NationStates Jolt Archive

"What books do you remember reading as a kid?"

That was an topic we had to write in english and it got me wondering. What were people's favorite stories as a kid? Bearinstein Bears? Clifford, the Big Red Dog, Arthur, Dr. Seuss?


The class had fun looking back upon our favorite books as a child, and I'm curious as to know what people here have to say.

Winnie the Pooh, hands down. I still love the book as an adult and I literally can't wait for any opportunity to share it with children.

Winnie the Pooh, hands down. I still love the book as an adult and I literally can't wait for any opportunity to share it with children.

Damn.... Knew I was missin' something on that poll.... Still have those old books stored in a box.

I think Clifford and Arthur are too recent for many Generalites. My favorite Dr. Seuss was "Did I ever tell you how lucky you are?" I liked all sorts of fairy tales - particularly the colored fairy books, as I got older. But my favorite book when I was little was this little rhyming book about a train named Joe. "This is a train, his name is Joe. Listen, hear his whistle blow..."

On Beyond Zebra for the Dr Seuss, and then The Narnia series and The Hobbit.

I think Clifford and Arthur are too recent for many Generalites. My favorite Dr. Seuss was "Did I ever tell you how lucky you are?" I liked all sorts of fairy tales - particularly the colored fairy books, as I got older. But my favorite book when I was little was this little rhyming book about a train named Joe. "This is a train, his name is Joe. Listen, hear his whistle blow..."

Depends on what you mean by recent. I remember reading them when I was in Kindergarden, through the third grade. So that's what.... 10, 11 years ago?

I think Clifford and Arthur are too recent for many Generalites. My favorite Dr. Seuss was "Did I ever tell you how lucky you are?" I liked all sorts of fairy tales - particularly the colored fairy books, as I got older. But my favorite book when I was little was this little rhyming book about a train named Joe. "This is a train, his name is Joe. Listen, hear his whistle blow..."

Unless many of the generalites are older than fifty, I disagree. I remember all of the books listed.

Clifford was published in 1963.

Arthur was published in 1976 - so forty-year-olds would remember that one, and older people would remember it if they had children. Hell, I bet Eut even remembers these, and he's a dinosaur. ;)

"Your favorite Childhood books?"

There were no "children's books" per se when I was growing up, or at least I don't remember any. So I read Tom Sawyer and the entire "Children's Classics Series," including Ten Years Before The Mast, Robinson Caruso, The Count of Monte Cristo, etc., and everything Edgar Allen Poe ever wrote.

Somehow, I think I got the better deal. ;)

The Hobbit. I've read it about 50 times. Oh, that and Thomas the Tank Engine.

The Hungy Hungry Caterpiller

pure damn genius

Definetly Dr Seuss...
when I read his books as a kid, I just enjoyed the rhymes and stuff, but looking back at them, a lot of them contain political and social messages, one of the most obvious ones being "Butter Battle"

The Hungy Hungry Caterpiller

Allow me to call you Saviour. I just came home from talking to a friend and the two of us trying to find out what the hell the English title for it was.

Allow me to call you Saviour. I just came home from talking to a friend and the two of us trying to find out what the hell the English title for it was.

I love that book, I truly do.

I had a rather large collection of "Little Golden Books" my favorite of which was "The Poky little Puppy" (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307160262/104-8092150-9103144?v=glance&n=283155).

I suppose my second favorite was the Peter Rabbit series.

I had a rather large collection of "Little Golden Books" my favorite of which was "The Poky little Puppy" (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307160262/104-8092150-9103144?v=glance&n=283155).

I suppose my second favorite was the Peter Rabbit series.

I liked the Pokey Little Puppy book. Hehe.

Goodnight Moon. Nuff Said.

Winnie the Pooh was a family favorite too.

Being a bit of a dinosaur myself, my favourites were any of the girls classics like Little Women and the What Katy Did series.
Also being English any of the Enid Blyton Famous Five or Secret Seven books would have found their way into my school bag!

