Once Upon a Time.....
Today is International Children's Book Day. Not coincidentally, it is also the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen.
I had a volume of fairy tales when I was young; a vast collection of hard cover books that I could eventually recite by heart. One of the books (it had a green cover with gold leaf lettering) contained nothing but Hans Christian Andersen stories. My favorites were The Little Match Girl, The Red Shoes, The Tin Box and The Snow Queen. I especially loved The Snow Queen - which I read one winter's night when it was cold and blizzardy outside - and to this day I remember the pure angst I felt for Gerda and everything she went through to find her friend, and the pure faith she had that he was not dead. And now, reading the Tinder Box, I can remember exactly what I imagined the dog with the large eyes to look like - it's a bit strange to have such a vivid memory of something that existed only in your imagination.
Anyhow, in honor of Hans's birthday and Children's Book Day, some lists. Of course, I'd like to see yours.
Favorite books I read as a child that I have read over and over again into adulthood:
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
- Half-Magic (and other books in the series) by Edgar Eager
- The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
- The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes
- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
- Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
- The Pigman by Paul Zindel
- The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
- How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
- The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
- The Encyclopedia Brown Series by Donald J. Sobol
- Clues in the Woods (and others in that series) by Peggy Parish
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Children's books I read as an adult and enjoyed
- The Series of Unfortunate Event books by Lemony Snicket
- His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman (which I reviewed here)
- Silent to the Bone by E. L. Konigsburg
Books I have enjoyed reading with or to my kids
- The Day I Swapped my Dad For Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
- The Captain Underpants Series by Dav Pilkey
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
- Owen by Kevin Henkes
- The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg(anything by Van Allsburg is good)
- Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
- Strange Stories for Strange Kids by Art Spiegelman
- The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka
- The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
- Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
- Tuesday By David Wiesner
I'm sure I'll add to the list as I think of more. Please, make your own.
Comments
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle
The Tripods Trilogy, by John Christopher.
And I remember the unexpurgated 19th century edition of the Grimm Brothers Tales my grandfather gave me. "The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf" is nightmare-inducing.
Posted by: Toren | April 2, 2005 07:36 AM
I was obviously more than a girly girl reader than you....
Harriet the Spy!
And the Little Women books and the Little House books -- just because Hollywood has done their gooey versions, shouldn't make us forget they started out as great books.
A couple of Judy Blumes: "Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret?" and "Blubber"
Less girly: Catcher in the Rye
Posted by: Allison | April 2, 2005 08:00 AM
I always like Frog and Toad, and then when I was a little older, all the Nancy Drew books.
LJ
mooalex.blogspot.com
Posted by: mooalex | April 2, 2005 08:18 AM
Books I have enjoyed reading with or to my kids:
Porkenstein
White Rabbit's Color Book
Hondo and Fabian
Click Clack Moo
We <3 the school's Scholastic book clubs.
Posted by: Sekimori | April 2, 2005 08:20 AM
Ah, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. I had that when I was a tot, favorite book, right next to Where the Wild Things Are.
Posted by: Jason | April 2, 2005 09:41 AM
My favorites were the Great Brain series of books along with those by John Bellairs (The House with the Clock in its Walls, et. al.). I was ravenous with these. Whenever my grandfater came to visit, he'd take each of us kids to the bookstore to pick out a book. It was heaven.
Posted by: Adam | April 2, 2005 09:57 AM
My Christmas wish list, as a child and as an adult, has always been about 80% books and 20% other stuff, so I'll warn you that even when I severely narrow the list, it's long...
Favorite books I read as a child that I have read over and over again into adulthood:
Children's books I read as an adult and enjoyed:
Books I have enjoyed reading with or to kids:
(Although I don't have kids of my own, I was a nanny, a substitute teacher, a elementary school level reading teacher, a tutor, and I'm an auntie and older cousin to a giggling flock of girly-girls, ranging from 1 year to 15 years old, and ad-hoc auntie to any number of friends' kids, so there's no way I can list all the books I've enjoyed reading to kids...there are just too darned many)
Posted by: Jen | April 2, 2005 10:04 AM
Well, among some that I've recently repurchased:
Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series (5 books)
Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series (5 books)
Lloyd Alexander's Westmark trilogy
Ursula K. LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea trilogy (Tehanu never happened. Do you hear me? Never!)
Daniel M. Pinkwater's 5 Novelscollection.
Posted by: Mike | April 2, 2005 10:15 AM
How about "The Pushcart War" by Jean Merrill (I think?)
Good book as a kid and an adult.
Posted by: Mat Larson | April 2, 2005 10:17 AM
I was a big fan of the The Dark is Rising series in elementary school (well, that and the Choose Your Own Adventure Books, of which I still have a big box tucked away).
