# Favorite Book as a Child?



## chris.truscott (Dec 3, 2010)

Had a flashback moment today while teaching a college rhetoric/critical thinking class. We were talking about games w/ words and Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence in Chapter 2 of Mark Twain's book came to mind. I immediately pulled it up on Google Books and read it to a group of early-20-somethings .... most of whom weren't familiar with the story.

My mother read it to me when I was very young -- early elementary school -- and it was my fallback for book reports through middle school. Then I moved onto using Huck Finn in high school.

So, to answer the question in my subject line, Tom Sawyer was my favorite childhood book. Was kind of fun to think about today! What about you?


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## Daniel Arenson (Apr 11, 2010)

The Dragonlance novels and the Amber novels.


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## ClickNextPage (Oct 15, 2009)

Hands down, Alice in Wonderland!  Also the Dr. Doolittle series. I love animals, and talking animals especially.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

My answer changes everytime I'm asked this.   

Anything by Roald Dahl - in particular The BFG and Witches.
All of Tom McCaughren's books.
Under the Hawthorn Tree.
The Jinny at Finmory series by Patricia Leitch.

There was a series about a ruby ring and time travel that I loved but I can't remember the exact names.

Most of my favourites were books set in Ireland.


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## laa0325 (Feb 21, 2010)

Black Beauty


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## chris.truscott (Dec 3, 2010)

laa0325 said:


> Black Beauty


I'm 95-percent sure that was the first chapter book I read myself in 2nd grade. Actually quoted from it in my WiP fourth novel. (Mom reading to her 5-year-old.)


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## Guest (Dec 21, 2010)

For some reason I read Gulliver's Travels multiple times throughout my youth. I wonder if that affected me at all...


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

laa0325 said:


> Black Beauty


I had a beautiful little edition of this and reread it all the time when I was young. Thanks for the reminder.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

Probably Frances Hodgson Burnett's "A Little Princess." Or the Little House series. Or maybe The Witch of Blackbird Pond. And then there's the Chronicle of Prydain ... This is not one of those questions  that's easy to answer!


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

farrellclaire said:


> I had a beautiful little edition of this and reread it all the time when I was young. Thanks for the reminder.


I adored Black Beauty too! What a wonderful childhood classic!

Incidentally, can anyone recommend some great books for an 8 year old boy who is a good reader?


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

In grade 4, our school library closed down and we were given all the books we could carry. I had to take a bus, so I could only carry about 6. White Fang was one and Fighting Caravans was the other. They are both my most memorable reads.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I loathed Black Beauty -- it made me cry buckets and buckets and I was quite incensed over the cruelty of "bearing reins" (which surely haven't been used for generations? What a waste of indignation!).


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## dpinmd (Dec 30, 2009)

I loved _Black Beauty_ as well, and the _Narnia_ series. But my absolute favorite was _Watership Down_, which I read for the first time in third grade after my teacher started reading it aloud to our class but either didn't finish or just wasn't moving fast enough (I can't remember now). That's my most re-read book in my life -- I lost count after 20 times.

My son just read it for his 6th Grade English class, and I've been having such a wonderful time re-reading it and discussing it with him. Luckily, he also loved it -- it's such a special book to me, I think it really would have "hurt" me if he hadn't liked it!


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Also loved Narnia, Little Princess and Little House.

I reread (and loved) The Coral Island quite a bit, and a lot of Enid Blyton books too.  The Railway Children, Don Conroy's owl series, I had a Judy Blume trilogy that I read all the time - so many books.  I wish I could enjoy books now as easily as I did back then.


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

Thalia the Muse said:


> Probably Frances Hodgson Burnett's "A Little Princess." Or the Little House series. Or maybe The Witch of Blackbird Pond. And then there's the Chronicle of Prydain ... This is not one of those questions that's easy to answer!


I too loved "A Little Princess" - still do, actually.


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## Manley (Nov 14, 2010)

I really loved Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series (5 books) - I read them constantly for my fantasy fix.