"Your favorite Childhood books?"

There were no "children's books" per se when I was growing up, or at least I don't remember any. So I read Tom Sawyer and the entire "Children's Classics Series," including Ten Years Before The Mast, Robinson Caruso, The Count of Monte Cristo, etc., and everything Edgar Allen Poe ever wrote.

Somehow, I think I got the better deal. ;)

Hehe, Eut missed my joke.

my fave was Biggles

For the implied age range, I'd have to say the Sweet Pickles books.

My all time favorite books as a child:

Johnny Tremain (They should call this book Johnny Deformed!--Bart Simpson)
The Figure in the Shadows
The Fire Cat (another one in the early reader catagory)
The Land of Chew n Swallow (another early reader)
Trumpet of the Swan
Animal Farm
My Brother Sam is Dead
War and Peace (j/k)

A Wrinkle in Time series.

Wild Orchid: I just read Little Women this year; I loved it!

Dr. Suess-mostly the Buttered Toast War book story thing. Perfectly describes the current world situation.

Fairy Tales tend to be too colorful for me. Red Riding Hood had a wolf being skinned alive, at least in the version I had. The version of Snow White that I had had the witch/queen? being burned alive rather than thrown off a cliff.

In no particular order *some* of my favorites include:

Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories

Anything by Eric Carle, but especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It's a favorite of mine even now. Lucky me - I get to use it in my Kids ESL classes. :D (And note it's not "hungry hungry". Don't take my word for it - that's what the author calls it on his website: http://www.eric-carle.com/ECbooks1.html)

Dr Seuss - particularly The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, The Sneetches and Other Stories, Hop on Pop (which my brother and I tried to do on several occassions after reading ther book! :)), and Green Eggs and Ham (we recreated that for a Mother's day breakfast once - mom laughed and laughed, and told us the next day about the funny effects the green food coloring had on her poop). (I also get to teach some of these - and yes, my students try to "hop on pop" me!)

One Monster After Another - hilarious creatures!

Donald J. Sobol's "Encyclopedia Brown" stories

Michael Bond's '"Paddington Bear"

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Story of Ferdinand

Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White

"The Great Brain" series by John D. Fitzgerald

the "Alvin Fernald" series by Clifford B. Hicks

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

the Hardy Boys (the "blue spines" especially - the later books lost something)

And (I'll probably get flamed for this, but I liked it) The Story of Little Black Sambo

(Yeah, I was a very bookish kid!)

"The Velveteen Rabbit"
-Margery Williams.

I also very much liked "Where the Wild Things Are", although I cant remember who wrote it.

Winnetou 1-3 : I cry always when Indians dye

As I kid, I loved fairy-tales in general. For me, fairy tales were an escape into the unknown; a door that I could use just to let my imagination wonder free. :) I think if I had to name a fave fairy tale, I'd pick the one about the girl who stayed silent for years in order to break a wicked spell... It's no wonder that one of my favourite novels is Juliet Marillier's 'Daughter of the Forest'.

P.S. Did anyone find Rumplestiltskin preaching selfishness?

Forgot to add:

The Phantom Toll Booth.

"The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss.

I had a rather large collection of "Little Golden Books" my favorite of which was "The Poky little Puppy" (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307160262/104-8092150-9103144?v=glance&n=283155).

I suppose my second favorite was the Peter Rabbit series.

I don't know if you'd enjoy it, but the parody Peter Rabbit Tank Killer (http://www.strategypage.com/humor/articles/peterrabbit.asp) is pretty funny, and does a darn good job of combining the styles of Beatrix Potter and Sven Hassel.

'Quick!' Peter implored him. 'Lend me your Panzefaust, for Mr. McGregor has a Tiger Tank, and will surely blast us all into bloody shards of bone, flesh and sinewy pulp if we are not most circumspect'.

Thomas the tank engine!! The originals ofc.