Posted by: andy | April 2, 2005 10:46 AM
Oooo...I like this post and these comments. Very fun.
My favorite book as a girl was "Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. I also loved "From the Mixed Up Files...", by Koningsburg, "Little Women" was another beloved book of my youth.
Posted by: carla | April 2, 2005 11:15 AM
Allison! I'd almost forgotten Harriet the Spy! Tomato sandwiches, heh.
So many books I've read have already been listed here, so I'll add one of my faves not yet mentioned.
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
I was about 10 when I first read it and I was already pestering my parents about getting a horse (never did, but I did a lot of riding through Girl Scouts). I went on and read all of Farley's sequels to the book, too.
Posted by: Darleen | April 2, 2005 11:16 AM
Oh...
And I was a big fan of Nancy Drew, too!
Posted by: Darleen | April 2, 2005 11:18 AM
Nancy Drew series.
The Narnia Chronicles
Trixie Belden - passed down from my mother.
Enid Blyton's - Famous Five, Secret Seven, the Faraway Tree stories, and others (passed down from my dad)
Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books - I was addicted to these.
RL Stine books
Judy Blume books - all of them
When i was being read to by my parents: The Sword in the Stone (over and over and over again)
Little golden books
Books I'm kind of ashamed to admit to reading in high school:
Sweet Valley High books
Seniors
Does anyone remember those horribly corny teen books of the 70s and 80s that were teen romance books - they were a series of different stories in a series of books - sweethearts or sweet-something or other books?
Posted by: Angel | April 2, 2005 12:17 PM
The tripods!! I remember seeing a british TV series a long time agao of that book series. I meant to read them and forgot to.
Posted by: Angel | April 2, 2005 12:20 PM
Screw all this "Boxcar Children" and and "Five Little Peppers" sh1t. Ramona fuxing RULES!!!!!
(Beverly Cleary)
And because YOU ARE SUCH A RETARD to miss this I'm assuming you probably can't read, so you should listen to the Books on Tape version with Stockard Channing, which totally fuxing ROCKS.
So READ RAMONA, you limp wristed sissies, and get back to me. (inspired by Ace's thread)
Posted by: DaveC | April 2, 2005 01:28 PM
Ender's Game!!
And, I loved "The Dark is Rising" series. All time fav.
Posted by: Carin | April 2, 2005 01:39 PM
http://www.beverlycleary.com/books/ramona_books.html
,if you can't figure out how to find the most excellent books ever. I personally preferred "Remembrance of Things Past" as a child :)
Posted by: DaveC | April 2, 2005 01:43 PM
Dave? Need some Ritalin, buddy?
Posted by: michele | April 2, 2005 01:46 PM
Boxcar Cildren and Encyclopedia Brown. Those were my childhood right there. i had the first 21 or so BC books, adn read each of them at last 5 times.
Mystery Behind the Wall. Every time i read it, i hoped they'd find a dead body with the other stuff. :-D
and EB might be why i love the Toon Disney show Filmore! Noir, pop culture and hard boiled cop 'Dramedy' disguised as a middleschool safety patrol. I love it.
:-D
Posted by: tommy | April 2, 2005 01:53 PM
Ritalin,huh? Yeah, sure, send me some.
I don't care if the Ingalls lived a hard life,
Ramona and Beezus could smack down Laura and her blind sister any day.
Mano a mano.
Just sayin'
Posted by: DaveC | April 2, 2005 02:05 PM
And I'm serious about listening to those books on tape. Go RIGHT NOW to the library and get them.
You'll thank me later.
Posted by: DaveC | April 2, 2005 02:08 PM
Yea, but could they take on Nellie Oleson?
Posted by: michele | April 2, 2005 02:10 PM
See, the Ingalls girls would have to bring in outside help. But Ramonas could probably enlist Henry and Ribsy.
Now, I don't mean for this thread to turn into a Ramona Quimby vs. Laura Ingalls flame war. I can't imagine anything like that happening on the internet, which of course is the modern day equivalent of a sewing circle or quilting bee.
But you know, Laura thought listening to Pa scratching on his fiddle was the bee's knees. And Ramona, on the other hand was rockin' to Elvis.
Cite? I dont need no stinking cite!
Posted by: DaveC | April 2, 2005 02:38 PM
You totally evaded the question, Dave.
Could Ramona and/or Beezus take on Nellie Oleson?
Posted by: michele | April 2, 2005 02:41 PM
Nellie Oleson has BIG MONEY interests behind her. That's not fair.
Posted by: DaveC | April 2, 2005 02:48 PM
Thinking about it some more, I think Ramona COULD take Nellie as long as it wasn't near the store.
