# Childhood favorites



## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Chalk Creek got me thinking about my favorite "re-reads." For me, it's the Black Stallion books (Walter Farley), or books by Sterling North (Rascal, The Wolfling), or Gentle Ben. I keep an eye out for these books at thrift shops & rummage sales...although I usually donate back the Farley books, then buy them again years later. I'd guess I was reading these books the first time in 3rd - 5th grades. I do enjoy a good late elementary read - the story lines are pretty well developed, and I can consume it in a short evening. 

I've also been picking up classic paperbacks - Anatomy of a Murder, Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller, Hanta Yo, Creek Mary's Blood. 

I recently read...Lady of the Lake (?)...the tale of Arthur told from the women's viewpoints. And I've re-read The Crystal Cave series (Merlin) by Mary...Stewart (?).

Reading is what I do when I'm stressed - it's my escape, a chance to detox. So generally, I'll pick the lighter, shorter reads. If I pick up a longer read like Lady of the Lake or Hanta Yo...well, you can add sleep deprivation to my stress levels.

What are your favorite childhood re-reads?


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

I have several of my childhood favorites on my bookshelves too and know exactly what you mean about familiar stories reducing stress levels.

The first I actually remember ... just recently found and replaced ... was a book I remember from lst grade or before. My childhood library had it and I checked it out whenever I could find it ... finally got it as a birthday or Christmas gift. "Crazy Quilt" by Paul Brown, a lavishly illustrated book about a circus pony and the circus family that owned him. I read it until I could probably recite the story without the book and it was also my first "how to draw horses" book.

The C. W. Anderson books were about the same 'era' for me as well and I've replaced some of them as well. Best known are probably his "Billy and Blaze" series but I now have more of his illustrated Thoroughbred histories.

The Black Stallion books were next ... 4th and 5th grades probably ... and I still check those out from the library occasionally and always have. 

I also have several of my favorite Will James books. They were probably in the 6th to 8th grade years and I find I still enjoy them as well.


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## Old Swampgirl (Sep 28, 2008)

The Little Engine That Could. Don't know the author. It was a little golden book.


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

If you gave a moose a muffin.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Laura Zone 5 said:


> If you gave a moose a muffin.


Wait...how old _are_ you? That book came out in the early 90's.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I loved the Raggedy Ann books, and the Wizard of Oz books.
Any and all horse books and all the books by Ruth Chew who wrote about magic and her books were put out by Scholastic.
Also...our library had these wonderful old books of old magical type stories compiled by a woman named Ruth Manning Sanders. I found them years later on ebay and abebooks.


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## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

As a kid I also loved Farley's books. Marguerite Henry's, too. I was 8 years old the first time I read "The Hobbit." That, of course, led to "The Lord of the Rings." I have read those books every other year since. So, I've read them about 15 times. I don't tire of it and get something different from it each time.

As a very young young child I adored Ferdinand the Bull and Thidwich the Big Hearted Moose.


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

Hmm as a child I never liked Dr S.
before i could read Mom read me tom sawyer, huck finn, tales of the arabian knights, seven voyages of simbad. When I could read I read Once upon a future king, most everything I could find on King Arthur and the knights of the round table, the girl who owned a city, lord of the flies, the butterfly rebelion, dolphin island . anything that had kids surviving alone


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Correction - The Arthurian Women's pov tale is The Mysts of Avalon - not Lady of the Lake.


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## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

Don, I love Once Upon a Future King, too. You should see my copy, read so many times the covers are gone and the first few pages are tattered. Great book.


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## bowdonkey (Oct 6, 2007)

Jim Kjelgard books. He wrote Big Red etc. My favorites though were Lionhound and Forest Patrol.


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## r93000 (Mar 9, 2009)

Gary Paulsen- Hatchet series, Canyons, Dogsong, etc

Madeleine L'Engle- Wrinkle in Time et al

Island of the Blue Dolphins

You may be starting to notice a trend here...


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

All of Beverly Cleary's books.


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

All of the Mary Poppins books by P.L. Travers.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis.
Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
The Nip and Tuck books (about two little mice, NOT about cosmetic surgery)


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

Chixarecute said:


> What are your favorite childhood re-reads?


Little House Series
Heidi
Nancy Drew

I loved the Miller stories, especially Missionary Stories and the Millers. That is one of my favorite all time books ever.


