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Post by Kao on Jan 14, 2020 15:50:41 GMT
When I was a kid I loved books. Books opened up new worlds to me, and I loved reading other people's stories.
My Favs:
- Anything by Beverly Cleary
- Anything by Judy Blume
- Amy and Laura series by Marilyn Sachs
- Katie John series by Mary Calhoun
- The Snowy Day
- A Doll's House. I was horrified wen the doll Birdie caught fire and burst into flame.
And many, many more. What about you guys?
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Post by acookertv on Jan 14, 2020 16:21:38 GMT
I agree with your list! Beverly Cleary was my hero. I thought (and still think) Ramona Quimby was one of the greatest characters ever created in children's literature. Growing up as the youngest daughter in a family of four with two daughters I felt like she was writing about me! Loved those books and would read them over and over.
I was also a normal girl of my generation in loving Judy Blume, and learning all things about life by reading her books!
I was not a fan of The Snowy Day and other Ezra Jack Keats books until when I was in 4th or 5th grade I got to go to a young authors conference and meet him. He talked about how he did the illustrations for his books, which fascinated me. After that, I loved his books and seeing how the pictures came to be.
I remember loving Miss Pigglewiggle books - my teacher would read them to our class and I loved getting them from the library and reading them too. Though I'll admit that now, I don't remember those nearly as much as I do some of my other favorites.
I was also a HUGE fan of Charlottes Web, though oddly enough never got into the other EB White books at quite the same level.
And my list of beloved books I remember would not be complete without Sweet Valley High. I loved everything about the Wakefield twins! I'd mark my mom's calendar for the day that each new book was released and do whatever I had to in order to earn a ride to the mall to buy the new book on the day it came out!
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Post by Kao on Jan 14, 2020 16:41:38 GMT
OMG, Sweet Valley High! I remember they released one new book a month and I loved them. I was very glad to hear that they dropped the weight descriptions from later editions of the book; as a teen I have to admit I compared myself to them and it kinda did my head in.  Loved the "4th Grade Nothing" universe Judy Blume made. I really related to Sheila the Great, the fact that the books were set in NYC and Peter and Fudge's dad worked at an ad agency. I also really related to "Iggie's House" for personal reasons. I had a love/hate relationship with Ramona, lol. It wasn't until she got her own books and you could understand her motivations more that I started to like her, but I was more of a Henry Huggins fan. I also liked Amy from "Mitch and Amy" because she was creative and always made things. My mom didn't read to me much but we had a copy of The Snowy Day at home and I loved looking at the pictures as a tot. So it's definitely nostalgia for me. |
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Post by acookertv on Jan 14, 2020 16:56:36 GMT
Did you know that for his books, Keats used collage to illustrate them? He'd make the paper with all sorts of patterns, and then would cut out the figures to form each picture. That was what blew my mind with his books!
Interesting point about Ramona - for me, my entry point to Beverly Cleary was Ramona, which probably helped me to favor her.
I agree with you on the 4th grade nothing universe - loved everyone in it! When my nephew was in 4th Grade, I bought that book for him. He did not get into it and it was such a disappointment for me! I was like - he's your age ... he's got an annoying little brother ... don't you SEE how great this is!
Another children's author that I've grown to love in my adult life is Mo Willems. He's got such a great outlook on childhood, and it comes through in his books. Leonardo the Terrible Monster is one of those books that if my nephews pulled it out to read, I'd read it to him over and over and over again.
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Post by justCoz on Jan 14, 2020 21:54:50 GMT
I love mystery books, so my favorites were Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Encyclopedia Brown. I started reading Nancy Drew books in second grade. Once I was reading a ND book on my bus home, all comfy, curled up in my seat. I missed my bus stop because I was so engrossed in the book and my bus driver didn't see me because I was scrunched down lower than seat back. By the time I noticed we were far away from my stop and I had to ride the whole route again when they took the middle school kids home.  my older sister was mad at me because I think I embarrassed her by having her little sis on her big kids' bus! Lol Then we moved and changed school districts. I tried to keep reading Nancy Drew in third grade but that stupid librarian told me those weren't for my age group and I wasn't allowed to check them out. It put me off libraries for a while because I didn't want to read the books she tried to pawn off on me. Happily I got over that. I worked in my library in Jr high, where I next discovered Agatha Christie. I think I read all of the books of hers that my school library had. |
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Post by acookertv on Jan 14, 2020 22:15:36 GMT
My eyes just got so big when you reminded me of Encyclopedia Brown JustCoz!!!!! LOVED those books, and turning to the back after each chapter to find out how he solved the case! That reminded me also of Choose Your Own Adventure books - remember those?
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Post by beerbelly on Jan 14, 2020 23:33:28 GMT
I loved Paul Zindel.... "The Pigman", "Parden me, you are stepping on your eyeball"...I could go on. Reading as a youth was my favorite, I come from a family of readers. This thread reminded me of how much I was addicted to his work.
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Post by Arielflies on Jan 15, 2020 0:03:48 GMT
While I read the Bobbsey Twins, I really related to comic books and taught myself to read by comparing action and the words in the bubbles. They didn't realize I was near sighted when I was in first grade and couldn't read the board or words properly, so the comic books as a visual really helped. I became a hard reader later toward junior high, but our library didn't carry age appropriate books so I borrowed adult books from my mom when she wasn't looking. One study period in high school I got caught and was reprimanded. Didn't stop me, of course.  |
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Post by Kao on Jan 15, 2020 1:39:34 GMT
Oh my goodness Arielflies, speaking of reading adult material at a young age I remember "Flowers in the Attic" circulating around our 4th grade class. Such a scandalous book at that age! It was one book someone poached from their mom and after one classmate read it would be immediately be passed on to the next. We were all advanced readers so we had no problem reading the book quickly; I think every girl in class read it! |
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Post by Arielflies on Jan 15, 2020 2:33:22 GMT
One of my favorites was Katherine about the War of the Roses.