Winnie the pooh was good too. I used to read the origional two books of that as well. Both written decades before disney got their scummy hands on the stories..

I don't know if you'd enjoy it, but the parody Peter Rabbit Tank Killer (http://www.strategypage.com/humor/articles/peterrabbit.asp) is pretty funny, and does a darn good job of combining the styles of Beatrix Potter and Sven Hassel.

I just woke up my roommates laughing so hard.

Other. Winnie the Pooh 'When we are Six' by A A Milne

Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London

They were all in Dutch so I don't think they'll ring many bells

Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek
Gulden Vlies van Thule
Hasse Simonsdochter
...

I was really big on the Berenstein Bears.
I must have read The Hobbit at least two dozen times before I started high school.

I loved Jumanji and The Polar Express.
I also read the Dinotopia books when they first came out.

As I got a little older (4th or 5th grade) I moved on to Michael Crichton, mainly because of Jurassic Park.

Eventually, high-school broadened my literary horizons. :p

Now, I read damn near anything I can get my hands on! :)

My favorites were my collection of Asterix albums (in Swedish).

http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~janl/ts/asterix-hode.gif

I remember one called The Monster Sandwich that I read about every week for a year. Also, the Biff, Chip and Kipper series (they might have had another name, but I think those were the main characters). And there was one series where everyone was called something like Johnny Red Hat, or something, IIRC.

In no particular order *some* of my favorites include:

Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories

Anything by Eric Carle, but especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It's a favorite of mine even now. Lucky me - I get to use it in my Kids ESL classes. :D (And note it's not "hungry hungry". Don't take my word for it - that's what the author calls it on his website: http://www.eric-carle.com/ECbooks1.html)

Dr Seuss - particularly The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, The Sneetches and Other Stories, Hop on Pop (which my brother and I tried to do on several occassions after reading ther book! :)), and Green Eggs and Ham (we recreated that for a Mother's day breakfast once - mom laughed and laughed, and told us the next day about the funny effects the green food coloring had on her poop). (I also get to teach some of these - and yes, my students try to "hop on pop" me!)

One Monster After Another - hilarious creatures!

Donald J. Sobol's "Encyclopedia Brown" stories

Michael Bond's '"Paddington Bear"

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Story of Ferdinand

Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White

"The Great Brain" series by John D. Fitzgerald

the "Alvin Fernald" series by Clifford B. Hicks

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

the Hardy Boys (the "blue spines" especially - the later books lost something)

And (I'll probably get flamed for this, but I liked it) The Story of Little Black Sambo

(Yeah, I was a very bookish kid!)

I couldn't agree more with this entire list. I wasn't bookish. I just got grounded a lot.

Childhood reading lists...

Harold and the Purple Crayon
Momotaro
Beristein Bears
Clifford
Where the Wild Things Are
Dr Seuss (all of em.)

Elementary school:
Encylopedia Brown.
Encylopedia Brittanica (when bored, I would pull out a volume, and just read)
Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper (the series that got me hooked in the sci fi/fantasy genre)

many more.

Fairy Tales Princess and the Pea, Sleeping Beauty etc.........

...
Encylopedia Brown.
Encylopedia Brittanica (when bored, I would pull out a volume, and just read)
Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper (the series that got me hooked in the sci fi/fantasy genre)


I read a few Encyclopedia Brown books too. I was so-so at deducing the endings.

The Dark is Rising is a fantastic series that I have read many times. I still have it in my bookcase. Another great, though more obscure, fantasy series I read was Circle of Magic, by Debra Doyle, James D. Macdonald, Judith Mitchell.

Oh, and I almost forgot the My Teacher is an Alien series.

Dinotopia.

I read a few Encyclopedia Brown books too. I was so-so at deducing the endings.

The Dark is Rising is a fantastic series that I have read many times. I still have it in my bookcase. Another great, though more obscure, fantasy series I read was Circle of Magic, by Debra Doyle, James D. Macdonald, Judith Mitchell.

