# What is the first book you remember reading?



## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

The first book I really remember is a Ladybird book called 'Ned the Lonely Donkey' It still brings a tear to my eye when I think of old Ned!  

What's yours?


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## acellis (Oct 10, 2011)

The first book I ever read was either _*The Caves of Steel*_, by Isaac Asimov, or _*Daybreak, 2250 A.D.*_ (later re-named _*Starman's Son*_) by Andre Norton. I can't remember which one I read first.


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## WillPetersen (Feb 14, 2012)

Great question.

The first thing I remember reading for entertainment was an edition of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, I was grounded in mid-summer and you couldn't get me to read anything that was not 'required'...LOL, but those stories totally blew my mind. I can't remember the edition, but the main story had something to do with a wire inserted directly into the brain for pleasure, a futuristic techno-drug, or something.

Anyone know what story I'm talking about?

W.P.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Nancy Drew.


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## MyricaBlue (Feb 10, 2012)

Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss. Not my favorite Seuss, but I still remember when the words my mother read aloud suddenly clicked and I could read it myself.

Unfortunately, when I started school, I ran into a teacher who was oddly unhappy that I already knew how to read.


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

A zoology textbook for the 6th grade. I was 5 1/2 years old and I really wanted to find out about those tigers. I remember looking at the picture, and then suddenly I realized those letters underneath made sense. I think it was one of the most important moments of my life.


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## Sean Patrick Fox (Dec 3, 2011)

Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I definitely read other books before that one, but it was the clearly I can remember clearly.


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## cheriereich (Feb 12, 2011)

Syd Hoff's _Danny and the Dinosaur_. I still love that book. Then again dinosaurs + museums rule.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

The first I can remember is The Boxcar Children.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

Oh, it was a book from school back in first grade. Okay, I don't remember what it was. What I do remember is the teacher allowed us all to take a book home, and all the adults made a big deal over my reading -- even though I hesitated every time I saw "said." It was my first introduction to how things are not always pronounced the way they're spelled. 

My first book-book was probably something from Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder, or Barbara Michaels. Maybe Catherine Cookson? 

Embarrassingly enough, perhaps, I can tell you the first and second Harlequin romance I'd read -- Yesterday's Scars, Carole Mortimer and Turbulent Covenant, Jessica Steele. I have no shame over reading romance, but it's funny that I remember decades later books that were in stores for no more than a month, while books that were supposed to be more enduring have been forgotten. 

First classic, other than Alcott, that I chose for myself would be Wuthering Heights.


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## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

I remember alternating between The Boxcar Children and the Little House on the Prairie series when I was in 2nd grade.

I didn't start out a reader though. I distinctly remember being in kindergarden and being in a reading group with a little boy who knew every single word that the teacher had on her flash cards. It made me so mad and then my competitive streak kicked in. After that I read everything I could get my hands on. I'm so glad I got mad, because I've had a love affair with books ever since.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Hmm ... _Black Beauty_ by Anna Sewell. I know I read kids' books and comic books before then, but I remember what none of them were.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

I also remember Enid Blyton's Mr Pinkwhistle quite vividly.


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## Ras Ashcroft (Feb 8, 2012)

Spot's First Picnic.

Boy did looking it up on amazon and seeing the cover bring back some childhood memories.


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## Skate (Jan 23, 2011)

I used to go to piano lessons with my two older sisters. I had to wait for them to have their lessons before I could have mine and I used to read for the hour it took. My first memory of a book was sitting at the piano lessons reading 'The Water Babies'. I was seven years old. I really ought to read it again because though I may have been able to read the words, I'm quite sure I didn't understand much of what it was really about.


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## Harry Shannon (Jul 30, 2010)

Probably Nancy Drew or Tom Swift (never cared for The Hardy Boys).


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## wdeen (Dec 29, 2011)

5th grade. 2001: A Space Odyssey.


