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Random question of the day.
What was your favorite book when you were a little kid, and why?
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Lord of the Rings. It was the book that Dad would read and read to me and we still didn't finish it for a long time. I got lots of 'Dad' time that way. (This was long before the movies... around 1965 or so)
A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Which I still read at least once a year.
"Magical Monarch of Mo" By Frank L. Baum
The whole world was candy and jewels and gold, and my world was pea soup and hand-me-downs and uncertainty.
The whole world was candy and jewels and gold, and my world was pea soup and hand-me-downs and uncertainty.
The Secret of the Mansion (Trixie Belden #1) by Julie Campbell. I liked it because I wanted to be Trixie. :)
I can't remember the title, but it was about a young unicorn and a young dragon who became friends and taught their families to stop fighting and get along.
It actually belonged to the dental office I've gone to forever. I'd still read it when I'd go in for my cleanings when I was in junior high, so the receptionist finally told me to take it home. (My mom worked as a hygienist in the office so it wasn't TOO out of the blue, but it still makes for a good story.)
I always loved unicorns and dragons, so that's the why :)
It actually belonged to the dental office I've gone to forever. I'd still read it when I'd go in for my cleanings when I was in junior high, so the receptionist finally told me to take it home. (My mom worked as a hygienist in the office so it wasn't TOO out of the blue, but it still makes for a good story.)
I always loved unicorns and dragons, so that's the why :)
I had a bunch, but then again I was a voracious reader. I'd say the top ones were:
The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe - I was ignorant of Christian allegory, having grown up as Not-Christian as one possibly could, so I just loved the adventure and the fantasy in it.
The Voyage of the Dawn TreadeR - more of the same and I had a ridiculous crush on Prince Caspian.
The Little Princess - because I just loved the whole concept of intrepid Victorian girl having to suffer unspeakable torments just to make it all right in the end.
The Hobbit - again, more fantasy, more adventure, and oh those wacky dwarves
Anne of Green Gables - more suffering Victorian/Edwardian girls! :)
Oh. And the Oz books. *headdesk*
The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe - I was ignorant of Christian allegory, having grown up as Not-Christian as one possibly could, so I just loved the adventure and the fantasy in it.
The Voyage of the Dawn TreadeR - more of the same and I had a ridiculous crush on Prince Caspian.
The Little Princess - because I just loved the whole concept of intrepid Victorian girl having to suffer unspeakable torments just to make it all right in the end.
The Hobbit - again, more fantasy, more adventure, and oh those wacky dwarves
Anne of Green Gables - more suffering Victorian/Edwardian girls! :)
Oh. And the Oz books. *headdesk*
Edited 2008-03-23 00:48 (UTC)
The Piney Woods Peddler was the strangest coolest book ever for me up until about 3rd grade. It was a great big circular journey involving snakebites, spooky forests, thunderstorms, and all sorts of cool shit with the best pictures ever. seriously, they should reprint this shit.
up until junior high I was aaaaaall about the Choose Your Own Adventures. They were always insane. Even though I read them so much I had the pages memorized, I was always somehow secretly thrilled and surprised.. You could choose page 21 and "yay, you and nancy make it out of the haunted house, become best friends forever and throw a tea & cupcake party" or you could choose page 48 and "the monster devours nancy and the last thing you see is his bloody claws and fangs coming for YOU!"
it really doesn't get better than that.
then i started predictably getting into "Z is for Zillah" and "Go Ask Alice" and since then pretty much every book i love involves either drugs or the apocalypse in some way.
up until junior high I was aaaaaall about the Choose Your Own Adventures. They were always insane. Even though I read them so much I had the pages memorized, I was always somehow secretly thrilled and surprised.. You could choose page 21 and "yay, you and nancy make it out of the haunted house, become best friends forever and throw a tea & cupcake party" or you could choose page 48 and "the monster devours nancy and the last thing you see is his bloody claws and fangs coming for YOU!"
it really doesn't get better than that.
then i started predictably getting into "Z is for Zillah" and "Go Ask Alice" and since then pretty much every book i love involves either drugs or the apocalypse in some way.
I had a few!
Rikki tikki Tavi (sp)
Where the wild things are
Anne of the green gables
The lion the witch and the wardrobe
The velveteen rabit
S
Rikki tikki Tavi (sp)
Where the wild things are
Anne of the green gables
The lion the witch and the wardrobe
The velveteen rabit
S
How little of a kid? :) When I was very small, I was in love with a book called Herbert the Timid Dragon; I think I identified with Herbert a bit. I also loved funny little kid books like There's a Monster at the End of This Book! (about as much scaring as I've ever been able to enjoy!), and gorgeous little kid books like Maurice Sendak and Kit Williams' Masquerade and Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like, which has one of the best titles ever.