And I'm sure Nellie would be too scared to show her face anywhere near Klickitat Street.
Posted by: DaveC | April 2, 2005 02:53 PM
Now, I'll bet you trot out Veruca Salt (Willie Wonka), tough guy.
Posted by: DaveC | April 2, 2005 02:57 PM
And by the way, I might as well mention that "Goodnight Moon" has NO PLOT.
I'll put my 2 cents in for "Home for a Bunny"
Posted by: DaveC | April 2, 2005 03:00 PM
I grabbed my camera and took a pic of my girls' book cupboard. They have more than 200 of the Goosebumps series by RL Stine.
Remember how there was a "controversy" over kids reading them?
sheesh
Posted by: Darleen | April 2, 2005 04:28 PM
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Oh, I could read that again now even. I wanted to live in a museum like that.
I liked Beezus and Ramona too, but, ah, probably not as much as Dave does. I liked any Cleary books--Henry Huggins, Otis Spofford, they were all good.
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene Dubois is one I never owned, but checked out from the library over and over again. I just looked it up on Barnes and Noble, and the description is all wrong: "Tells what happens to a bored old mathematician when he takes a trip across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon." No, no, NO. That's like saying A Wrinkle in Time tells what happens when three bored kids meet up with three strange old ladies.
Posted by: ilyka | April 2, 2005 04:35 PM
"The Little Princess"
"Where the Wild Things Are"
"What the Witch Left"
"Island of the Blue Dolphin"
"The Blue Sky"
"Nancy Drew..."
"Twelve Dancing Princesses"
"The Silver Skates"
"The Red Shoes"
Posted by: Anna | April 2, 2005 10:39 PM
Can't believe I forgot...
"Harold and the Purple Crayon" and
"The Little Prince"
Posted by: Anna | April 2, 2005 10:41 PM
I always liked "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry.
Posted by: BlkMktBabyDealer | April 3, 2005 01:58 AM
Always have, always will love "Where the Wild Things Are". My daughter, a wizened age of 7, doesn't like it. We just had a book fair at her school and I almost bought myself another copy of "The Chronicles of Narnia". Loved Nancy Drew early on, then switched to Ian Fleming as a teen. Go fig...
Posted by: Becky in Ohio | April 3, 2005 09:46 AM
Noel Streatham books.
"Farmer Boy" (my favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder book, about her husband's upstate NY childhood)
Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Spear
My eleven-year-old loved "The Thief Lord" and "Inkheart" (Ursula Funke).
Posted by: NJ Sue | April 3, 2005 09:32 PM
"The Dark Is Rising". Oh man, that is too much. I spent an unsettling amount of time as a 13 year old trying to teach myself Cymraeg as a result...
y maent yr mynyddoedd yn canu, ac y mae'r argelwyddes yn dod
Posted by: David Ross | April 4, 2005 12:31 AM
Late to the party, but here are the ones I read as a child and again as an adult have bought for more of our friends' children friends than I can count.
Where the Sidewalk Ends- Shel Silverstein
Uncle Shelby's ABZ book- Shel Silverstein
Leo the Late Bloomer- Robert Kraus
Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing- Judy Blume
In the Night Kitchen- Maurice Sendak
already listed:
Where the Wild Things Are
The Giving Tree
Posted by: Muckraker | April 4, 2005 11:38 AM
I saw only a passing mention of Roald Dahl, but every book he wrote was excellent. "Danny the Champion of the World" was my personal fave.
Also Julie Edwards (Andrews), yes the actress, wrote an excellent book called, "Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles."
Posted by: Chuck in AK | April 4, 2005 04:29 PM
Everything Daniel Pinkwater ever wrote.
I mean, dude, Avocados of Death.
Posted by: Sigivald | April 4, 2005 05:16 PM
Chuck,
Loved "Danny" it and "James and the Giant Peach" were to staples I read and re-read.
Posted by: Muckraker | April 4, 2005 05:46 PM
FIVE CHINEESE BROTHERS,MR BLUE,CLIFFORD GETS A JOB,MR BIDDLE AND THE BIRDS,AND TO THINK I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREET,CAT IN THE HAT COMES BACK,HEY AL,SONG OF THE SWALLOWS,MILLIONS OF CATS,GREEN EGGS AND HAM,THE BUTTER BATTLE BOOK,DAISY HEAD MAISY,SONG OF THE ZUBBLE WHUMP,IF I RAN THE ZOO,IF I RAN THE CURCUS(THOSE LAST ONES AND BY DR SESUS and of couse HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
Posted by: phoenix | April 5, 2005 11:00 PM