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## Thayerphotos (Dec 19, 2010)

Choose your own adventure !

Especially the Superman and Batman books


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## Pinworms (Oct 20, 2010)

There were a series of books by Gordon Korman called The Bruno and Boots books.  They took place in a boarding school, and were absolutely hilarious.  I actually still will occasionally read one.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I  remember reading and rereading  the  Bobbsey Twin books.


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## Patricia (Dec 30, 2008)

I read a book called "The Voyage of the Luna 1" by David Craigie when I was about 12.  I was so enthralled with it, that I read it to my little brother.  I was amazed as an adult that it was considered a "boys' book".


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## PraiseGod13 (Oct 27, 2008)

It will depend on my childhood age.  I have favorites that my mom read to me... then my early reading favorites.... and favorites from around ages 10-12.  That said, probably my all-time favorite is Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce.  I have it in a DTB (not available for Kindle yet so I keep "clicking") and I decided to re-read it a few years ago.  I was hesitant, worrying that I might not like it as much as an adult.  But, I found it as wonderfully enchanting as I did as a child and love reading it over and over.


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## Laurensaga (Sep 29, 2010)

For early childhood 0-7
     Little Snow White- the original Grimm (How or why my Mom let me read that when I was 4 is beyond me). I loved all of the orginal
     fairytales.
Ages 8-9 were dark years when video games hit big so I pretty much stopped reading.
Ages 10-13
     Anything R.L. Stein. He was my hero.

At age 14 I branched out. I started reading pretty much anything but fell in love with Koontz for a while. King and Ann Rice helped in highschool.


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## theraven (Dec 30, 2009)

Black Beauty and any other book that had a horse in it. I also really enjoyed Encyclopedia Brown and the Hardy Boys.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

_*The Secret Garden*_ by Frances Hodgson Burnett. What a marvelous story.


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## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

White Fang, The Hardy Boys, The Boxcar Children, Choose Your Own Adventure...I'm sure there's more that I'll think of, but these stick out right now.


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## TheRiddler (Nov 11, 2010)

Too many to have a favourite:

CHoose Your Own Adventure must be here somewhere
Enid Blyton, particularly Famous Five
The Faraway Tree - surprised no-one's mentioned that yet. In fact had to re-purchase it and read it again recently 
I am David
Gobbolino the Witch's Cat
Charlotte's Web

and of course...

The Hobbit!


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## stacyjuba (Jul 12, 2010)

How funny, I was going to post *A Little Princess *and was surprised to see it listed already. I also loved *A Wrinkle in Time,* the Nancy Drew books, and the Trixie Belden books.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

Oh, I just loved Tom's Midnight Garden! And I reread it as an adult too, and agree that it holds up wonderfully.


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## jhanel (Dec 22, 2010)

Easiest answer ever; Robert A. Heinlein -- Tunnel in the Sky. Hands down.

I read that book at least sixty times.


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## LarryEnright (Nov 27, 2010)

Anything Jules Verne, especially Journey to the Center of the Earth. And I really like the James Mason/Pat Boone movie version of it, too!  

Larry


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

I remember Charolette's Web was the first book I remember reading by myself. I know I read others first. But it was the book that I put down, ran upstairs and told my mother, "MOM...MOM...I CAN READ!!" It is one of my favorites from childhood, the other is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn . I read that when I was in 5th grade, and just reread it on my Kindle this year.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

Good question - I was going to say The Hobbit, but then my brain stated to go waaay back.  I think the first book I ever read that was all print instead of pictures was "101 Dalmations."  I remember being surprised that it was very different and much better than the animated movie (which was great). I think I read this book around 100 times.  No I'm not going to say 101.  But seriously, I think there was a time when I was a little kid that I just read that book over and over again.  

Does anybody remember that book instead of the movie?  It was like a novel, or at least it seemed that way to me at the time.  Anyway, thanks for asking the question because I had forgotten all about that.

