# What are your three favorite books you read as a child?



## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

In sixth grade, Rascal by Sterling North
In eighth grade, Old Yeller by Gipson
In ninth grade, Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger


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## Guest (Apr 20, 2009)

Impossible to pick three. I was reading books back to back before I ever started to school. 

A few stick out in my mind, though. 

Emotional books like The Yearling. Old Yeller. Some of the John Steinbeck books.

Silly funny books, like the Beverly Cleary books and others.

Fantasies and fairy tales. I STILL love the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen.

Mysteries, like Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys.

I read all the horse and dog books.

So many others...

I would never ever be able to narrow down to a few favorites.

I go to archive.org and read children's books there. They have them published back in the 1700's and 1800's. There are some really good ones, and some goofy ones.


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books (does that count as 3?)


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## moongirl (May 19, 2006)

Where the Red Fern Grows was one of MANY favorites


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Island of the Blue Dolphins...don't recall who wrote it

A Tale of Two Cities (I loved that book, everyone else in class hated it)

The Hobbit (loved it so much more than the rest of the series)


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

beccachow said:


> Island of the Blue Dolphins...don't recall who wrote it
> 
> A Tale of Two Cities (I loved that book, everyone else in class hated it)
> 
> The Hobbit (loved it so much more than the rest of the series)


Scott O'Dell, I believe. (It's based on a true event as well, by the way)


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

Andrew Henry's Meadow

Nancy Drew mysteries

A Room for Cathy


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## susieM (Apr 23, 2006)

I don't remember them as being favorites, but they have stuck with me ever since I read them at about eleven...

The Happy Hooker, Xaviera Hollander
The 900 Days (which is probably why I am a prepper)
The gardening section of the Encyclopaedia


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## jer (Sep 2, 2003)

Flicka "My #1 Favorite"
Bobsey Twin books
Black Stallion books 
any and all horse books
Tells my age also!


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## Guest (Apr 30, 2009)

Hmmm...

Not in any particular order of age but three that immediately come to mind are:

The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit

Swiss Family Robinson

The Mad Scientists Club

I didn't find Heinlein until I was in high school so I won't count his for this list.

.....Alan.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

The Soup series by Robert Newton Peck


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## n2gardening (Mar 1, 2009)

rose2005 said:


> I loved
> 
> Little Black *****
> The Famous five series
> ...


Did you read the orginal Swiss Family Robinson or an abridged version? The kids an I started SWF this summer...and man was it a tough read. We have the original and I was proud of them for sticking it out...the language is intense for even me. I'd love to finish it with them...we moved and forgot about it. (We were reading it as part of a unit study...first chapter: Archimedes' Lever.)


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## Guest (Apr 30, 2009)

I just finished reading the original to my oldest daughter and it is a challenging read even for an adult. Once or twice he used words that even I didn't know. But considering that The Swiss Family Robinson was written in 1812 it is to be expected.

.....Alan.


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## Elizabeth M (Apr 20, 2005)

They were: Harold and the Purple Crayon
The 5 Chinese Brothers
and Thumbelina


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## EarlsNan (Apr 21, 2007)

Hard to pick just three.... "My Friend Flicka", "Brighty of the Grand Canyon" and "Magic Elizabeth" were a few of my favorites.


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

When I was in elementary school, my three favorite books were:

Mary Poppins (and all the other books about her) 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

When I was in the 8th or 9th grade, I read Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. It was my favorite books for years! :clap:


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## The_Shepherdess (Dec 5, 2005)

Misty of Chincoteague, Lord of the Rings......Actually, most of the Marguerite Henrys, but after those my mind goes blank. The Wolfling by Sterling North, I guess.....

? And I don't recall any trouble with SWR.....except not knowing what an onager was.  Maybe I just don't remember, or I was so used to not knowing words it doesn't stand out. *shrugs* 'S possible.


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

Shepherdess, what does SWR stand for?


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## Parrothead (May 3, 2009)

Richard Scarry was my favorite. Otherwise any books that included magic, animals, and ghosts.


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## joyfulheart (Mar 26, 2009)

When I was little, FERDINAND THE BULL -- I read that every day for over a year!

Then I really was into Encyclopedia brown (which I now have MY boys addicted to those! LOL)

I'll have to think about more... I read alot


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## Strange Bear (May 13, 2002)

Sorry, can't pick just 3.
Black Stallion
101 Dalmations
Black Storm
Smoke Story of a dog
Swiss Family Robinson
My side of the mountain
Silver magic


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## mkdoceaneye (Nov 14, 2007)

Jer...you're the same age as me? 34? LOL I read all the Bobbsey Twin books...granted they were my mom's, but I read them.

