Favorite Books from Early Childhood

[Loves Vintage]

Do you recall a favorite book read to you as a child?

If you have children, what are/were your favorite books to read to them and at what age?

***************

For me, I distinctly recall the Little Engine That Could from early childhood.

My daughter is 3.5. We read a lot of books, and pick up new books from the library often. She's been wanting to read books to herself a lot more lately and will either recall the stories that we've read to her and will re-tell them page by page, or she will just make up the words as she goes along. We've had some favorites, but also looking for new inspiration, and am curious what others have loved or been touched by.

 

[ecf8503]

My great grandmother always told The Little Red Hen story to me over the phone, so that one has always had a special place in my heart.

Dr Seuss were my favorites to read with my parents, though.

 

[missy]

Fun thread. I cannot remember the exact ages I was when I read each of these though I was very young but here are a few of my favorites in no particular order:

Green Eggs and Ham and the faster you read it the more fun it is!

and of course The Cat in the Hat. I agree ecf8503, fun to read with your kids/parents!


Charlotte's Web. The story of a true friendship rang deep with me at that young age and still does.

Harriet the Spy. I loved all the adventures and trouble lol she got herself into.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Loved the good vs evil and the magic.


Pippi Longtocking. Crazy and ridiculous and lots of fun. This was the very first broadway show I ever saw and we read it in class before we went as a class to see it on Broadway.

Winnie the Pooh. Again, the friendship theme was so tender and sweet and something that stays with you forever after you read it.

I also loved The Little Engine that Could Loves Vintage. Optimism and hard work are good values to teach and to take to heart. I still try to live up to these standards every single day some being easier than others. A great book for little ones!

 

[RandG]

This is a great question!

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

 

[vc10um]

When I was very little, mine was "What Do Smurfs Do All Day?" My mom bought me a copy for my 21st birthday!

My sister's favorite when she was very little was "But No Elephants!"

When I was a little older, I wore the pages out on my Shel Silverstein books.

 

[MarionC]

The Book of Live Dolls

when dolls came alive for all little girls and their clothes grew on trees. : )

and the poor rag doll whose foot came off and got sewed on backward, finally came alive and had her say about that!

Also all the Little Maida books - anyone ever read those?
She had a lion named Tiny Tanganyika in her zoo, a shop, and an island for camping out.
Of course her father was extremely rich

 

[amc80]

Any and all of the Berenstain Bear books! I kept all of them and it's so fun to read them to B.

 

[monarch64]

Any Shel Silverstein book

Any Beatrix Potter

The Madeleine books

The Velveteen Rabbit

Eloise (maybe more appropriate for 5+?)

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile

The Babar books

Where The Wild Things Are

Anything Richard Scarry

Any Gyo Fujikawa book

Little Golden Books, specifically "Where Did the Baby Go?" and "There's a Monster at the End of this Book."

I actually kept a lot of my books from childhood (my mother made sure we respected our books and kept them in good shape), so we read many of them to our 2 year old. I'm sure there are a ton I'm forgetting but those stick out.

This modern one is currently one of my favorites: http://www.amazon.com/Three-Little-Cajun-Pigs-Artell/dp/0803728158
My mother borrowed it from the library to read to my 6 year old niece, but she renewed it so I could take it for a week and read it to Alex. If you've ever participated in theater or you just love to read aloud and use accents (I do!) you will LOVE this book! Bonus points if you speak French or do well with dialects. So fun! My husband listened to me read it and he was shocked!

Mom still has a lot of her Bobbsey Twins books from her own childhood. She read those to us when we were a little older, maybe 4-5? Great stuff. If you love vintage, you'd love those.

 

[ecf8503]

Any and all of the Berenstain Bear books! I kept all of them and it's so fun to read them to B.

Oh yes! My mom kept all of mine, and I loved reading them with my kids! Wonderful books -

 

[Puppmom]

DD is 19 now and her favorite book as a child was The Monster at the End of this Book. I can do a mean Grover impression!

 

[amc80]

Some nights, I wish I had this "classic."

http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X

 

[monarch64]

Some nights, I wish I had this "classic."

http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X

I was totally going to post that! I love watching different celebs read it sometimes on youtube.

 

[amc80]

Some nights, I wish I had this "classic."

http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X

I was totally going to post that! I love watching different celebs read it sometimes on youtube.

Haha great minds!

