics, Tintin, Iznogoud and Asterix mostly.

[jimbob]

mmm Asterix...

[joobie]

along with where the wild things are, there is another book by sendak titled pierre: a cautionary tale which to this day will send me into fits of laughter. i gave it to my niece early on and she loves it too, which makes it doubly valuable to me.

[Gregory]

along with where the wild things are

They're making a move (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386117/) of that, did you know? I am not filled with anticipation; it doesn't really seem like movie material.

[orpheus]

The works of Russell Hoban, specifically the series of books about Frances the badger (e.g., Bread and Jam for Frances, Bedtime for Frances), and a curious one called La Corona and the Tin Frog. This one is not easy to find; I had to go online and get it from England, I think. (I'm in New York). Wonderful to read as an adult as well.

BTW, Russ has written quite a few novels for adults that are magnificent reads. I recommend The Medusa Frequency and Kleinzeit as two to start with. Check out his stuff here: http://www.ocelotfactory.com/hoban/

Another series of books I really loved when I was about nine or so were the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron. I'm currently trying to get them again to re-read; they've become collector's items, though.

[orpheus]

Oh, I don't know if anyone here has mentioned it, but one that just came out within the past few years: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Very funny indeed.

[Furi]

I would have to say almost anything by Seuss, Dahl, Carroll, Lear, both for reading them to kids and having them read to you, Seuss and Lears style is Hypnotic when getting read to, and only works if you pronounce them properly. so as well as reading helps with speech (espescially if you happen to have a North West English accent, and you talk proper :p)

I think my Mum was also trying to teach me to spout utter gibberish, (or is that gibberese)

and her plan worked completely.

[Wildy]

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. Hehe,

One fish
Two fish
Red fish
Blue fish
Black fish
Blue fish
Old fish
New fish
This one has a little star
This one has a little car
My what a lot of fish there are

And that's all I can remember. Basically the entire Dr. Seuss range.

Enid Blyton's Famous Five series. Dad used to read those to me when I was young and illiterate.

And strangely enough, I didn't really like it when I was a kid, but Der Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffman. It does teach a lot of things, but I think that it might also have something to do with my hatred of soup...

[Uncle Feedle]

I collect Ladybird books. Ladybird is a well-known UK publisher of children's books, having been around for over a hundred years. The Ladybird range covers both fiction and non-fiction. The non-fiction titles cover hundreds of subjects and have been used in schools for many years.

Most of my collection consists of titles produced during Ladybird's heyday from the 1960's - 1980's. Anyone from the UK over the age of 25 will remember these. The typical Ladybird book is a mini-hardback (about 18x12cm). They are superbly illustrated, notably the 'Well-Loved Tales' series, which consists of most of the popular fairy tales - Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc. Every illustration consists of a separate oil/acrylic painting produced for the purpose and photographed. To me, they represent a standard of book illustration that has yet to be matched by any publisher anywhere. Like all good children's books, they are timeless.

This is my favourite one. The characters and their facial expressions in this book are just genius:

http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/images/ladybird/pigs.jpg

[Furi]

I used to like a lot of my ladybird books too, didn't they also do Larger sized ones, my very first reading books were Lady bird, My first book type ones as well as couple of the more trad. stories.

Just remembered Roger Hargreaves, and all the little Mr books, and some of the greatest stories from Grimm (nothing like a little threatened infanticide and risk to keep'em in check mwuhuhhaha) I did have a ornately decorated MASSIVE tome with a lot of the Grimm stories in, that was for serious story time.

[pgwenthold]

Mrs. Piggle-wiggle

[Checkmite]

Let me think.

"The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks", by Nancy McArthur
"Where The Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls
"How To Eat Fried Worms" by Thomas Rockwell
James Howe's "Bunnicula" books
Just about anything with "Choose Your Own Adventure" printed on the cover.

[jimbob]

The Dark is Rising and the Chronicles of Narnia. But mainly as a child, I was absorbed by the Hollow Tree books, three brilliant and regretably out of print books about a raccoon, possum, and crow who lived together in a giant hollow tree.

Bump, and

Gregory, you might find the following blog (http://community.livejournal.com/authorblog/5880.html) amusing: (my brother told me to google "the dark is rising film i want to vomit")

That is a film I am glad to have not seen

[Random]

We of course cannot forget the epic “The Monster at the End of This Book”. Fraught with tension and suspense, with a gripping twist at the end.

[Nogbad]

Winnie the Pooh

It was a joy to read to my kids when they were little - beautifully balanced, the words just rolled out. Alice in Wonderland is another that is considerate towards the reader with jokes for everyone. Where the Wild Things Are was also fun especially as my son has the same name.

I think one of the worst books I ever tried to read to them was The Incredible Journey which tested my patience towards the author beyond breaking point - it was unnecessarily wordy imho.