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## IowaGuy (Jan 31, 2012)

Goosebumps.  Those books are what turned me into a reader.  I couldn't read them fast enough.  I also remember reading sports books when I was a kid.  Football books were my favorite.


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## Jackal Lantern Books (Aug 30, 2011)

Wow is this suddenly making me feel old  So hard to remember. There are 3 that come to mind, and I read them all around the same time. Mandy, Nancy Drew Series and the Little House on the Prairie books. If I had to make a guess, I think its Mandy, which was written by Julie Edwards Andrews. I didn't even realize that it was _the_ Julie Andrews until many years later. But I read that book many times as a young girl. Definitely made me fall in love with reading!


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## Etienne (Feb 18, 2012)

Hi, As a child I remember first reading the Janet & John book _Here We Go_. As a young adult, _With Mystics and Magicians in Tibet_ by Alexandra David-Neel.


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## ddarol (Feb 5, 2009)

First book I can truely remember reading is _Sand Dune Pony by Franklin Folsom. I'm sure I read all the Dr. Suess books too and some of the Golden books (as they were always around growing up), but that is the first I remember. It has instilled my love of mystery! _


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## Straker (Oct 1, 2010)

MyricaBlue said:


> Unfortunately, when I started school, I ran into a teacher who was oddly unhappy that I already knew how to read.


You and Scout Finch!

My first was a Hardy Boys book called _*The Tower Treasure*_.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

I don't remember what were the first books I read. Probably stuff like Moose, Goose, and Little Nobody. Or Owl at Home, Frog and Toad, Mole and Troll... You know, stuff with pictures.

When I was around ten I read a lot of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Also as some others mentioned, the Mandy books and The Boxcar Children and The Great Brain books. And Little Women, Eight Cousins and Rose In Bloom. Some of those weren't exactly my choice but at that age I kind of read whatever other people gave me. Some reads I actually picked for myself were the Goosebumps books. Also, Beetles Slightly Toasted and Max and Me and the Time Machine. I loved anything funny.

ETA: Oh, I just remembered! The first real book I read was something about Helen Keller and I had to give a book report on it. I remember being really nervous because I had to read the report aloud to this room full of kids and their parents. Made myself sick dreading it.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

MyricaBlue said:


> Unfortunately, when I started school, I ran into a teacher who was oddly unhappy that I already knew how to read.


My fifth grade teacher thought I was lying when I said I'd already read Island of The Blue Dolphins -- several times. I think I managed to convince her after a day or so, and got to read something else. Mrs. Carmen -- told me I should be a writer. Gave me a big hug at graduation.


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## Pawz4me (Feb 14, 2009)

The first books I remember reading were Dick and Jane books. See Dick run. See Jane run. Run Dick run. Run Jane run. Fascinating stuff. 

As far as "real" books -- I remember reading lots of Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. But the first specific title I can remember is _Black Beauty_.


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## DolphinWatcher (Feb 20, 2012)

Although I remember reading the Dick and Jane books in school, the first story to really make an impression on me was _Heidi_. I still love that book to this day!


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## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

ddarol said:


> First book I can truely remember reading is _Sand Dune Pony by Franklin Folsom. _


_

I loved Sand Dune Pony!_


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## 4eyesbooks (Jan 9, 2012)

The first book I remember reading myself is Green Eggs and Ham.  The first book that had a tremendous impact on me was Are You There God, It's Me Margaret.  As a pre-teen gal this one was quite a doozy for me.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

I don't remember reading it, but the first book I read was "Nose is not toes".


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

The Bobbsey  twins.. also loved a book named "Blueberries for Sal".


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

Pawz4me said:


> The first books I remember reading were Dick and Jane books. See Dick run. See Jane run. Run Dick run. Run Jane run. Fascinating stuff.


And you can't forget Spot!! Run Spot run!!


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Green Eggs & Ham. I had just learned to read and my parents took me camping, so I went wandering through the campsite, book in tow, looking for littler kids to read to. I found a couple and read the book to them and was so proud of myself. 