I also remember reading Black Beauty quite a bit back then.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

LauraB said:


> I remember reading Charolette's Web was the first book I remember reading by myself. I know I read others first. But it was the book that I put down, ran upstairs and told my mother, "MOM...MOM...I CAN READ!!" It is one of my favorites from childhood, the other is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn . I read that when I was in 5th grade, and just reread it on my Kindle this year.


I remember the day I realised I could read my favourite book (at the time) by myself. Amazing feeling.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

Oh man, this is going to date me...

Books that stuck with me:

John Christopher's Tripod series...I was thrilled to find copies when my son was little, and they stuck with him as well.
"...And Now Miguel" by Joseph Krumgold
"Henry 3", also by Krumgold

and of course,

GREEN EGGS AND HAM


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Thalia the Muse said:


> I loathed Black Beauty -- it made me cry buckets and buckets and I was quite incensed over the cruelty of "bearing reins" (which surely haven't been used for generations? What a waste of indignation!).


As a horse person, I can tell you that "check" reins are still used to this day. Basically, it's dangerous for a harnessed horse to get its head down (can get reins tangled with shafts, etc.) and the check rein prevents that. They aren't used abusively to keep a horse's head so high it can't breathe or work any more. I didn't like Black Beauty either. Reading that Poor, Poor Ginger chapter once was quite enough, but maybe the book did good in its day in getting people to recognize and stop some of the abuses detailed there, although Heaven knows there's still lots of abuse going on in the world.

Before I could even read myself, my favorite books were the Thornton W. Burgess series. My mother used to read me 3 chapters from one of those books every night at bedtime. Not only did that intensify my desire to learn to read for myself well enough to read those books, it undoubtedly set my attitude towards animals in stone early on.

As I got older, My Friend Flicka and Thunderhead were favorites for a long time, but I think as a group, the Albert Payson Terhune books probably lasted longest as favorites.

For my male cousin, I think the Tarzan books were the reading inspiration, but I'm not sure at what age they're appropriate.


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## Lambert (Nov 12, 2010)

I liked thew Grimm fairy tales, the Time Machine, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Magic Books and Electronic books.

Lambert


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## Melonhead (Jan 1, 2010)

I read Heidi over and over.

I enjoyed Misty of Chincoteague and all the Homer Price books.


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## OliverBrant (Dec 21, 2010)

Favorite books: _Charlotte's Web_ (age 6), _The Jungle Books_ (age , _The Little Mermaid_ (age 9), _Tom Sawyer_ and _Huckleberry Finn_ (age 10), _The Hardy Boys Mysteries_ (age 11), _The Wizard of Oz_ (age 12). My first grade teacher read _Charlotte's Web_ to us during the lunch hour over the course of the year, and I recall looking forward to learning what was going to become of poor Wilbur. The version of _The Jungle Books_ I read was a simplified one (I have since read the original as an adult. It is, of course, quite good; but I doubt I could have tackled it at age 8.) I particularly liked the menacing figure of Shere Khan and the way the character gives the story its shape. And, yes, yes, I know. Boys aren't supposed to like _The Little Mermaid_, but I did. An aunt gave it to me, and I loved it. _Tom Sawyer_ was child's play, while _Huckleberry Finn_ was more difficult fare. I recall having trouble getting through the middle, when it discusses 'the King' and 'the Duke', two con men than Huck and Jim encounter. Yet, I stuck with it. When I read it 20 years later, it was equally good. There's just something about the trip down the Mississipp that's enthralling. My love affair with the Hardy Boys was kicked off with _The Mystery of the Secret Panel_. I recall reading _The Wizard of Oz_ during a particularly severe summer, when it was too hot to go out during the day. I lay inside my grandparents' house and read about the Yellow Brick Road under an old evaporative cooler that drowned out any and all noise in the house. The story was lovely and thoroughly entranced me.


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

Little House on the Prairie series. First read them in 2nd Grade, read them all to my kids when they were young and still love them.



