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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat was your favorite children's book. Mine was The Velveteen Rabbit. I had a stuffed rabbit that went with the book.
Permanut
(5,873 posts)1957, I was eleven. I still have it
debm55
(26,172 posts)Ocelot II
(116,576 posts)Hes a bit mangy now, but hes still sitting on a chair in my bedroom next to my equally ratty Raggedy Ann doll. But my favorite book was the Kipling stories like The Elephants Child and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Wicked Blue
(5,893 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)cayugafalls
(5,710 posts)My grandmother used to read it while rocking me...
debm55
(26,172 posts)Permanut
(5,873 posts)My favorite poem. Had it memorized years ago; not sure I could recite it now.
cayugafalls
(5,710 posts)"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoesand shipsand sealing-wax
Of cabbagesand kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."
debm55
(26,172 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)yorkster
(1,623 posts)Couldn't choose between, loved them all.
debm55
(26,172 posts)CTyankee
(64,018 posts)a blonde with golden hair.
debm55
(26,172 posts)CTyankee
(64,018 posts)books....just books. And movies of fairy tales, bless Disney, who weren't around when I was given fairy tale books.
debm55
(26,172 posts)along the river had an Andrew Carnegie Library were books could be taken for a week.
tblue37
(65,778 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)Harker
(14,286 posts)I still smile thinking of how they helped shape my personality.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Lunabell
(6,211 posts)Beverly Cleary books with Henry Huggins and Ramona. Then, later, all of the Little House on the Prairie books.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Permanut
(5,873 posts)The setting for her Ramona Quimby books.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Thunderbeast
(3,446 posts)Growing up in Portland, he was a kid I could relate to. The bronze statues of Henry, Ramona, and Beazus at US Grant Park are precious!
My wife was a school librarian at Alameda.... located on Klickitat Street.
debm55
(26,172 posts)woodsprite
(11,969 posts)To this day, "Charlottes" are the only kind of spider I'll tolerate, but they still have to be outside the house.
mucifer
(23,732 posts)46 yo I went vegan.
debm55
(26,172 posts)spider was on me. Freaked me out.
woodsprite
(11,969 posts)It does give you the creeps!
debm55
(26,172 posts)PJMcK
(22,166 posts)I remember I cried when Charlotte died.
When my son was young, I read CW to him and I realized something. At the end of the book, Charlottes babies hatch shouting, Salutations! How did Charlottes eggs get fertilized? Hmm.
AllaN01Bear
(19,881 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)AllaN01Bear
(19,881 posts)surrealAmerican
(11,384 posts)... I remember loving Blueberries for Sal and On Beyond Zebra.
debm55
(26,172 posts)SKKY
(11,901 posts)...so it has sentimental value.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Different Drummer
(7,797 posts)I also liked all of the Dr. Seuss books, My Puppy and Me, and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.
debm55
(26,172 posts)books I wanted.
Different Drummer
(7,797 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)electric_blue68
(15,384 posts)k55f5r
(233 posts)Can't get enough of that Toad.
debm55
(26,172 posts)malthaussen
(17,307 posts)... I still choke up a little when he and Rat go back to Mole's old house.
-- Mal
debm55
(26,172 posts)LastDemocratInSC
(3,672 posts)and anything by Richard Scarry.
debm55
(26,172 posts)AllaN01Bear
(19,881 posts)for where our food comes from.
sinkingfeeling
(51,680 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)3catwoman3
(24,331 posts)Ive not been able to make myself watch any of the movie versions because I know Ill be disappointed. I have such vivid mental images from what my imagination decided the characters should look like and Ive seen short clips - the actors cast look nothing like my mental renderings, and in many cases, nothing like the authors descriptions.
electric_blue68
(15,384 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)Elessar Zappa
(14,295 posts)Cant remember the exact title.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Coventina
(27,293 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)Conjuay
(1,523 posts)Sent me, "Rupert" a book starring a bear/ child and his many adventures. It was sort of a cross between a comic book and a graphic novel. It contained beautiful water color prints.
debm55
(26,172 posts)yellowdogintexas
(22,370 posts)I read it every summer, along with Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates.
We had the Childcraft books and the poetry and fiction books were my favorite. I found a full set of them at Half Price when my daughter was in Kindergarten and got them for her. SHe loved them too and now she has them for her daughter. (my sister took mine for her daughter who is 8 years older than the rest of our kids)
However I was addicted to Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew, and these were the original ones, not the dumb downed ones. I loved Dr Seuss too.
I also had a a Brer Rabbit book, based on Song of the South!!! This was back in the 50s. It had the art used in the movie and all the stories which I guess were from the source material for the movie. I think it was called "Tales of Uncle Remus". It was a beautiful book and the stories were lots of fun. Of course now you couldn't find one outside of a yard sale, but 6 year old me would not have known the difference. It eventually fell apart.
