The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat was your favorite book/ books to read as a child? Mine was Black Beauty. and Nancy Drew.. How about you?


Alpeduez21
(1,943 posts)I used to sneak around watching people after that
debm55
(47,118 posts)
raging moderate
(4,584 posts)It is about a little orphan girl who discovers a city of tiny Lilliputians hiding in the woods near her home.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,644 posts)Historic NY
(39,078 posts)debm55
(47,118 posts)
SARose
(1,633 posts)E.B. White - hands down!
I was also partial to Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books, too.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
SheltieLover
(70,559 posts)
debm55
(47,118 posts)movie.
wcmagumba
(4,191 posts)
nuxvomica
(13,420 posts)
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Polly Hennessey
(7,923 posts)debm55
(47,118 posts)
marble falls
(66,614 posts)... never read one again. I tried the Hardy Boys - fell asleep reading the first chapter header. Nancy was extremely formulaic, but at least she had fun. And I understand they were written by the same person. I think she wrote more interesting female characters.
It was called the Bookworm Club, I was chief worm.
The Madcap
(1,263 posts)If not, there was a lot going on behind the scenes. No wonder T**** wants to take us back in time.
marble falls
(66,614 posts)debm55
(47,118 posts)
flor-de-jasmim
(2,218 posts)My mom used to read me The Wind and the Willows.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,644 posts)I want to give it to my granddaughter, but not sure of the right age. I read everything a little early, then, if I liked it, kept reading until I understood it all.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,644 posts)I would like to share a book with her.
Jeebo
(2,463 posts)Lots of kids were reading them in the early 1960s, when I was in the 5th, 6th, 7th grades. For a while I was reading every "Black Stallion" novel that Walter Farley wrote, until I finally overdosed on them. He was still writing them then, as I recall. About 15 years later they made a wonderful movie of the original novel. debm55, I think you posted this same question some months ago, and I posted the same response.
Ron
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078872/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_The%2520Black%2520S
debm55
(47,118 posts)
nuxvomica
(13,420 posts)I devoured the stories, which I found in my dad's shelf of Harvard Classics. This is required reading for anyone who wants to write fiction.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
lastlib
(26,192 posts)Those books never got checked out of the library by anyone else. If I didn't have them, my sister did, and vice versa.
As I got a little older, it was Journey to the Mushroom Planet. (I was a serious space case--learned the Greek alphabet at age 6 so I could read up on space stuff.)
debm55
(47,118 posts)alphabet and how your book interests matured.
lastlib
(26,192 posts)Those really boosted my vocabulary. Brains talked like a college professor on a high.
When I was a sophomore in HS, my English teacher wanted to challenge me, so she gave me "Airport"--the book the movie was based on. I started reading it in study hall, read a chunk in a sociology class that bored me, more on the bus home, and spent the rest of the evening reading it. Finished it in bed around 11pm. 700+ pages of a paperback. My teacher was SHOCKED when I gave it back to her the next morning and told her I finished it.
electric_blue68
(22,066 posts)Actually my parents bought the Tome Life Nature, and Science series. I read them all but a favorite few of them I read more than once.
Then from 11 years on after reading my first SF book of my dad's (even before AWIT) I became a life long SF fan: books, and media.
Silent Type
(10,220 posts)

debm55
(47,118 posts)
no_hypocrisy
(52,044 posts)Helen Keller
Anne Sullivan
Eleanor Roosevelt
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Chipper Chat
(10,462 posts)debm55
(47,118 posts)
karin_sj
(1,222 posts)My favorites were the classics: Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood, Heidi... I also loved the Nancy Drew series. I really need to start reading again! I've thought about revisiting some of these old books I loved so long ago.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
livetohike
(23,504 posts)read Misty of Chincoteague a million times .
debm55
(47,118 posts)Library. I might see if the library has it now. Still interesting to read it.
calguy
(5,937 posts)debm55
(47,118 posts)
walkingman
(9,460 posts)True story about a journey by balsa wood raft across the Pacific in the late 40s.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
BootinUp
(50,005 posts)debm55
(47,118 posts)
littlemissmartypants
(28,303 posts)And we had Childrens Encyclopedias that I loved until we got Collier's but I was in Jr. High by then.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
greatauntoftriplets
(177,853 posts)I read all of them multiple times.
"The Secret Garden".
The World Book Encyclopedia was bedtime reading. My parents gave it to my sister because she had kids. She threw it out because it was "outdated". I'm still pissed off about that. I learned so much from that.
"Brighty of the Grand Canyon". My only grandmother (actually the only grandparent who was alive) gave it to me. I adored my grandmother, who died when I was eight following a stroke she had in our dining room when she was visiting us. I'm said to look like her mother.
debm55
(47,118 posts)dolls, etc. I was pissed too. Funny thing is, she considers herself a great mother.
greatauntoftriplets
(177,853 posts)One time I found handwritten recipes in the trash basket. Pulled them out because I wanted to keep them.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
BootinUp
(50,005 posts)Was the first one I remember. But I dont do favorites really.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
justaprogressive
(4,354 posts)and Ferdinand the Bull....
debm55
(47,118 posts)slept at her house. And we would walk to the library together to get more books to take out.Thank you for bringing back the
memories of the book and my Aunt. Love you, Debbie.
justaprogressive
(4,354 posts)active participants in WWII...
Mom succeeded in making me a pacifist...Ferdinand was one step...
debm55
(47,118 posts)
rubbersole
(9,991 posts)By Robb White.
About a boy and his dog.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
eppur_se_muova
(39,250 posts)
https://www.scribd.com/document/238848191/How-and-Why-Wonder-Book-5001-Dinosaurs
https://archive.org/details/dli.scoerat.5364thehowandwhywonderbookofdinosaurs
Had to tape the binding back together.