Vaguely related, my mom then cooked me green eggs and ham (colored with food dye!) and I promptly vomited after eating it.


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## weebil (Feb 22, 2012)

The Phantom Tollbooth


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

Can't remember NOT reading, but also can't remember the first book. The earliest books I can recall around the house were some Little Golden Books and a set of supermarket encyclopedias; I'd have been four or five then. Had one of Roy Chapman Andrews' books about dinosaurs. I was already able to read when I started first grade, but can't recall anyone actually teaching me how. First book I can remember buying for myself was a Signet paperback of Heinlein's _The Puppet Masters_ when I was around 12.

The weird thing is that I've gotten more out of reading than out of movies, but I can remember clearly the first scene from a movie that I ever saw -- around the age of four or five, woke up in the middle of the night and walked into the living room just in time to see Sid Melton gored by a triceratops at the end of _Lost Continent_.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

a biography of Helen Keller.  it's also how i learned my first bit of sign language.


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## horsebreaker53 (Feb 24, 2012)

I think mine was "The Hardy Boys" a mystery series.


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## mayfire (Nov 11, 2010)

In the classroom, the _Dick and Jane_ series, of course. Let's not forget Fluff the kitten! I remember _Highlights_, the children's periodical and _Pippi Longstocking_. My most vivid memory is my first Bookmobile choice--_The __Secret Garden_. I was a fourth-grade girl whose mother had just died of illness the previous summer and that book really hit home. I think I read it at least twice. After that, it was _A Wrinkle in Time_.

After reading several more posts I have to add _The Lord of the Rings_ as a favorite high school read. I remember mail ordering _The Return of the King_ because it was not available in my library at the time.This was the late Sixties, folks, way before Tolkien's cinema fame. I sent a money order to the publisher and was so excited when I received it.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

Probably my first book-reading memory is sitting in the hall outside my room, where the bookshelves were, and reading this book about a little bear who tried to make himself different colors so he could be a more interesting animal. Of course, it didn't work and he discovered that being a plain old brown bear was special, too. I know that I read books earlier than that, because my mom still has the little phonics books she used to teach me how to read, but I don't have any specific memories of reading them.


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## JackDAlbrecht (Sep 24, 2011)

Clifford the Big Red Dog! Those books were awesome! 

The first real book I read was Charlotte's Web, I think I was 7.  Not ashamed to say that a tear or two escaped my control when Charlotte died. That was a good read.


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

I can't remember if my first book was _To Kill a Mockingbird_ or _1984_. Both required reading in school and the only ones I finished, heck I still don't know how I passed the test on _A Tale of Two Cities_ when I closed the book after the first page. ha
The first book I read because I wanted to was _The Hobbit_ followed quickly by _LotR_.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

First books outside "reading circle" in school were snatched up on a trip to the library which I still remember.  I checked out a book called "Peter and the Unlucky Rocket" about a boy whose father worked for the government trying to design a rocket that would work, a book called "Space Cat" which in retrospect was as silly as it sounds (had a picture of a cat in a space suit with a bubble helmet on the cover) and a Curious George book, I don't remember which one.  I read all three within a few hours and wanted to go back to the library again!

But with the subject of the first two books, you can tell what was on my mind at the time!


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## JackDAlbrecht (Sep 24, 2011)

Ergodic Mage said:


> I can't remember if my first book was _To Kill a Mockingbird_ or _1984_. Both required reading in school and the only ones I finished, heck I still don't know how I passed the test on _A Tale of Two Cities_ when I closed the book after the first page. ha
> The first book I read because I wanted to was _The Hobbit_ followed quickly by _LotR_.


Unfortunately I came to The Hobbit and LOTR late in life. They are definitely among my favorites of all time! The first fantasy book I ever read was The hobbit, and that was in High School.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The first thing to know is that I couldn't half see until a teacher in 2nd grade noticed me squinting at the board and holding books against my nose and suggested I be taken to an eye doctor.  Sure enough, I had severe nearsightedness. Had glasses a few weeks later and reading became so much easier.  