When I got a little older, my mom read Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea to me when I was sick, and I think so much of what I read and love now is a result of that. She followed it with Tolkien, and on my own time I fell in love with Lloyd Alexander and Oz and other fantasy.
If I keep thinking about this I'm going to end up with an epic list. There are a lot of more recent kids' books that I adore that I fell in love with while working in children's publishing. Peter Sís, Uri Shulevitz' gorgeous, affecting Snow, a charming Swedish import called Benny's Had Enough...
When I got a little older, my mom read Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea to me when I was sick, and I think so much of what I read and love now is a result of that. She followed it with Tolkien, and on my own time I fell in love with Lloyd Alexander and Oz and other fantasy.
If I keep thinking about this I'm going to end up with an epic list. There are a lot of more recent kids' books that I adore that I fell in love with while working in children's publishing. Peter Sís, Uri Shulevitz' gorgeous, affecting Snow, a charming Swedish import called Benny's Had Enough...
The Diamond in the Window (http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Window-Hall-Family-Chronicles/dp/0064400425/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206232505&sr=1-1) by Jane Langton was my favorite book. I think I read it for the first time when I was about 7 years old. I loved it because it was magical, mysterious, full of intrigue, and because it scared the ever-living crap out of me.
I also loved Where the Red Fern Grows (http://www.amazon.com/Where-Fern-Grows-Wilson-Rawls/dp/0440412676/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206232660&sr=1-1) because even as a child I was a complete sucker for dogs of any kind, and this dog story is probably the best dog story ever written. Old Yeller has nothing on Where the Red Fern Grows. I would cry like a big blubbering baby every time I read the book. I'd finish it, and turn right back to page one and start reading all over again.
Then there was Beat the Turtle Drum (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/002-6688837-7353635?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=beat+the+turtle+drum) by Constance C. Green. I read that when I was in fifth grade or so. I thought it was beautiful, poignant, and it made me weep.
And since I obviously love tragic books that make me cry for days on end, I can't possibly leave out Bridge to Terabithia (http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Terabithia-Reading-Katherine-Paterson/dp/006073941X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206232921&sr=1-1). I read that one multiple times, too, and cried my eyes out every time. A year ago, I watched the movie on an airplane, and cried my eyes out again.
So yeah... if you're trying to think of books to have your little one read in the coming decade or so, you may want to think long and hard about the three I listed that would break your wee one's heart. Stick with the first one and scare the bejeezus out of him/her instead! :)
I also loved Where the Red Fern Grows (http://www.amazon.com/Where-Fern-Grows-Wilson-Rawls/dp/0440412676/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206232660&sr=1-1) because even as a child I was a complete sucker for dogs of any kind, and this dog story is probably the best dog story ever written. Old Yeller has nothing on Where the Red Fern Grows. I would cry like a big blubbering baby every time I read the book. I'd finish it, and turn right back to page one and start reading all over again.
Then there was Beat the Turtle Drum (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/002-6688837-7353635?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=beat+the+turtle+drum) by Constance C. Green. I read that when I was in fifth grade or so. I thought it was beautiful, poignant, and it made me weep.
And since I obviously love tragic books that make me cry for days on end, I can't possibly leave out Bridge to Terabithia (http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Terabithia-Reading-Katherine-Paterson/dp/006073941X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206232921&sr=1-1). I read that one multiple times, too, and cried my eyes out every time. A year ago, I watched the movie on an airplane, and cried my eyes out again.
So yeah... if you're trying to think of books to have your little one read in the coming decade or so, you may want to think long and hard about the three I listed that would break your wee one's heart. Stick with the first one and scare the bejeezus out of him/her instead! :)
A Child's Garden Of Versus And Songs - The Childhood Poetry Of Robert Louis Stevenson
I still have my copy I was give when I was 5. My mom gave my daughter a copy when she was born. It is a fantastic book of poems. I love it so much. I think every child should have a copy of this book.
I still have my copy I was give when I was 5. My mom gave my daughter a copy when she was born. It is a fantastic book of poems. I love it so much. I think every child should have a copy of this book.
oh no, i can't pick one!
The Neverending Story -- I really wanted to be able to go to that world, and I still do. I lived in that world.
Watership Down -- I can still recite all of the rabbit songs.
Lord of the Rings/Hobbit -- Because! I pretty much lived in that world, too.