Almost forgot Babar!!! I was so disappointed when my daughter did not really like Babar!!!
Did anyone ever have The Bumper Book? That was my favorite in my early learning to read years. Lots of stories, poetry. I would love to find a copy of it for my granddaughter. That is another on my sister absconded with. If you can find one it is atrociously expensive.
debm55
(26,172 posts)frightened me.
Raven123
(5,085 posts)Wow. Your questions take me back debm55!
debm55
(26,172 posts)Raven123
(5,085 posts)Arne
(2,612 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)The Blue Flower
(5,474 posts)"A person's a person no matter how small." That line got me at the age of seven.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Who and the elephant stuffy for my grandchildren. My son is mentally challenged because of a car accident. So I wrapped them all up and donated to a Day Care .
JoseBalow
(3,094 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)Niagara
(8,000 posts)Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
A Horse Came Running by Meindert DeJong
The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
There's a short story called Another Part of the House that's not exactly for children, but told through a child's eyes
I'm still guilty of reading Judy Blume books when I get the chance
debm55
(26,172 posts)Jilly_in_VA
(10,161 posts)Little Women
The Secret Garden
ALL the Betsy-Tacy books (yes, I grew up in the midwest)
The Little House books (before the evangelicals got hold of them)
All the Anne of Green Gables Books
Jean and the Good Cat Jupie
debm55
(26,172 posts)Emile
(24,216 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)learned to read from them . Not all, but a majority of kids did.
PJMcK
(22,166 posts)It was a series of adventures about some orphans who lived in an abandoned train car. I dont remember anything else except that devoured them.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Children and it came in a boxcar storage box.
canuckledragger
(1,709 posts)Being the black sheep and whipping boy of my family, I identified with kid in the book being sent to his room just for being who he is, then taking the attitude of "If they're going to treat me like a wild thing, might as well be one!"
debm55
(26,172 posts)I was/ am the black sheep in my abusive family because I left at 18, never to return to a house of people who were jealous of my smarts and talents. We deserved better. Love, Debbie
Jeebo
(2,059 posts)When I was in ... oh, it must have been about the fifth grade, our teacher read the first Black Stallion novel to us in class, a chapter or two at a time. That was about 1960. All of the kids in the class really enjoyed it, and I am sure I was not the only kid who was reading more Black Stallion novels on my own after that. I think the teacher was doing that to get us kids into the reading habit, and that was certainly the effect it had on me. For a while I was reading every Black Stallion novel that came out, and I think Walter Farley was still writing them when I finally overdosed on them and started reading something else. That was one of the things that got me started reading. I also enjoyed that movie some years back with Terri Garr, Kelly Reno and Mickey Rooney.
-- Ron
debm55
(26,172 posts)Jeebo
(2,059 posts)Was it something that the publisher was encouraging elementary school teachers to do? Or is it just a coincidence that you and my fifth grade (I think it was fifth grade) teacher also read that same novel to her class? Coincidences do happen sometimes in the real world ...
-- Ron
Brother Buzz
(36,568 posts)Steam engines were already gone in my childhood, but I still called road rollers steam rollers. Same with using steam shovels. I really liked the ending where Mary Anne got repurposed rather than getting relegated to the scrap heap.
debm55
(26,172 posts)ailsagirl
(22,998 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)I_UndergroundPanther
(12,611 posts)Glimpses into Pet land
Silver Pennies
The Phantom Tollbooth
If I added 3 more would be :
Pyewacket
Saturday the 12th of October
The Silent Mieow
Lastly
When Cats Were Green
3catwoman3
(24,331 posts)I first read it in my mid-twenties. A friend gave it to me as a gift.
I was captivated immediately by the story and the charming photographs, and have read it many, many times. It didnt seem at all odd that the story was being told in the first person by a cat speaking English.
I even named a cat Cica after the main character kitty. Always had to explain that it was pronounced Tsi-tsa (Hungarian for kitten, IIRC).
debm55
(26,172 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)Literature book and we acted it out. Fun.
jmowreader
(50,709 posts)Sorry, but thats what we had. That and civil engineering texts.
debm55
(26,172 posts)did you go into engineering?
jmowreader
(50,709 posts)Then I joined the Army and did Army things. Naturally, because I am a nerd I got into computers and became a computer nerd. When the Desktop Publishing revolution came around I thought that was cool and bought a copy of Letrasets Ready, Set, Go! page layout software, a copy of Adobe Illustrator and a PostScript laser printer and learned by doing - there is SO much design in Berlin, so when I saw something cool in my journeys Id go home and figure our how to do it myself. I knew sound so I joined the Brigades theater club as a sound designer and talked the makeup designer into teaching me to do makeup. I was already taking good pictures, I learned that on the high school paper and on annual staff.