Of course, I didn't have any way to get books except the school and city libraries.  The school library didn't have much at all for little kids -- more for the 7th and 8th graders, and anyway, we weren't allowed to go there on our own, and when they took us we weren't allowed to get books out of our 'section'.   But my mother would take all of us to the city library regularly -- it was a weekly thing -- after piano lessons, we stopped at the library.

I know I borrowed the Beatrix Potter books repeatedly from the Children's library.  They were the only ones that were worth reading again of what was available.  My mother noticed and took me up to the General library and the first book I checked out was "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell.  I think I was 3rd or 4th grade.


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## greatparenting (Feb 13, 2012)

The first children's book I recall is "The Five Chinese Brothers." For chapter books, I remember a title, "The Great Garcias" as my first book. The first book I loved, however was Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians followed by The City Boy by Herman Wouk. That one is still, 50 years later, my favorite book of all time and for those who enjoy coming-of-age tales, I highly recommend it.


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

JackDAlbrecht said:


> Unfortunately I came to The Hobbit and LOTR late in life. They are definitely among my favorites of all time! The first fantasy book I ever read was The hobbit, and that was in High School.


Same here. Tolkien's books are what turned me into an avid reader.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

4eyesbooks said:


> The first book that had a tremendous impact on me was Are You There God, It's Me Margaret. As a pre-teen gal this one was quite a doozy for me.


If love alone could promote longevity, Judy Blume would live forever. So many warm memories of her books, even though all the talk in "Margaret" about belts would be lost of girls today.


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## JackDAlbrecht (Sep 24, 2011)

Ergodic Mage said:


> Same here. Tolkien's books are what turned me into an avid reader.


I had the same experience. I even went off and purchased all the books that told the history of middle earth afterward; sadly, none of them compared to the originals IMO.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I am pretty sure it was something by Karl May. There were lots of his books on my parents shelf. Along with some very um, educational stuff  
I think I also remember reading Heinz G. Konsalik while I was young. I don't think I read whats considered children books. 

Karl May and Konsalik are german writers, so I don't know if they are even known in the US.


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## tmando (Jul 18, 2010)

I started by reading books by baseball players. The first one was Ball Four by Jim Bouton. I think I followed that with one by Graig Nettles and and somewhere around then a series by a former umpire (I forgot who)


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## JRainey (Feb 1, 2011)

Geoffrey said:


> The first I can remember is The Boxcar Children.


Yes, me too!  Well, either The Boxcar Children or the American Girls series. I can't quite remember. I devoured the American Girls books. I'd read two or three a day!


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## jaimee83 (Sep 2, 2009)

Geoffrey said:


> The first I can remember is The Boxcar Children.


What a flash from the past, after reading this I recall going to the local public library for the Boxcar Children. I knew where and what the library was,I didn't know about checking out books, I just took them home and returned them. That was corrected but this had to be 1954 or so. Thanks for the memory - good times


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## lea_owens (Dec 5, 2011)

_Little Black, A Pony_ was the first book I remember reading by myself when I was three (I know I was reading it at age three as it was in my Nana's house and she moved to a different place when I turned four). I would get so upset as I read about Little Black running away because his boy had a new horse and I'd cry as I thought of him all alone out there... I loved that book and would sit and read it over and over, feeling the same roller-coaster ride of emotions every time. The first book I remember being read to me, though, was _Blinky Bill _- a 1933 Australian classic about a mischievous koala 'boy', a staple book for Aussie kids in the early 60s when I was a tyke. It was harder to read than _Little Black_, so I don't think I read that one myself until I was five or so. At four, I was reading _Creeper's Jeep_, but something about that book always made me uneasy and I don't feel any attachment to it - if I saw_ Little Black_ in a shop, I'd have to buy it; if I saw_ Creeper's Jeep_, I'd just turn it face down and walk away. There were lots of other books I remember, but they are the first three of great importance: the first I loved and read myself; the first that gave me the heebie-jeebies and the first one I remember being read to me.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

Wow, three is so young. That is alovely story, Lea.x


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## Matthew Lee Adams (Feb 19, 2012)

"Mat the Rat" and other readers when I was about age 4.