Chronicles of Narnia -- who doesn't love it?
Madeline L'Engle's Time books too, gotta love those...
My first favorite book was D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths though, first got it when I was 5 and I never let go!
The Neverending Story -- I really wanted to be able to go to that world, and I still do. I lived in that world.
Watership Down -- I can still recite all of the rabbit songs.
Lord of the Rings/Hobbit -- Because! I pretty much lived in that world, too.
Chronicles of Narnia -- who doesn't love it?
Madeline L'Engle's Time books too, gotta love those...
My first favorite book was D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths though, first got it when I was 5 and I never let go!
Noisy Norah, because I was and still am just like Norah.
Anne of Green Gables, again, very much like Anne.
Anne of Green Gables, again, very much like Anne.
A Little Princess and/or Emily of New Moon. I loved the spooky, artsy girls:)
How young are we talking here? When I was very very little, my favorite picture book was probably a tossup between "Goodnight Moon" and Richard Scarry's "Peasant Pig and the Terrible Dragon"
I really liked fantasy as a little kid, and then as I got a little older I decided that fantasy was for girls and science fiction was for boys. ;) I preferred to three things like Doctor Who novelizations and science-fiction luminaries like Ben Bova. I think that must've been third or fourth grade. Then, in fifth grade I started reading fantasy again. I loved Lloyd Alexander's Prydain chronicles and Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
When I hit seventh or eighth grade I switched to the Dragonlance novels and became a total gamer geek. I pretty much stayed that way until I hit college and started branching out a lot more with my reading.
I really liked fantasy as a little kid, and then as I got a little older I decided that fantasy was for girls and science fiction was for boys. ;) I preferred to three things like Doctor Who novelizations and science-fiction luminaries like Ben Bova. I think that must've been third or fourth grade. Then, in fifth grade I started reading fantasy again. I loved Lloyd Alexander's Prydain chronicles and Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
When I hit seventh or eighth grade I switched to the Dragonlance novels and became a total gamer geek. I pretty much stayed that way until I hit college and started branching out a lot more with my reading.
Hands-down, David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd. It's the first book I remember reading, actually reading on my own; my mother was reading me a chapter at bedtime and I wanted to know what happened next, and she said that since I was learning to read, if I could read it myself I could find out.
I finished it that night. 173 page book (less one or two chapters). I was... 5 or 6?
And it's a book I can still enjoy today. It taught me about phoenixes and banshees and fauns, witches and seamonsters. Also a very little about Spanish verbs.
It was out of print for a very long time, but you can get it from Amazon now.
I finished it that night. 173 page book (less one or two chapters). I was... 5 or 6?
And it's a book I can still enjoy today. It taught me about phoenixes and banshees and fauns, witches and seamonsters. Also a very little about Spanish verbs.
It was out of print for a very long time, but you can get it from Amazon now.
When I was very little I think my favourite story was The Pokey Little Puppy :)
As I got older my favourites included The Borrowers, The Hobbit, The Little Princess and the Secret Garden. And Anne of Green Gables (because I live in Nova Scotia and have red hair - how could I not!)
As I got older my favourites included The Borrowers, The Hobbit, The Little Princess and the Secret Garden. And Anne of Green Gables (because I live in Nova Scotia and have red hair - how could I not!)
small child? tasha tudor's book fairy tales
my boys love it now :)
my boys love it now :)
Little, little, I loved "The Monster at the End of this Book" I think partly because he was talking to me.
A bit older and Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonsong" got me into Fantasy/SciFi which was the best thing that ever happened to me. Lonely alienated girl + dragons = perfect for me at the time.
But the one that was critical was Madeleine L'Engle's "A Ring of Endless Light." I really love her time trilogy, but that book literally saved my life.
A bit older and Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonsong" got me into Fantasy/SciFi which was the best thing that ever happened to me. Lonely alienated girl + dragons = perfect for me at the time.
But the one that was critical was Madeleine L'Engle's "A Ring of Endless Light." I really love her time trilogy, but that book literally saved my life.
oh and the tasha tudor for the illustrations and the adult like stories no kid dumbing down like little kids books usually are. I cried for the little match girl a thousand times and yelled rumplestilskin aloud!
The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats, because my parents brought it to me to read in the hospital when I was little. I read it over and over.
That is very hard to say. So many books that I've just loved and loved. I'll pick one: Little Daylight, I think, as illustrated by George MacDonald - because the illustrations have fed my imagination for the next 17 years.
Grover and the Monster at the end of the book.
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