I have some favorites I read to the kids years back too--
Stone Fox
Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Call of the Wild
Paddle to the Sea
Tree in the Trail
The Beatrix Potter Collection-- Loved that
Junie B Jones books
A Child's Garden of Verse. I still say some of those rhymes to the kids and they will look at me and smile. (I have kids in 20s-30s)
Madeline

One day my son was helping move things around here, and he came across his old book Where the Wild Things Are. He was so thrilled to see it. "I remember this!" he said. He looked all through it, then took the book home with him. It was so nice to see his smile.


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## cathyharrell (Nov 9, 2003)

Nancy Drew


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## oth47 (Jan 11, 2008)

Toby Chipmunk..it was in my grandmother's trunk,'twas the next book I read after Dick and Jane.Published 1931,very rare,like finding hen's teeth.After grandma's copy turned up missing,I spent the next 45 or so years looking for another.Wife finally found me one on the internet for 100.00 bux,shipping and all.I wanted to get one for each grandchild,but after all my searching,I finally located about 13 copies,some of which I couldn't afford.Some of them have a price of 275.00 or more.I came up with 7 copies,but with 14 grandkids and 2 g-grands,I don't have the years left to put this collection together.I dearly love this little 2nd grade reader for the characters and the delightful illustrations and spent many happy hours reading it.I still read it,as old as I am.


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## LadyJane (Nov 23, 2005)

Around 4th grade we started having a period of "Library" each week where we spent time reading in the elementary library. I loved it. My first two favorite books were "The Yearling" and "Heidi". Took a long time to read since we only got to go once a week .

I remember, while reading Heidi, how I would long for that cheese, bread and goat milk. LOL. I love cheese, bread and goat milk but have no idea why the "warm" milk appealed to me - I hate warm milk. Oh, the power of a book!!


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

_T Model Tommy_


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## wanda1950 (Jan 18, 2009)

Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew. I was a good reader & remember the teacher in first grade not wanting me to get the book I wanted because she thought I couldn't read it. There was a series of biographies with blue covers that I loved--Does anyone remember these? 
I read anything I could get my hands on; even read the World Book Encyclopedia when nothing else was available.


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## gracie88 (May 29, 2007)

My 3rd grade teacher started us in on the Hobbit, and then Watership Down in 4th grade. Those are the first "big" books I can remember reading, and I reread them every year for a while.


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

The Fledgling by Jane Langdon is one I would highly recommend if your reader / listener can handle some not so pleasant stuff.


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

Oooh! I also loved The Fledgling. In fact, I read all the Janet Langdon books about this family -- The Diamond in the Window, The Time Bike, etc. I really enjoyed all of them so much!!!


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## rickfrosty (Jun 19, 2008)

Chixarecute said:


> What are your favorite childhood re-reads?


Does anyone recall a book called "*somebody* of the Limberlost", something like that - the Limberlost was a forest.
I remember liking that book very much !


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## rickfrosty (Jun 19, 2008)

Chixarecute said:


> What are your favorite childhood re-reads?


Oh, I grew up in my great grandmother's house which was full of old books & I clearly recall the 1st adult (you know what I mean) book I read was when I was 6 about WWI called "Chevrons".
There was a sargeant who had little use for 'cheap conversation' - I swear that influenced my life !?
Just realised I should try to google that book ?

1 hr. later : I'll be dipped !! - I took it into my head to find this book, googled it & ended up ordering it from AbeBooks.com for under $7 w/shipping included - what a world - too bad it's gonna crash !
1st books I came across were $65 ! I'm prolly going to be dissapointed in this book I read as an impressionable little boy, no ?
Oh, author was Leonard Nason who had been a doughboy & bought a book about writing books.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

rickfrosty said:


> Does anyone recall a book called "*somebody* of the Limberlost", something like that - the Limberlost was a forest.
> I remember liking that book very much !


Girl Of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter. My Hoosier MIL sent this to my daughter to read. Always pushing those Indiana writers....


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## Myles7 (Apr 30, 2008)

Stratton also did Freckles ,it was also about the Limberlost swamp.

My favorite childhood books were:
Call of the Wild
Lord of the Flies
The Black Stalion Books
Flicka
Boy with a Pack (and any other Steven Meder book)
Any thing by Andre Norton
Any thing by Robert Heinline

As a child Library day was my favorite day.

Myles7


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## rickfrosty (Jun 19, 2008)

Myles7 said:


> *Stratton also did Freckles ,it was also about the Limberlost swamp.*My favorite childhood books were:
> 
> Myles7


Ah, Freckles, yes !