I was reading quite a bit by second grade, and my mom had to use her library card to check out books since my limit was too low.

I do remember also reading her Harlequin romances when I'd run out of things to read, in about 3rd grade   No idea what I thought at the time.

I recall reading "Moby Dick" in about 3rd grade or so as well.  Also "Robinson Crusoe."  And V.C. Andrews and Stephen King by middle school.

I pretty much was up with reading whatever I could, and not so much any particular genre.  Lots of biographies as well in elementary school.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

The first book I fell in love with was Jaws and I read that at a very early age.  It also gave me the idea that you could write books for a living (I am not quite doing that just yet, but I get closer all the time).


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## Hadou (Jun 1, 2011)

War and Peace.

I mean...I remember reading Berenstain Bears - No Girls Allowed over and over again as a kid, so I will have to go with that.


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## SSantore (Jun 28, 2011)

I devoured books as soon as I started reading, so I don't remember that far back.  But I do remember reading the kids series books, such as Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, The Happy Hollisters (Anyone else read those?), Honey Bunch--too sweet for me even back in grade school.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

I enjoyed The Hardy Boys, too. They were quite big here in England.


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## Susan Alison (Jul 1, 2011)

I will have read books before the ones I remember reading. The ones I remember are 'The Little White Horse', 'The Little Wooden Horse', 'The Little Grey Men' - hey - they've all got 'little' in the title... Then the Narnia books, Little (again!!!) Women, Black Beauty.

I know I'll be up all night now remembering all the ones I've forgotten to put in here.


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

Green Eggs and Ham


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## pawsplus (Mar 31, 2009)

By myself? _Charlotte's Web_. I was 7.  I still re-read it at least once a year!


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## JMiddleton (Mar 29, 2012)

The Faraway Tree. After reading this my sister and I were propelled in to many an afternoon spent make-believing we had parts to play in the story. My grandmother's yard always held a place for our adventures and this book was just one of the catalysts for such memorable times.


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## Shawn Mackey (Mar 28, 2012)

The first book I read was _Fudge-A-Mania_ at around eight years old. I remember being excited when I found out the series was going to be adapted into a live action show. I ended up disappointed because the characters didn't look and act how I imagined. Of course, this didn't stop me from watching every week and bragging to my mom whenever I recognized a scene from the books.


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## shauno (Mar 23, 2012)

Pet Sematary - Stephen King. I'd be maybe 12 or 13 yrs.
Cried my eyes out when the kid died.
(Sorry if thats a spoiler)


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## Darrell Pitt (Feb 12, 2011)

They were Enid Bylton Books - The Adventurous Four and the sequel (wait for it) The Adventurous Four Again (Yes, Mrs Blyton came up with some really snazzy names).

I also read her Famous Five and 7 Find Outers. Another early series I loved was Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. Most people have never heard of them and give me blank looks when I mention them. Truly, they lifted me out of a dreary childhood into a bright and special place.


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## ChrisWard (Mar 10, 2012)

I think it was Brer Rabbit. I had a picture book and another one which was more like a short story collection.

Chris Ward


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## Richard Parks (Feb 29, 2012)

Other than the "Dick and Jane" books in First Grade?    It would have to be The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by A Conan Doyle when I was 7 or 8. It's probably why I still have a soft spot for a good mystery.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

When I was about 3 and a half my parents gave me this huge used set of 15 books that their friends kids were too old for. They were pretty old but in good shape. They were great! I think the name was Childcraft? Big, orange, great illustrations and heavy books. Any kid's story you could think of was within the pages.