Oh, and I almost forgot the My Teacher is an Alien series.
read Circle of Magic
:eek: :headbang:
How could I forget Andre Norton!!! loved her StarCats series.
and then theres the Bunnicula series.
and various of Sci fi/Fantasy that I can barely remember. Gathering of Gargoyles was another good series.

and here's a question for you... do you remember the two poems from the Dark is Rising series? I Do. :D

Forgot to add:

The Phantom Toll Booth.
The Phantom Toll Booth was fucking awesome.
I also had this old book of the good kind of children's stories. None of this sacchraine Clifford/Arthur bullshit, but stories about mice that nail a cat's tail to the floor and various other pleasant mutilations.

The Phantom Toll Booth was fucking awesome.
I also had this old book of the good kind of children's stories. None of this sacchraine Clifford/Arthur bullshit, but stories about mice that nail a cat's tail to the floor and various other pleasant mutilations.
The Original GRIMM FARIE TALES were not meant for today's children.

Bill Peet's The Wump World was my absolute favorite childhood book. As well I like a lot of his other stories and quite a few of Roald Dahl's novels. The Voyage of the Basset by James C. Christensen gets an honourable mention, even though it came along a bit later in my life, because it's such a good book.

It saddens me that Im the only one who mentioned "The Velveteen Rabbit".

Eh, at least you people read.
Thats good enough.

SO many...

Any Dr. Seuss, but particularly Scrambled Eggs Super, To
Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, and Horton Hears a Who
Winnie the Pooh
the Narnia series
Grimms Fairy Tales
Make Way for Ducklings
Where the Wild Things Are
Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries
Encyclopedia Brown
A Wrinkle in Time
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights
the My Book House series
Charlotte's Web
and so many more.

and... I am a lefty, so my handwriting always has sucked. I also HATED handwriting in class as a kid... page after page of AAAAA and BBBBB... so my Mom went to the teacher and asked if I could write stories instead. While all the other first graders were writing pages of A's, I was writing stories and poetry, and to this day while I still hate handwriting, I love to write. So a couple of my favorite stories are ones I wrote myself!

Hairy Mclary or something like that. It's a NZ series about a dog. Was cool.

Hairy Mclary or something like that. It's a NZ series about a dog. Was cool.


From donaldsons dairy!!!

From donaldsons dairy!!!
There we go, someone knows his stuff ;)

My favourite childrens book is definately Fox In Sox.

I had that entire thing MEMORISED when I was just 12. I tried again when I was 14 but I only got about halfway before I lost interest. I can still remember a lot of it though...

"Fox. Socks. Box. Knox.
Fox in socks. Knox in box
Fox in socks on Knox in box.
(not sure about this start one exactly, but I remember the next sequence perfectly)
Chicks with bricks come chicks with blocks come,
Chicks with bricks and blocks and clocks come.
First, I'll make a quick trick brick stack,
Then I'll make a quick trick block stack.
You can make a quick trick chick stack,
You can make a quick trick clock stack.
Socks on chicks and chicks on fox,
Fox in socks on bricks and blocks,
Bricks and blocks on Knox on box..."
*goes off giddily reciting Dr. Suess*

"Your favorite Childhood books?"

There were no "children's books" per se when I was growing up, or at least I don't remember any. So I read Tom Sawyer and the entire "Children's Classics Series," including Ten Years Before The Mast, Robinson Caruso, The Count of Monte Cristo, etc., and everything Edgar Allen Poe ever wrote.

Somehow, I think I got the better deal. ;)


Right on! I had those too. Also The Best Ghost Stories of M.R.James, which everybody should read, The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and the complete set of novels, short stories, essays and other writings of H.G.Wells. Wells is also must-read IMO. And let's not forget Lewis Carroll.

