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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
(48,496 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
(48,496 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,730 posts)Historic NY
(39,142 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
SARose
(1,687 posts)E.B. White - hands down!
I was also partial to Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books, too.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
SheltieLover
(71,780 posts)
debm55
(48,496 posts)movie.
wcmagumba
(4,383 posts)
nuxvomica
(13,471 posts)
debm55
(48,496 posts)
Polly Hennessey
(7,968 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
marble falls
(67,046 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
(1,320 posts)If not, there was a lot going on behind the scenes. No wonder T**** wants to take us back in time.
marble falls
(67,046 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
flor-de-jasmim
(2,219 posts)My mom used to read me The Wind and the Willows.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,730 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
(48,496 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,730 posts)I would like to share a book with her.
Jeebo
(2,486 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
(48,496 posts)
nuxvomica
(13,471 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
(48,496 posts)
lastlib
(26,330 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
(48,496 posts)alphabet and how your book interests matured.
lastlib
(26,330 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
(22,440 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
(10,514 posts)

debm55
(48,496 posts)
no_hypocrisy
(52,350 posts)Helen Keller
Anne Sullivan
Eleanor Roosevelt
debm55
(48,496 posts)
Chipper Chat
(10,502 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
karin_sj
(1,229 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
(48,496 posts)
livetohike
(23,541 posts)read Misty of Chincoteague a million times .
debm55
(48,496 posts)Library. I might see if the library has it now. Still interesting to read it.
calguy
(5,937 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
walkingman
(9,576 posts)True story about a journey by balsa wood raft across the Pacific in the late 40s.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
BootinUp
(50,100 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
littlemissmartypants
(28,456 posts)And we had Childrens Encyclopedias that I loved until we got Collier's but I was in Jr. High by then.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
greatauntoftriplets
(177,974 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
(48,496 posts)dolls, etc. I was pissed too. Funny thing is, she considers herself a great mother.
greatauntoftriplets
(177,974 posts)One time I found handwritten recipes in the trash basket. Pulled them out because I wanted to keep them.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
BootinUp
(50,100 posts)Was the first one I remember. But I dont do favorites really.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
justaprogressive
(4,716 posts)and Ferdinand the Bull....
debm55
(48,496 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
(4,716 posts)active participants in WWII...
Mom succeeded in making me a pacifist...Ferdinand was one step...
debm55
(48,496 posts)
rubbersole
(10,124 posts)By Robb White.
About a boy and his dog.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
eppur_se_muova
(39,454 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
(48,496 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
(22,440 posts)choie
(5,837 posts)I remember that book!!
The Blue Flower
(6,026 posts)Also, All of a Kind Family.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
Ninga
(8,861 posts)Outwitting tigers, whipping them into butter, eating pancakes .
debm55
(48,496 posts)
Shellback Squid
(9,529 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
(48,496 posts)
Ritabert
(1,378 posts)Then Classics Illustrated which let you read comic books of famous books like "The Three Musketeers" and "Ivanhoe".
debm55
(48,496 posts)
electric_blue68
(22,440 posts)I loved the the way the clouds were drawn in "Off On A Comet".
elleng
(140,187 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
ChcioInf
(36 posts)Famous Five series were the first books I read as a child. Thanks for triggering memories.
Easterncedar
(4,730 posts)I have three of the old ones from my childhood
debm55
(48,496 posts)
debm55
(48,496 posts)
applegrove
(126,915 posts)would read Kon-Tiki to us.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
KitFox
(333 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
(48,496 posts)
rsdsharp
(11,069 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
(48,496 posts)
LogDog75
(642 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
(48,496 posts)
Permanut
(7,329 posts)One of my favorites.
debm55
(48,496 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
(48,496 posts)
Permanut
(7,329 posts)I was the perfect age in 1957.
First book I ever owned; still have it. 1937 edition.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
TommieMommy
(2,200 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
choie
(5,837 posts)Bread andJam for Francis (and all other Francis books,) Charlie Brown books.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
electric_blue68
(22,440 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
johnp3907
(4,060 posts)I think that was the first novel I read all the way through.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,730 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
(48,496 posts)
Easterncedar
(4,730 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
(48,496 posts)
MiHale
(11,924 posts)Had the entire collection.
https://www.brandeis.edu/library/archives/exhibits/childrens-literature/todd.html
debm55
(48,496 posts)
Prairie_Seagull
(4,285 posts)debm55
(48,496 posts)
OldBaldy1701E
(8,406 posts)Tom Swift and Tom Swift Jr. series
Any Stephen King
Any Issac Asimov
Robert Bloch (he wrote the book adaptations of the original Star Trek episodes)
Any Alan Dean Foster
Barsoom (the stories of John Carter on Mars. The first was called 'A Princess Of Mars'.)
Peter Benchley (I read Jaws and The Deep before I was twelve)
The Three Investigators
debm55
(48,496 posts)
Annie Moosee
(174 posts)I used to reread it walking home from grade school in the 70's.
I also enjoyed the Little Prince
And the Madeleine L'Engle books; The Oz series; I, Monty & Hope for the Flowers. There were also some Scholastic Books I enjoyed, but rarely read more than once. Junket is the only name I remember from that series. But there were others about Native American families and sharecroppers' families I kinda remember
And a book called "For the Love of a Donkey"
And I LOVED our Encyclopedia set! It had a companion set of crafts, too, that I enjoyed. And there was a book "how things work, and what to do when they don't" - I loved that one, as well.
True story, I didn't understand alphabetical order until 3rd or 4th grade. I knew the ABC's, it just didn't occur to me that after the first letter, you used the second letter then third to organize things (like is done with numbers).
Still love the Little Prince.
Dorothy V
(360 posts)Albert Bigelow Paine's biography of Joan of Arc. It started a lifelong fascination with her.
debm55
(48,496 posts)
womanofthehills
(10,011 posts)An older couple want a boy to help on their farm and instead they get the red headed orphan Anne.
Lots of books in the series and the main theme seems to be poor Anne being accused of deeds she never did. Big drama books. I loved Anne.
debm55
(48,496 posts)