I dont get to invent the next big thing the teens are shoving in their pockets, but Im doing okay.
debm55
(26,172 posts)electric_blue68
(15,384 posts)Dr Suess - The Birthday Book
Have to think on a full blown book
But I do have a memory of looking in the (school?) Library for "Tip" (the dog), after the first Dick & Jane book.
debm55
(26,172 posts)and less illustrations .
Upthevibe
(8,231 posts)Charlotte's Web...........
debm55
(26,172 posts)MIGuy
(15 posts)The first full story I understood and remembered. The beautiful illustrations helped.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Tree Lady
(11,615 posts)(the Long Winter) I lived in a area of no snow and mild winter so reading about being snowed in for months and barely surviving was exciting as a kid.
I was always curious about living in the days of no electricity and other modern appliances.
debm55
(26,172 posts)justaprogressive
(2,305 posts)smart mom (of military background) made me a pacifist.
should be required reading in kindergarten...
debm55
(26,172 posts)elleng
(132,205 posts)debm55
(26,172 posts)Mz Pip
(27,497 posts)when I was little. Nancy Drew and Black Stallion later on.
MiHale
(9,931 posts)Read them over and over.
debm55
(26,172 posts)Alliepoo
(2,251 posts)365 Bedtime Stories. It had a one page story for every day of the year. It took place on What-a-Jolly-Street and one of the main characters was a kindly older lady named Miss Apricot. The stories involved the kids and families that lived on the street. There was a map printed inside the cover that showed where everyone lived, the stores and shops and the school. My parents read this book to my sis and I every night. We loved it. When I got my first desktop computer I searched until I found a copy of this book and I bought it. Ive been an avid reader all my life. I also loved the Arrow Book Club in grade school where we could order books through school. I found a couple of fondly remembered favorites and ordered those online, too!
debm55
(26,172 posts)malthaussen
(17,307 posts)... with Tasha Tudor's watercolors.
-- Mal
debm55
(26,172 posts)petronius
(26,621 posts)book that made me cry...)
debm55
(26,172 posts)Aristus
(66,824 posts)and the wind smells slow and sour when it blows/and no birds ever sing excepting old crows/is the Street of the Lifted Lorax
debm55
(26,172 posts)RazorbackExpat
(107 posts)Anything by Dr. Seuss, anything by A.A.Milne. the Boxcar Children series (especially The Lighthouse Mystery), Peanuts comic books, virtually anything my teachers read to us after lunch in elementary school (especially Brighty of the Grand Canyon), Golden Book Encyclopedia (published in 1960), Golden Book Geography series (also 1960), Book of presidential stickers (ended with Johnson), Children's Encyclopedia of US History (ended with the assassination of Martin Luther King). Golden Magazine, Boys' Life, The Search for Planet X (when Pluto was still a planet), Runaway Slave: The Story of Harriet Tubman, The History of Arkansas (school textbook, ended with the election of Governor Orville Faubus. no mention of Little Rock). That textbook was already 15 years out of date by the time I got it, but I really loved to read about the Caddo and Quapaw Indians, the legend of Petit Jean, the De Soto and De Tonti expeditions, Arkansas Post and the Brooks-Baxter War, and places that were outside of my sheltered world
TomSlick
(11,230 posts)Your references to the Brooks-Baxter war and Petit Jean establish your bona fides as an Arkie.
RazorbackExpat
(107 posts)Arkansas versus Texas, December 1969. Richard Nixon attended that game. Final score: Texas 15, Arkansas 14
TomSlick
(11,230 posts)Battle of the Boot - 2002.
RazorbackExpat
(107 posts)But this time in the Hogs' favor It must have been incredible, watching it live.
My favorite Hawg moment was listening to them win the NCAA tournament in 1994, then arriving at the Fayetteville airport later and seeing that championship banner
RazorbackExpat
(107 posts)I was thinking about using "Super Chicken" as mine
TomSlick
(11,230 posts)It's a bonus that I watched the cartoon as a kid.
Laffy Kat
(16,412 posts)dameatball
(7,420 posts)About a Kiowa boy and his friends who journey to follow summer and have adventures. I bought a copy for my grandkids but I think only one of them read it.
debm55
(26,172 posts)electric_blue68
(15,384 posts)That was after the whole Dick and Jane series! 😄 I have a memory of looking in a library for "Tip".
Black Beauty may have been one of my first long read books.
Then I discovered a SF novel my dad had when I was 10, and never looked back! 😁
debm55
(26,172 posts)OldBaldy1701E
(5,338 posts)Oh, and 'Jaws' (read at age ten), Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (age 9), 'Peter and Wendy' (age 8), The Star Trek novels by James Blish, 'Barsoom' and 'Tarzan' by E.G. Burroughs, as well as a massive assortment of horror/mystery/crime books.
I was a voracious reader when I was a child.