But Poe always had pride of place, and still does. As a kid I memorized some of the more frightening passages. It's great protection against the kind of grown-ups that want to pinch you and call you cute. *spits* It was the days when children could still be expected to have learned some "great literature" to be recited in class or at family occasions. They tended to expect something "worthy". I preferred to recite a passage of Poe in a calm but dramatic voice, sparingly adding the madness where it's called for. (By the end you have to rant a bit, and fix your chosen victim with an unblinking stare. Smiling is verboten. It takes practice but it's worth it.) Like this:
... My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: -- it continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definitiveness -- until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.

No doubt I now grew very pale; -- but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased -- and what could I do? it was a low, dull, quick sound -- much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath -- and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly -- more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations, but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observation of the men -- but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed -- I raved -- I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder -- louder -- louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! -- no, no! They heard! -- they suspected! -- they knew! -- they were making a mockery of my horror! -- this I thought, and this I think. But any thing was better than this agony! Any thing was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! -- and now -- again! -- hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! --

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! -- here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart!" (Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-tale Heart")

After that I was probably the only eight-year old in our family that didn't have their cheeks pinched by elderly aunts.

Dr. Suess-mostly the Buttered Toast War book story thing. Perfectly describes the current world situation.

Fairy Tales tend to be too colorful for me. Red Riding Hood had a wolf being skinned alive, at least in the version I had. The version of Snow White that I had had the witch/queen? being burned alive rather than thrown off a cliff.


Ah, you had the "proper" versions of them -- before they were sanitized/Disneyfied by well-meaning but largely thoughtless people who imagine that children should never read about fear or blood or death, lest they suffer a "trauma". IMO stories like those are exactly the sort of safe, controlled environment where children should be introduced to the possibility that the world isn't always as care-free as Mommy's cuddles or a ride on Daddy's shoulders, and where justice is done even if it's not pretty. I'm assuming the parents know how to use those stories as an opportunity to connect with their kids. If they don't, then it's probably best the kids don't see any version of them at all.

It saddens me that Im the only one who mentioned "The Velveteen Rabbit".

Eh, at least you people read.
Thats good enough.

Dagnabbit, that's a good point. I'm a little sad myself that I forgot it. Wonderful, wonderful book. I still say WTP tops the list though.

Nobody mentioned Thomas the Tank Engine :( or The Cronicals of Narnia

Nobody mentioned Thomas the Tank Engine :( or The Cronicals of Narnia


Except that I did.

Nobody mentioned Thomas the Tank Engine :( or The Cronicals of Narnia

Yes, nobody mentioned either of them... provided you don't count people who posted in this thread. Here's a tip. Read. Read books, wonderful, so-light-you need-to-hold-them-down children's books and big, heavy-enough-to break-a-bone adult books and everything in between. Books that make your heart flutter with joy and wonder and books that make your heart flutter with anticipation and anxiety. Books that take you on adventures in far off realms with magical creatures and books that take you on adventures to places we've all seen just not in the way the author brings it to us. Read, friend. But for the purposes of this thread, read the actual posts before commenting on them.

;) Except that I did. cool well done

Yes, nobody mentioned either of them... provided you don't count people who posted in this thread. Here's a tip. Read. Read books, wonderful, so-light-you need-to-hold-them-down children's books and big, heavy-enough-to break-a-bone adult books and everything in between. Books that make your heart flutter with joy and wonder and books that make your heart flutter with anticipation and anxiety. Books that take you on adventures in far off realms with magical creatures and books that take you on adventures to places we've all seen just not in the way the author brings it to us. Read, friend. But for the purposes of this thread, read the actual posts before commenting on them. oh right :eek:

oh right :eek:

I hope you took that as light-heartedly as it was intended. For the record, you mentioned two great books (series).

I hope you took that as light-heartedly as it was intended. For the record, you mentioned two great books (series). which Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London?

which Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London?

Well, those two, but I was talking about Thomas the Tank Engine and the Narnia series.

Well, those two, but I was talking about Thomas the Tank Engine and the Narnia series. I was more into TTTE