For some reason, I remember my aunt buying this for me when I was maybe 5yo. Not sure if that's accurate.
debm55
(47,118 posts)over. I loved them. that you so much for bringing back the memories for me, eppur_se_,muova. I love you! Debbie.
electric_blue68
(22,066 posts)choie
(5,731 posts)I remember that book!!
The Blue Flower
(5,963 posts)Also, All of a Kind Family.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Ninga
(8,853 posts)Outwitting tigers, whipping them into butter, eating pancakes .
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Shellback Squid
(9,464 posts)When I was a child and living in the UK, books were my constant plus I was living in the Chiltern Hills at the time
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Ritabert
(1,265 posts)Then Classics Illustrated which let you read comic books of famous books like "The Three Musketeers" and "Ivanhoe".
debm55
(47,118 posts)
electric_blue68
(22,066 posts)I loved the the way the clouds were drawn in "Off On A Comet".
elleng
(139,933 posts)debm55
(47,118 posts)
ChcioInf
(36 posts)Famous Five series were the first books I read as a child. Thanks for triggering memories.
Easterncedar
(4,644 posts)I have three of the old ones from my childhood
debm55
(47,118 posts)
debm55
(47,118 posts)
applegrove
(126,464 posts)would read Kon-Tiki to us.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
KitFox
(326 posts)Biographies (I remember my favorite was Clara Barton); Billy and Blaze series; we had the How and Why books at home which I poured over. We also had various Little Golden Books at home. I love remembering coming home from the library on summer days with my arms full of books . I would lay out in the shade of the big apple trees on the side yard and read. I love your posts , Deb! Thank you for stirring memories!😊🩷
debm55
(47,118 posts)
rsdsharp
(10,985 posts)I read a lot of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, Rookie Backstop by William Hueman was a favorite, and then, when I was about eleven, I found Robert A Heinlein. That was sixty years ago, and I own at least one copy of everything he (or his wife) ever published.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
LogDog75
(565 posts)I grew up during early years of the space race and loved stories about space. Robert Heinlein had a number of books such as:
Space Cadets
Have Spacesuit- Will Travel
Red Planet
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Permanut
(7,226 posts)One of my favorites.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
TuxedoKat
(3,835 posts)So many others. Little Women, Beverly Cleary books, Nancy Drew, books on mythology, whatever I could get my hands on.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Permanut
(7,226 posts)I was the perfect age in 1957.
First book I ever owned; still have it. 1937 edition.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
TommieMommy
(2,123 posts)debm55
(47,118 posts)
choie
(5,731 posts)Bread andJam for Francis (and all other Francis books,) Charlie Brown books.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
electric_blue68
(22,066 posts)debm55
(47,118 posts)
johnp3907
(4,038 posts)I think that was the first novel I read all the way through.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,644 posts)A Wrinkle in Time, The Book of Three series, Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The Princess and the Goblin, The Back of the Northwind, Little Women, A Rose in Bloom, Eight Cousins, Jos Boys, Stuart Little - I read all of these over and over 55-60 years ago, and still do.
I loved the old-fashioned books.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,644 posts)Oh I forgot! My Fathers Dragon and Parsifal Rides the Timewave. The latter is quite obscure.
My beloved third-grade teacher read The Little Lame Prince to us. Its such a strange melancholy tale, but I loved that, too.
debm55
(47,118 posts)
MiHale
(11,848 posts)Had the entire collection.
https://www.brandeis.edu/library/archives/exhibits/childrens-literature/todd.html
debm55
(47,118 posts)