Other notables as I got a little older:

Hobbit & LOTR
Thomas Covenant books
John Carter of Mars series


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## Paul Clayton (Sep 12, 2009)

The Red Dory by  ??  I read this when I was a depressed ten or eleven year old.  It took me to the sea, to a fishing town, in New England, I think.  There were fogs and the smell of rotted fish around the overturned boats along the shore.  I remember an old man.  Kindly.  That's about all I can recall.  Except the feeling.  It was a feeling of belonging.  I'm off to google this and see if I can find out more about this book.
Merry Christmas!


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## Paul Clayton (Sep 12, 2009)

re the Red Dory. I went back and found this:

The Red Dory [Hardcover]
Hazel (Hutchins) Wilson (Author)

•	Hardcover: 239 pages 
•	Publisher: Little, Brown (1959) 
•	Language: English 
•	ASIN: B0007EIY02

There are no specs on this wonderful book, just 5 used copies from $15.00. This book is on life support and that's a damn shame. The publisher should release the files as a Kindle book.


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## William Meikle (Apr 19, 2010)

chris.truscott said:


> Had a flashback moment today while teaching a college rhetoric/critical thinking class. We were talking about games w/ words and Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence in Chapter 2 of Mark Twain's book came to mind. I immediately pulled it up on Google Books and read it to a group of early-20-somethings .... most of whom weren't familiar with the story.
> 
> My mother read it to me when I was very young -- early elementary school -- and it was my fallback for book reports through middle school. Then I moved onto using Huck Finn in high school.
> 
> So, to answer the question in my subject line, Tom Sawyer was my favorite childhood book. Was kind of fun to think about today! What about you?


Treasure Island -- and I still re-read it every year or so even well over forty years later


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## windyrdg (Sep 20, 2010)

When I was in the fourth grade I loved the Hardy Boys Mysteries. I went to the library twice a week and I only allowed myself one each trip. I realized I could go through the whole shelf in a month if I let myself go. Don't recall getting hooked on a series or author like that again until high school. I ran through all of Leon Uris' books, Herman Wouk's and James Michener the same way only slower because of their length, and eagerly awaited each new release.


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## Randy Kadish (Feb 24, 2010)

Without question, The Hardy Boys mysteries. When I got older I loved the _Mutiny on the Bounty_ trilogy.

Randy


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## derek alvah (Jul 2, 2010)

Splinter Of The Mind's Eye. It was, I believe, the first of any kind of Star Wars sequel. Came out after the first "real" Star Wars movie.


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

Mom said I was very into Cinderella as a child. I still have my tattered Cinderella comic book. I've always loved the cover










And then I went to Disney World in the late '90s. Had to have this sericel










I read plenty of DTBs too. One of my favorites was a book about Jane Adams. Don't remember the title. I remember reading it while sitting in our big green chair. My bro beagle (photo in my signature) was in the chair with me. His head was in my lap and I was stroking his "licorice button nose" (as my Mom called it) with my thumb.


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## ValeriGail (Jan 21, 2010)

The Box Car children.  Not the series of mysteries, but the original Box car children book.  My grandmother gave it to me when I was little.  I had/have dyslexia really bad and it was the book I was most comfortable reading untill I was much older.  I think I read it hundreds of times.  It was my comfort book.  If I couldn't sleep, or was scared.. I'd hide under my covers with a flash light and read until I fell asleep.  I still have my original copy tucked in a box in storage and can not wait to be able to unpack it!

During "Resource" (what they called my dyslexia class back then), they used Dr Sues books to re-teach me to read.  My ultimate favorite, even now, is "oh the places you will go".  

As I got better at reading, I moved on to things like Ann of Avalone (every single book), The shepherd of the hills (grandmother gave me this one too), Huck Finn (oh this one got read too many times to count!).  Every book I read before the age of 13, was read several times because I was always afraid I had missed something or miss-read it.  So I would read it again.  and again.  And again.  I didn't break out and start majorly reading until I was around 13-14.. and from then on its been a whirl wind!


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