I don't even swear (ever) and I still wish I had this book. Just. Go. To. Sleep.

 

[MMtwo]

Where the Wild Things Are.
Dr. Seuss anything
The Wizard of Oz Series (Dad had them from his childhood...there are many books)
Nancy Drew
Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein)
As I was a teen:
The Narnia Series
The Dune Books
As many classics as I could find. I loved to read.

 

[monarch64]

This thread made me think of Reading Rainbow. I really wish it was still on; I'd love for my daughter to grow up with it like I did. A Kickstarted was begun in May this year in hopes of funding the show again...maybe it will actually happen!

 

[jaysonsmom]

I read a LOT as a kid... loved and read a lot of the Laura Ingalls Wilder's books:
Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
By the Shores of Silver Lake
The Long Winter
Little Town on the Prairie
These Happy Golden Years

Loved Louisa May Alcott's books:
Little Women
Little Men
Jo's boys

However, my favorite by far was "Heidi" by Johanna Spyri

 

[JewelFreak]

The Little Engine That Could! I was 5 & learning to read. I sat with my mother on the floor in my grandfather's NYC den one Christmas, parsing it out word by word. I still remember what hard work it was & how thrilled I felt to be reading, myself. Next came The Little House, about a house built on a hill in the country that wonders as time passes about the city lights coming nearer & nearer, until eventually it is the only little house, surrounded by high-rises. But it still stood proudly, sheltering generation after generation.

The Book of Live Dolls was one of my favorites -- I woke up & checked mine out to see if they'd been galavanting around -- I hoped so!
Glenda of Oz has stuck with me too. I think that's its name -- where she could change heads whenever she wanted. Each one looked different & had its own temperament. I want!

All the Pooh books.
Later, The Melendy Family was one I loved.
Charlotte's Web too.
The Nancy Drew series -- got me wanting a roadster, though I wasn't sure what that was & had no idea they hadn't been made for decades.

 

[VRBeauty]

I don't remember my parents reading to me much as a child, but I've loved books from pretty much when I was introduced to them. I remember in the first grade I'd sometimes tell the teacher I wasn't feeling well enough to go to recess so I could stay in the classroom and explore the books. We lived right next to the school at the time, so when my mother noticed that I wasn't outside with the others and asked the teacher about it, the gig was up! My primary grade teachers all incorporated reading out loud into the daily routine, usually right after lunch - probably to help get us settled down after lunch. And they read us some great books. By the second grade they were reading us chapter books, a chapter or two at a time:

Pipi Longstockings
A Wrinkle in Time (which Disney will be making into a movie one of these years)
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Phantom Tollbooth
Pollyanna

There was a book set in a small town with a boy as the main character - I can't for the life of me remember the title or series. It might have been "Encyclopedia Brown," but I don't think so. Anyhow, I remember distinctly one illustration in which the boy is following one of his teachers as she's walking. Her "robins egg blue" knit dress is unravelling and he's rolling the yarn into a ball. I remember it as a very funny book, whatever it was!

My third grade teacher read us the entire "Little House" series over the course of the school year!

The book I owned that I read and re-read and re-read was the original "Boxcar Children" book. Even back then, I loved a book with a sappy happy ending! Until recently I wasn't even aware that had become a series. And of course I read many of the Nancy Drew books!

ETA - the book I was searching for was "Homer Price" by Robert McCloskey. Homer gets into "I Love Lucy"-esque scraps, illustrated in almost Norman Rockwell style. It looks like I wasn't quite right on the story line, but here's the illustration I remember:

 

[monarch64]

VRBeauty, was it a Homer Price book? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Price

As I got older, I loved all the Anne of Green Gables books, and the subsequent PBS series. I was probably 8-9 then?

 

[VRBeauty]

VRBeauty, was it a Homer Price book? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Price

As I got older, I loved all the Anne of Green Gables books, and the subsequent PBS series. I was probably 8-9 then?

Monarch - indeed it was! I'm off to return a library book now - I think I'll spend some time with a Homer Price book while I'm there.

 

[kenny]

I'm not sure if it was in the Miss. Pickerell series, but I remember reading about a kid under her care who didn't want to wash his hair.
Instead of fighting she let him be.
His hair got so dirty that strawberries started growing.

I thought this was so clever and funny.