Also read _Winnie The Pooh, Wind In The Willows and Babaar._


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

Wow, Richard. Sherlock at 8. You were considerably more advanced than me


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## Vukovina (Mar 30, 2012)

The first "real" book I read was probably Hugh Lofting's _The Story of Doctor Dolittle_. After that, I remember being excited at mail advertisements for fantasy and sci-fi book clubs that my parents sometimes got, and which I saved from instant recycling. They all came in cheap envelopes with shiny little catalogues insides. I'd flip through the pages, imagining what the books were about based on the title and cover art. Some of the authors I'd heard of. Many were new to me. For whatever reason, Robert Jordan's _The Eye of the World_ piqued my interest the most and, though I didn't end up getting it from a book club, I did get it, and I dragged it around for months and months and months...

And when I was finally finished, I felt so proud of myself!



I never did finish the entire series, though.


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## Neil Ostroff (Mar 25, 2011)

Where the Wild Things Are--- a classic.


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## sheiler1963 (Nov 23, 2011)

The honest truth is I can't remember not knowing how to read therefore I can't remember the first book.I honestly thought reading was something one was born with. My parents had me in Montessori for preschool through Kindergarten and then put me in a private Catholic school in first grade. Apparently I was reading at 5th grade level then, but the crazy thing is that I didn't know my ABC's! The nuns really rapped me for that and accused me of lying, but I seriously could not recite them because I'd never seen the damn chart in my life. They also had a heck of a time getting through to me about words that rhyme. To my way of thinking CAT does NOT sound like HAT because a cat is an animal and a hat is something you wear on your head. I 'saw' words rather than heard them so rhyming just didn't make sense to me.


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## Matthew Lee Adams (Feb 19, 2012)

jackz4000 said:


> When I was about 3 and a half my parents gave me this huge used set of 15 books that their friends kids were too old for. They were pretty old but in good shape. They were great!* I think the name was Childcraft?* Big, orange, great illustrations and heavy books. Any kid's story you could think of was within the pages.
> 
> Also read _Winnie The Pooh, Wind In The Willows and Babaar._


Yep - Childcraft books.

There are examples of them on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=childcraft&_sacat=267

They did a very good job with the stories - mythologies, biographies, history. A little bit dated now for some of it, but still some great stuff.


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## D.A. (Mar 29, 2012)

Nancy Drew - something about a clock?


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## Patricia (Dec 30, 2008)

I was going to say Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden, but I think it was probably The Bobbsey Twins.


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## G.L. Breedon (Jul 7, 2011)

I doubt it was the first book I read, but the first one I remember is "Rocket Ship Galileo" by Robert Heinlein.  I think I was 10 or 11. 

Now I have an urge re-read it. I find that when I reread books from my childhood, I rarely enjoy them as much as I remembered, but I gain some insights into how they influenced who I who up to be.


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## tsmadigan (Apr 6, 2012)

Does anyone else remember the Powers Boys Mysteries? Jack and Chip. Love them. Still remember a scene when one or the other was trapped in a coffin and moving his lips, praying. Then I read all of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. That's what really made me a reader.


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## J. Davis Bly (Apr 4, 2012)

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA. 

I was DEVASTATED with the ending.  It was the first time I remember a book making me feel an emotion (sadness) so strongly.


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

I'm sure my mother read me all kinds of preschool stuff, but here are some of the early books I remember:

The Poky Little Puppy (I hated it.)

Little Toot

Harold and the Purple Crayon (I ended up writing an episode of the animated TV show for HBO...hardest script I ever wrote! Pre-school ain't easy!)

The Five Chinese Brothers

Little Black ***** (I had an RCA book/record combo where the narrator reads the book. Nipper, the RCA dog, barked every time you were supposed to turn the pages. I never saw anything racist in it...***** was a very brave and clever little boy!)