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Post by justCoz on Jan 15, 2020 4:20:42 GMT
My eyes just got so big when you reminded me of Encyclopedia Brown JustCoz!!!!! LOVED those books, and turning to the back after each chapter to find out how he solved the case! That reminded me also of Choose Your Own Adventure books - remember those? I dont think I've read Choose Your Own Adventure books, they sound like I would have liked them. Arielflies your story reminded me when I was in 6th grade I had a seat clear in the back of the room. I used to read even while the teacher was teaching by putting my book propped inside the textbook. Still thankful to the boy who sat beside me for giving me an answer when I wasn't paying attention and the teacher called on me to answer!   Our baby sitter (nanny?) introduced me to Harlequin romances the summer between 5th and 6th grade. The regular ones weren't so bad, but it's crazy to look back now and think about reading the Presents versions. I think those were quite a bit more juicy and not really appropriate. |
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Post by Kao on Jan 15, 2020 5:11:24 GMT
My eyes just got so big when you reminded me of Encyclopedia Brown JustCoz!!!!! LOVED those books, and turning to the back after each chapter to find out how he solved the case! That reminded me also of Choose Your Own Adventure books - remember those? I dont think I've read Choose Your Own Adventure books, they sound like I would have liked them. Arielflies your story reminded me when I was in 6th grade I had a seat clear in the back of the room. I used to read even while the teacher was teaching by putting my book propped inside the textbook. Still thankful to the boy who sat beside me for giving me an answer when I wasn't paying attention and the teacher called on me to answer! Our baby sitter (nanny?) introduced me to Harlequin romances the summer between 5th and 6th grade. The regular ones weren't so bad, but it's crazy to look back now and think about reading the Presents versions. I think those were quite a bit more juicy and not really appropriate. I used to do this all the time until I got busted. After that, the teacher made a point of walking past me to check that I wasn't hiding anything!
I liked the Choose your own adventures books. It was fun picking the craziest choices to get the worst endings, then you started all over again. It's one of the reasons why I enjoyed Black Mirror's "Bandersnatch" so much.
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Post by waywyrd on Jan 15, 2020 15:24:31 GMT
One of the first books I remember reading is My Side of the Mountain, followed by Call of the Wild and White Fang. I guess I was into outdoors-y stuff as a kid. In high school I read everything by Terry Brooks and VC Andrews that I could get my hands on. Also Frank Herbert's Dune series. |
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Post by Kao on Jan 16, 2020 19:53:01 GMT
From 11-13 I went on a Stephen King/Clive Barker kick. My mom, so strict about what movies we saw never questioned what I was reading, and I made sure to hide the Books of Blood series from her because she was religious. Those books were fantastic and many movies have been made from them (Candyman, Midnight Meat Train, Rawhead Rex, etc.,) I wish Clive had continued it but he stopped at Volume 3.
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holly
FORT Addict
FORT Refugee! (2002)
Posts: 1,308
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Post by holly on Jan 13, 2021 15:54:39 GMT
I think I read every Beverly Cleary book, as well as Judy Bloom. Kao , you said all the girls in your class passed around Flowers in the Attic. When I was in Jr. high, we did that with Forever & Wifey by Judy Blume. I also remember in 6th grade, the boys started checking out Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret because they were nosy about it because all the girls were reading it, hahaha! As if they could even relate! justCoz , I also read almost all of the Nancy Drew books. My gram bought me a few, I borrowed a few from the library, & then my girlfriends & I would swap books too. I'm not sure if I read every single one of them. I might have. Hard to remember. That was a very long time ago. My 7 y/o niece is now reading the Ramona series. I saw one of the books there when I went to visit over Thanksgiving. I said "you're reading Beezus & Ramona? I loved that book when I was your age!" & my sister in law said "see Mads, Auntie Holly read those books too!" I don't think my niece loves to read, so my sister in law was trying to motivate her. I've loved reading all my life. |
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Post by springmaiden27 on Jan 31, 2021 15:39:51 GMT
I read the Little House on the Prairie books and Nancy Drew. I read some of the multiple ending books too. It was fun to experience different stories in the same book! Agree on Bandersnatch, Kao! |
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Post by Cuddles on Mar 26, 2021 22:22:53 GMT
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Post by Cootie on Mar 27, 2021 14:57:53 GMT
For some reason I never saw this thread until just now. As a child I read whatever I could get my hands on! I rarely went to the library but when I did I would find biographies and remember checking out the book "Homer Price" written in the 1940's a couple of times. I was fascinated by that book. I was fortunate to have access to the entire Hardy Boys series and loved all of them. My brothers let me read their books. I still enjoy reading mysteries! I also recall reading Little Women and other books in that series by Louisa May Alcott. Also, White Fang & Call of the Wild. They each made a big impression on me. We had lots of westerns around, too and I found those to be entertaining!
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my older sister was mad at me because I think I embarrassed her by having her little sis on her big kids' bus! Lol