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Sea View Secret will always stick in my memory. I'm tempted to see if the library has it so I can reread it.


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## lostspring (Jun 29, 2007)

Jim Kjelgard The Buckskin Brigade


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

My reading list was strange as a kid. My mom was a teacher, and I can't remember ever NOT being able to read. Comprehension is something that I'm STILL working on. 

I liked the old "Tom Swift" series. The newer ones were OK, but the old ones were great fun, patriarchal and racist, but fun. Popular Science, National Geographic, Tarzan comics, science fiction rounded things out. Then there was Sherlock Holmes...


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## tnyardfarmer (Mar 22, 2011)

"Rascal" is one of my all time favorites. Actually read it again a few years ago when one of my girls was in elementary school. Any Jack London book. The "Foxfire" series of books.


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## MidwestGal (Nov 5, 2010)

I love love loved library day at school! It was wonderful! I was in my element. :icecream:
Little House Books
Nancy Drew
Anything with an animal on the cover, unless it looked sad.


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## CAjerseychick (Aug 11, 2013)

Am I the only girl who ever read the entire Tarzan series, by Edgar Rice Burroughs...?
Oh and I also loved My Side of the Mountain, forgot the author...
and probably every dog information book out there I could get my hands on...


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## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Wowloadsoffaves I had as a kid

Enid Blyton- all her books progressively
Door in the Wall
Inky Seeing Eye Dog
Follow my Leader
Nova- science magazine(from about 8 on yeah total geek)
Read the Little House books later in my teens
Beverly Cleary-any I could get my hands on

Chalet School series- couolnt get into Nancy Drew we had the Five series from th eUK


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## hippygirl (Apr 3, 2010)

CAjerseychick said:


> _*Am I the only girl who ever read the entire Tarzan series, by Edgar Rice Burroughs...?*_
> Oh and I also loved My Side of the Mountain, forgot the author...
> and probably every dog information book out there I could get my hands on...


No, you are not the only one!

I often wonder if I'm the only one who read all of the Sackett books as a child (Louis L'Amour), though. 

As a child, I preferred sci-fi fantasy, and horror. I honestly don't recall ever reading anything specifically written "for" children unless I was required to do so by a teacher.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

hippygirl said:


> I often wonder if I'm the only one who read all of the Sackett books as a child (Louis L'Amour), though.


They weren't published until I was an adult, but I still re-read them! Wish my grandfather would have lived long enough to read them, he'd have really liked them. 

I did read all of his Zane Grey and Max Brand books as a child ...


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

This thread reminded me of a childhood favorite: The Little Laundress and the Fearful Knight. 
We got it in a gift box of hand-me-down books from a friend of my mother's. My parents gave it away when I was living overseas. I'd never heard of it before and I've never seen it since, but I remember really liking the story of a brave peasant girl, a knight that didn't fight, and a mother's undying love. 
I found a used copy on Amazon and just ordered one. Haven't decided yet if it's for me or my niece.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I rarely reread a book. I just discovered Andre Norton this past summer when I downloaded her books on my Kindle. You can get them in a pack.

As a kid I loved Black Beauty, the Henry Higgins series, anything to do with horses. I read so many books but can't now recall them. I discovered the Little House books when I tutored a 15 year old who wasn't allowed to read any fiction, just "real" books but read at a first grade level.

In high school I discovered science fiction, the Foundation Trilogy- anything by Asimov.


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## AKacres (Oct 28, 2013)

Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Song of Hiawatha, Heidi, Swiss Family Robinson, War of the Worlds, one about a boy who lived in a badgers den, don't remember the title. Gentle Ben, Julie of the Wolves, Where the Red Fern Grows, Bridge to Terebithia. Poetry collections, Rose and Yellow Fairy Books. Also "The White Mountains"...I read and re-read that one as a teenager ... just got the rest of the "Tripods" series a few years ago- all great stories. 
Recently was introduced to the "Jungle Doctor" books. They are good reads too. Also Patricia St. John, some better than others. 
Ugh, just thinking back to late grade school- I was addicted to The Babysitters Club series.


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## bowdonkey (Oct 6, 2007)

Could the badger den one be "My Side of the Mountain"? That was also one of my favorites. I bought a paperback copy with my squirrel tail money. Still got it.