Various Dr. Seuss (Bartholomew and the Oobleck was my favorite, The Cat in the Hat disturbed me.)

And lots and lots of comics!


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## jenjiyana42 (Mar 15, 2012)

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  My dad used to read The Little Engine That Could to me and my sister almost every night.  I remember the first time I could read it myself - that was pretty awesome.  If he read it again to me today, though, I'd turn right back into a two-year-old.  It's amazing how that sort of thing sinks into your consciousness.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

How true, Jen.x


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. I think I was in 5th or 6th Grade...I know there were books I read before that (I was always a huge reader) but this one stands, out I still remember checking it out from the school library. I remember I had to wait more than a year or two to turn 11 like the protagonist did at the beginning of the book. My dog did not start growling at me when I turned 11 though


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## Joseph_Evans (Jul 24, 2011)

Magehunter by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. For me this book wasn't just a book, it was a portal into another world. I was absolutely mesmerised, and even though I must have read books before this one, this is the one I remember.


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

When I was 2, I remember reading a Honey Bear story and a Haunted House flip book. 

Once I could read on my own, it was Winnie the Pooh, Dr. Doolittle, Paddington Bear and Charlotte's Web.

But as far as a more grown-up book goes, when I was ten, I read Jane Eyre, The Secret Garden and The Enchanted Castle. 

And, of course, Dune and the Dark is Rising series. :-D Repeatedly.  

For me, The Enchanted Castle, the Dark is Rising and Dune were my portals. The world could crash down around me and I wouldn't have noticed.


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## sarahsbloke (Sep 24, 2011)

The War of The Worlds by H. G. Wells
In my high school English class when I was 11, I've been reading SF ever since.


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

"Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. It's been non-stop fantasy reading for me ever since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Wild_Things_Are

Funny thing is my mom still has the book. My nieces and nephews have had the opportunity to read through it. I don't think it grabbed them in quite the same way that it did me.


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## EmilyG (Jan 31, 2010)

Betsy's Little Star by Carolyn Haywood

It was one of those books I checked out of the library over and over again.


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## HDJensen (Apr 20, 2011)

It the first book I read, but it was the first book I remember being totally fascinated by. It was Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville. He was my favorite author all through elementary school. I read everything of his that I could get my hands on. I'm still a huge fan and read the same paperback copy of Jeremy Thatcher that I had as a kid to my son now. I think my love of all things fantasy began with that one book.


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## brianjanuary (Oct 18, 2011)

Aside from the usual children's books, I remember reading a copy of Robin Hood (illustrated by N. C. Wyeth, I think) that had been handed down in my father's family for generations. I was fascinated!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Jan Strnad said:


> I'm sure my mother read me all kinds of preschool stuff, but here are some of the early books I remember:
> 
> Little Toot


Little Toot on the Thames! I had forgotten about that book. I remember being baffled when my mother insisted that Thames wasn't pronounced the way it was spelled!










I'm pretty sure this was the cover on my copy.


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## Steven Lee Gilbert (Mar 21, 2012)

The first book I ever read all the way through was A Wrinkle in Time, which by the way is celebrating its 50 yr anniversary. Reading it again now with my 10 yr old. Great to revisit this wonderful book!


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## Darlene Jones (Nov 1, 2011)

Little Black *****. As a kid on a remote farm in western Canada, I had no idea it was racist in any way. I simply admired ***** for outsmarting the tiger.


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## Adam Poe (Apr 2, 2012)

The first book I can remember reading was actually the original Winnie the Pooh, when I was just a little little guy. All the art in the book was the original styles as well, 'classic pooh'. I wore that book out, and had my mom read it to me also. I think I must have been 4 or 5..


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## Liz Davis (Dec 10, 2011)

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I read it over and over until it got a little shabby. I'll definitely pass it on to my kids.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

My daughter adores Winnie, Adam


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## Adam Poe (Apr 2, 2012)

Carl Ashmore said:


> My daughter adores Winnie, Adam


Woot. Ours also, 'Pooh' was one of her first words


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## ashkir (Apr 6, 2012)

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. . I still have it, it's all beaten up, pages are falling out, etc.