 

[zoebartlett]

I know I really liked Little Bear, Amelia Bedelia, The Littles, and Little Golden Books. It's funny, I don't remember my parents reading to me when I was younger, but I know they did. I *do* remember reading all of the Berenstain Bears books to my younger sister.

When I was a little older, I loved all of the Little House and Nancy Drew books.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

For my son:

Love you forever.
Rainbow Fish
Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Madeline
Stinky cheese man and other tales...
There was a book with a hippo family and a fix-it-man name Jonathan Knorps (or something like that) and we loved it, but that is all I recall.
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.

From my childhood:

The Wind in the Willows.
Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea.
Curious George
Mr. Pines Purple House
Dr. Seuss--green eggs and ham was so silly!
And every "other" book my Mother brought home from school!

cheers--Sharon

 

[VRBeauty]

I'm not sure if it was in the Miss. Pickerell series, but I remember reading about a kid under her care who didn't want to wash his hair.
Instead of fighting she let him be.
His hair got so dirty that strawberries started growing.

I thought this was so clever and funny.

Kenny - I was trying to recall books my 2nd grade teacher read to me that featured a maid or housekeeper type person, but it definitely wasn't Amelia Bedelia. It might have been Miss Pickerell. Hmmm....

 

[momhappy]

This thread made me think of Reading Rainbow. I really wish it was still on; I'd love for my daughter to grow up with it like I did. A Kickstarted was begun in May this year in hopes of funding the show again...maybe it will actually happen!

The Reading Rainbow song gets stuck in my head from time to time! "Butterfly in the sky… I can go twice as high…"
There's lots of Reading Rainbow n Youtube.
What a fun thread I always enjoyed Little Critter books as a kid. As I got older, I was a huge fan of Beverly Cleary books and I read every one.

 

[monarch64]

I know I really liked Little Bear, Amelia Bedelia, The Littles, and Little Golden Books. It's funny, I don't remember my parents reading to me when I was younger, but I know they did. I *do* remember reading all of the Berenstain Bears books to my younger sister.

When I was a little older, I loved all of the Little House and Nancy Drew books.

Zoe, I don't remember the very early years, like 1-4, but my mom definitely read to us during those times. What I most vividly remember is her reading Tolkien (The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings) to us. I was absolutely entranced and somewhat scared by some of the scenes in those books. My brother was 4 years older so they were far more appropriate for him, but I'm sure I wasn't going to let her read to him and not me, or be discriminated against with "age appropriate" books.

Kenny, I loved Charlotte's Web and every other E.B. White book. The Trumpet of the Swan was a great one but wasn't made into a movie so I think fewer are familiar with it.

The Fledgling was also one of my favorites. I read it around the time I read A Wrinkle in Time, etc. http://www.amazon.com/Fledgling-Hall-Family-Chronicles-Book/dp/0064401219

 

[monarch64]

This thread made me think of Reading Rainbow. I really wish it was still on; I'd love for my daughter to grow up with it like I did. A Kickstarted was begun in May this year in hopes of funding the show again...maybe it will actually happen!

The Reading Rainbow song gets stuck in my head from time to time! Have you looked for old episodes on YouTube?
What a fun thread I always enjoyed Little Critter books as a kid.

Such a great theme song! Yes, we've watched a few clips on youtube. It's fun seeing LeVar again.

 

[alexah]

OMG, so many wonderful books posted already - so many happy memories...
I'd like to add in the Frances Books by the Hobans - especially "A Bargain for Frances". I adored that book and memorized it and "Bread and Jam for Frances" too. I still remember all the words and songs (and it was not a short time ago)!

 

[amc80]

This thread made me think of Reading Rainbow. I really wish it was still on; I'd love for my daughter to grow up with it like I did. A Kickstarted was begun in May this year in hopes of funding the show again...maybe it will actually happen!

The Reading Rainbow song gets stuck in my head from time to time! "Butterfly in the sky… I can go twice as high…"
There's lots of Reading Rainbow n Youtube.
What a fun thread I always enjoyed Little Critter books as a kid. As I got older, I was a huge fan of Beverly Cleary books and I read every one.

I loved that show! Anyone remember when they made paper out of old jeans? I think I tried it once on my own...didn't quite work for me, ha.

Also, if we are talking books from when we were a bit older- I loved The Secret Garden, The Little House on the Prairie (and all of the other books), and The Boxcar Children series.

 

[AprilBaby]

Anything from Richard Scarey, anything from Eloise Wilkins. Real gems.