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## catspjamas (Jul 14, 2013)

My most favorite are The Cat Club books by Esther Averill, about a little black cat named Jenny Linsky who wears a red scarf.

Pickles the Fire Cat (also by Esther Averill)
The Velveteen Rabbit
Misty of Chincoteague
Sea Star
Stormy
King of the Wind
The Secret of NIMH
Watership Down

And even though I didn't read it as I child, I love "Guess How Much I Love You". I have a framed print of Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare in my living room.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

AKacres said:


> one about a boy who lived in a badgers den, don't remember the title.



Incident At Hawk's Hill! Wonderful book.

http://www.amazon.com/Incident-Hawks-Hill-Allan-Eckert/dp/0316209481


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

I am a box car child to...and a Hoosier.


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## bikehealer1 (Oct 8, 2009)

anything by:
Robert A. Heinlien -TANSTAAFL
Piers Anthony
J R R Tolkien
Anne McCaffrey
Andre Norton
Robin McKinley
Lloyd Alexander ( I read his books over and over)
John Gardener
The Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series
The Three Investigators series
Encyclopedia Brown 
Stephen R Donaldson 
Alan Dean Foster 
David Eddings ( over and over again)
Shirley Rousseua Murphy
Frank Herbert
BullFinch's mythology ( 4th grade) 
Poul Anderson
Larry Niven
Isaac Asimov
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

I decided to donate all of my books I had as a kid to the library book sale back in the nineties.... wish i had never done it now. Each and every one of those people plus quite a few others had a hand in the formation of who I am today. My work ethic, my sense of morals, my sense of self respect and respect for others, my ability to empathize with others problems. Books are a wonderful blessing, yet today's kids are more interested in noisy toys than quiet enrichment.


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## catspjamas (Jul 14, 2013)

In 7th grade English, if we read a certain number of books every month we got extra credit. I read "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. When I turned my list in, my teacher asked me if I had really read Animal Farm. When I told her yes, I had, she asked me to tell her what it was about. So I did. She just looked at me, and then said "That's a college level book". Haven't read it since the 7th grade, but I remember it being an easy read.


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## snowlady (Aug 1, 2011)

Little House series, Harriet the Spy, Trixie Belden, Bobbsey Twins, Misty of Chincotique, Grimms and Anderson fairy tales. I pretty much read anything I could get my hands on.


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## Mrs. Thankful (Dec 4, 2013)

When I was very young, I loved The Velveteen Rabbit. In my preteens I was obsessed with Judy Bloom books.


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## Drewberry (Nov 19, 2013)

A Crack in time but I forget the authors name?!? 

It was a Series of books on time travel.


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## Sammilynn (Dec 28, 2013)

Drewberry said:


> A Crack in time but I forget the authors name?!?
> 
> It was a Series of books on time travel.


Are you referring to A Wrinkle in Time? This was my favorite book as a child. It is part of a series by Madeline L'engle.


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## Sammilynn (Dec 28, 2013)

As a kid I was reading anything I could get my hands on. I have read the Clan of the Cave Bear series more than twice. Our basement was stocked with bookshelves and I remember reading Earl Stanley Gardner books (perry mason) in the sixth grade.


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## Tango (Aug 19, 2002)

Kavik the Wolfdog
Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims
the Little House Books (of course)
oh and Beverly Cleary's books ) and Curious George.... Clifford the Big Red Dog .... "it's all coming back to me now...."
my Catholic School Reading Texts were my first favorite books

for my children the first favorite was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day


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## vickinell (Oct 10, 2003)

Charlotte's Web, Anne of Green Gables, To Kill a Mocking Bird


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## notwyse (Feb 16, 2014)

Oh my...beautiful blasts from the past. I have read so many of these. My childhood escapes. I will add "knee deep in thunder". Frank Dobie books. All time favorite is " To kill a mockingbird ".


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## sugarspinner (May 12, 2002)

The Chronicles of Narnia (all of them) by C S Lewis 
Told Under the Blue Umbrella - Can't remember the author
The Five Little Peppers and How they Grew
Heidi
Raggedy Ann -the original and I still have it tho it's worse for the wear!


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## tc556guy (May 28, 2013)

I don't re-read them as an adult, but having my own kids gave me the chance to go back and re-visit many of the books of my youth, all the way from the early Dr Seuss books to the Narnia Chronicles to the Little House series. My older daughter is a reader herself and inherited many of my surviving childhood books, so I don't have possession of many of them anymore.....


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