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## JenniferRenee (Apr 18, 2012)

_A Wrinkle in Time_ by Madeleine L'Engle


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

I remember a lot of things that were read TO me when I was little, with Where the Wild Things Are standing out pretty strongly.  But the first book I remember actually reading, a real book with only a little bit of illustration, was Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.  I got it from the town library.  To be honest, I don't know if it's a great book or not, can't really even remember the plot.  But I definitely remember reading it over and over.  Like 12 times I think. 

Oh, I also remember the first book I ever purchased myself.  Remember - in grade school - that mail order book club where they give you a catalog to order from?  You know what I mean, everybody would get the magazine Dynamite and, for some reason, a bunch of kids (including me) would get the latest edition of the Guinness Book of World Records (gotta keep up to date in case a new "World's Fattest Set of Twins" came along).  I remember being a book called Grey Wolf.  I loved the cover.  And when it came I remember reading it and really enjoying it.  It was sort of Jack London-esque, though I probably didn't know that at the time, told from the POV of the wolf.


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## cshenold (May 6, 2010)

Louisa May Alcott, Lulu's Library which had cautionary tales of what could happen to naughty boys and girls. Moved on to Nancy Drew  and Wizard of OZ.


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## Panther (Apr 17, 2012)

I remember my mom used to read to me a big nursery rhyme book, and also my favourite (before I could read myself) was the Velveteen Rabbit.
The first novel I read as a child was the Karen series (from the babysitters club) and I also then read The Saddle Club.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

'Velveteen' is such a classic


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

The very first book I read on my own was _Pieface_, about a little dog. I still have the book.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

'Pieface' is a great name for a dog.


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## ShanaMars (Apr 29, 2012)

I actually don't remember NOT reading. I can remember reading some books when I was very young, but none of them was the first book I read.


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## Alpha72 (May 9, 2012)

I read Arena from the Magic: The Gathering universe. Cool book.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

Not heard of that one, Alpha.


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## morantis (May 8, 2012)

If I go way back, I remember a book in 4th or 5th grade called "The Big Joke Game."  I know that is not what most people are referring to when they ask what the first book that you ever read was, but it actually set the score for many other books to come.  It was a little quirky and a bit surrealistic, and that was and has been the type of book that I have read ever since.  In mainstream literature my mother found Dean Koontz before he became popular and I read her copy of "Strangers" and was rather impressed, of course that was way before there were fifty of his books on the shelf, each with a dog, a ex-cop or ex-military guy and a conspiracy or two, not that I don't pick one up every now and then.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

Thanks Morantis. And welcome to the site


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## Cody Young (Apr 6, 2011)

The What Katy Did books by Susan Coolidge, after that Children of the New Forest, and not long after that Heidi. I also remember Tom's Midnight Garden as an early favorite.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

I remember the TV programme of 'Tom's Midnight Garden'. Excellent stuff.


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## Miriam Minger (Nov 27, 2010)

P.D. Eastman, Are You My Mother.   

Miriam Minger


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Miriam Minger said:


> Dr. Seuss, Are You My Mother.
> 
> Miriam Minger


That was P.D. Eastman . . . but, yeah. . . it was a good one.


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## Boatie (May 8, 2012)

The first books I remember reading were Nancy Drew and Junie B Jones. I remember the first 'real' book I read in elementary school was the Redwall series, which I loved!


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

I think I read a Nancy Drew mystery once. They never really were that successful here in the UK.


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## Miriam Minger (Nov 27, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> That was P.D. Eastman . . . but, yeah. . . it was a good one.


Oops.  Thanks, Ann.

Miriam Minger

P.S. Also loved The Cat in the Hat. That's how I learned to read before I even went to school.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

Your book covers are great, Miriam


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