What were your favorite books from childhood?

[Ames]

I loved all the Dr Seuss books, I can recite most of Fox in Socks by heart! The Babysitters Club, Flowers in the Attic, my grandmother got me into Agatha Christie books, I LOVED those Choose Your Own Adventure books, I can't think of any others off the top of my head but I always had my nose in a book! (still do actually)

[houseelf]

Oh, Oh, OH! I forgot, I loved, loved, loved "Harold and the Purple Crayon". I bought a copy of it for my "kids".

Kelly

[Ravenclaw]

Anyone read the Secret Circle series? I loved those in middle school.

Ramono Q

Anne of Green Gables - LOVE

The Mandy Series

The Giving Tree

I have a hard time remembering names but remember lots of stories, need to get a list going to buy for my kiddos

[Phoebe]

Little House on the Prarie
Encyclopedia Brown
Boxcar Children
Catcher in the Rye (From High School)
July Blume Books
Tomie DePaola books
Amelia Bedilia
Dr. Suess books
Shel Silverstein books

[Ravenclaw]

Little House on the Prarie
Encyclopedia Brown
Boxcar Children
Catcher in the Rye (From High School)
July Blume Books
Tomie DePaola books
Amelia Bedilia
Dr. Suess books
Shel Silverstein books

I loved Amelia Bedilia and Shel Silverstein!

[Stella]

Aggh! Amelia Bedilia! I couldn't remember the name to save my life but I could have drawn you the illustrations!!!

Ahh, good memories. Krystal, yes, despite the different hair colors I think we just might be long lost twins!!

Harold and the Purple Crayon - that book rocked!!

And I agree with Jenn - that some of the Nancy Drew's were scary. I just completed the whole 56 book collection. The books are all vintage written between 1928 and 1978. Some of them even reference that the paper used was special issue due to WWII. You can buy updated versions of all the original 56 books, which may be a good thing, considering that Nancy smoked and made racist comments in the originals.

The Bobbsey Twins series
Trixie Belden mystery series
Richard Scarry's books
Henry Huggins
Laura Ingalls Wilder series
Where the Wild Things Are

[Stella]

What was the series with the kids and the trains?? Something about a railroad family...?

[Momo]

Little House On the Prarie
Nancy Drew
Flowers in the Attic
and a small old James Whitcomb Riley book of poems

[DCJenn]

Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins and Hardy Boys mysteries (still my favorite kind of book to read) (and as an older teen- Agatha Christie)

Little House on the Prairie Series

Anne of Green Gables

all of the Judy Blume books.

Jenn

Stella-

You're thinking of "The Boxcar Children" - sheesh, where was CPS??

Pretty good fantasy, however. I read that one thing that will make a children's book successful is giving the child-character adult or even greater power. Which is what made the Boxcar Children successful, and Harry Potter even more so.

[Phoebe]

Another series I enjoyed as a younger kid was Paddington Bear. I still have a large stuffed Paddington bear and my three year old can fit into his boots.

[MrsC]

I had a collection of Walt Disney classics like Snow White, 101 Dalmations etc which I loved.

I read a lot of books about animals. Some of my favourites were written by James Herriot, a veterinarian in England and had excellent illustrations.

[DCJenn]

Oh I LOVED the James Harriott (sp?) books. Of course I loved the hymn that it came from, too. (part of that Episcopalian/COE part of my life)

They're just fantastic and if any of you have kids who want to be vets, encourage them to read them. (there's always a tear-jerker chapter or two, be forewarned) and read them in order since they're a memoir!

Jenn