[sgf8]

I just finished reading the "Golden Compass" series, actually I finished them last month but I forgot that I wanted to post my THANKS here.

Thanks everyone who recommended them, I really enjoyed them, I had a long flight from California to the Grand Cayman Island and I didn't even mind the delays. I was so hooked that I just sat on my balcony and finished the second one. I didn't take all three books with me.

I could have done without the dust idea, but just about everything else was very engaging. So sad that I am all done with the series, maybe for best as I really have other things I should be doing.

Thanks again,

Susan

[Ysidro]

[i]Bunnicula[i], [i] The Howliday Hotel[i], and [i]The Celery Stalks at Midnight[i]. I never read any of the books after the last.

Also The Hardy Boys series is one I read a lot from the school library as a child. As well as the Hardy Boys Casefiles for "young adults".

I still read C.S. Lewis's Narnia books even if I don't agree with his message. They're just fun reads.

[Deus Ex Machina]

Winnie the Pooh (BD - Before Disney)
The House at Pooh Corner (BD)
The Wind in the Willows
Swallows and Amazons
the "Jennings" series

[moopet]

Well, as I've already said what I liked as a pre-to-early teen elsewhere, I'll have a go with the really early-age stuff.

I loved Tolkein's Father Christmas Letters. I loved that book to bits.
Milne's Winnie The Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner, obviously. And Now We Are Six - my mum used to read me the poems.

Harvey's Hideout, by Russell & Lillian Hoban. Which I recently had to ask around a nice lost-book forum to figure out the title of.

And lastly Gilli the Guillemot by Ann Mari Lagercrantz.

[Piscivore]

I just finsihed one my daughter brought home, called "The Mysterious Benedict Society". I quite enjoyed it. Has a bit of the Roald Dahl flavour, with some good skeptical kids for protagonists. Not a bit of woo in it at all.

[Vanda]

along with where the wild things are, there is another book by sendak titled pierre: a cautionary tale which to this day will send me into fits of laughter. i gave it to my niece early on and she loves it too, which makes it doubly valuable to me.

I loved that book as a child and my son loves it, too. Did you like Carole King's rendering of it in song form?

[Vanda]

One of the things I miss is reading books to my son and making up voices for the characters.

We loved all the books by Chris Van Allsburg and our favorite was “The Garden of Abdul Gasazi”.

We also read every James Marshall book especially the “George and Martha” series.

The last books I was allowed to read to him were the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Adams, of course, and “The Sirens of Titan” by Vonnegut. We both cried at the end of that book.

[Gevaudan]

When I was a larva, my favorite book was about a huge but cowardly dog named Rags who was a complete washout as a guard dog until a burglar accidentally threatened his beloved ragdoll toy, and then he turned into a braking beast. It was the first book I managed to read all by my little self.

Gulliver's Travelsalthough as a little kid I just thought it was a cool fantasy book and completely missed the satire. I also liked the Narnia books, completely missing the religious propoganda. I tried rereading them when the movie came out and was just horrified by how bad they were.

Watership Down, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and Tailchaser's Song - what can I say, I liked books about talking animals. I also devoured anything having to do with dinosaurs.

Once I hit about 12 or so, I got really into horror (Dean Koontz and similar crud) and science fiction, preferring the stuff about monsters and aliens.

[sgf8]

One of the things I miss is reading books to my son and making up voices for the characters.


I seriously miss reading aloud to my kids. I keep telling myself that I will have to wait for the grandkids (which might not happen). I don't have neighbor children or family with children so I guess I will have to just find another out.

I have been considering volunteering at the library, reading to the children. They have special times for that but it is grandparents who do the readings. I am 45 and don't want to be in that category.

Guess it will remain something on my "to-do" list in the near future.

I have saved all the books so they are waiting for the little ones to visit.

I think the best books for reading aloud will be the "Unfortunate Event" books, they were written (IMO) for reading aloud.

Susan

[sgf8]

I also liked the Narnia books, completely missing the religious propoganda. I tried rereading them when the movie came out and was just horrified by how bad they were.


I loved the Narnia books also, thus my son, Caspian. (who has read everything in the house except the Narnia books)

I have seen the movie, and the trailer for Prince Caspian (which comes out almost on his birthday this year) Looks really nicely done, great special effects, and I have told him he needs to get his hair cut before the movie comes out or he will get a lot of comparisons to the character.

I really don't want to go back and re-read the books, I know I will just hate them, and some childhood memories are best to not try and relive.

Susan

[Gevaudan]

Caspian, that is a really cute name for a kid!

I really don't want to go back and re-read the books, I know I will just hate them, and some childhood memories are best to not try and relive.

Susan

Don't - I wish I hadn't.
Someone ought to re-edit them to leave in the cool fantasy stuff and take out the religion, like that one guy who re-edited The Phantom Menace to get rid of Jar Jar.