Favorites (any book I could read over and over and over till it was tattered):
The Door in the Wall
Black Beauty
Trixie Belden Series
Swiss Family Robinson


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

To read aloud to other kids: Three Billy Goat's Gruff, The Spooky Old Tree.

Read to myself: Black Beauty, Lad a Dog, the Henry Huggins books


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

I loved all of John Bellairs gothic mysteries for children! I also loved Grimms Fairy Tales, and as a pre-teen, I was ensnared by the Nancy Drew mysteries. Gee, there seems to be a pattern here...dark, mysterious, and thrilling!


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## Judi Reilly (Mar 27, 2008)

some of my favs. are,,,Black Beauty,,Thunderhead, any and all Bobbsy Twins books,,Little House on the Prairie series, just to name afew..and I still have many of these books..my grkids are reading them now..oh,,and Charlottes' Web..


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

Judi Reilly, I loved Charlotte's Web also. The same author wrote Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan. Have you read them? They're really good, too.


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## RickG55 (Aug 10, 2008)

Anything by Jim Kjelgaard, but especially:

Big Red
Irish Red
Outlaw Red


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## bluesky (Mar 22, 2008)

In early elementary school I got a book called The Lonely Doll. I loved that book. I have no idea what happened to it but a few years ago my daughter-in-law bought it for me for Mother's Day.

I loved Nancy Drew, Sue Barton, Bobbsey Twins, and Hardy Boys and wanted to read every biography in the children's section of our small library. 

I also loved Little Women, Little Men, Under the Lilac Tree, and Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott. 

Another favorite was Penrod by Booth Tarkington.


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

Penrod by Booth Tarkington! I just read this novel a few months ago. I am thinking of Sherman, Herman and Vermon! HA HA HA HA HA!


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## Staceyy (Jun 16, 2007)

The Betsy Tacy Series
The Bobbsey Twins Series
Pipi Longstocking Series


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

Thank you to whoever mentioned "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. I just got this at the library and have read it three times and I really like it!


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## FarmersDaughter (Jul 8, 2008)

Where the Red Fern Grows

Bridge to Terabithia

The BFG


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

At the end of the day, my teachers in the second and third grades made us put our heads down on our desk tops and close our eyes. Then, they would read to us. In those two years, my teachers read through the "Little House" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was my most favorite part of the day!


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

FarmersDaughter, I just read Roald Dahl's "The BFG" and really liked it! Listening to the giant talk about drinking frobscottle and then whizpopping was so funny!

If anyone wants to read a wonderful dog book, read "Stone Fox" by John Reynolds Gardiner. It was published in 1980. It's about a 10-year-old boy who lives with his grandfather. The grandfather is a potato farmer. The boy has a great dog! It was in the children's section at the library, although adults enjoy it, too. It's only 81 pages. If you like dogs, you'll love this book.


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## glazed (Aug 19, 2006)

When I was a little girl, I was ALL ABOUT _Little House on the Prairie _(the books and the show.)

Then when I was 24, I found one of the books at a garage sale, and started reading it again ... I became hooked, and sought every single book in the series ... read them all fervently one after the other (in no particular order - just as I happened to acquire them!)

Now, fifteen years later, I picked them up and began reading them AGAIN ... fully engrossed as if reading them for the first time.

(I am an English Lit major, and so have read many many classics ... and I shamelessly admit _Little House_ is, to this day, my favorite book(s).)


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## TurnerHill (Jun 8, 2009)

Several of those already mentioned, like Swiss Family Robinson, the Hardy Boys, Lord of the Rings, and the Little House books.

Not yet mentioned:

Ride Proud, Rebel by Andre Norton

The Great Brain, by John Fitzgerald

And my all time favorite, not just as a child:

Kim, by Rudyard Kipling


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## country4sooz (Mar 28, 2006)

Little Women
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Tom Sawyer


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## tyusclan (Jan 1, 2005)

RickG55 said:


> Anything by Jim Kjelgaard, but especially:
> 
> Big Red
> Irish Red
> Outlaw Red


I also like Jim Kjelgaard. _Cracker Barrel Troubleshooter_ was his best IMO.

It's impossible for to narrow it down to three.

_Old Yeller
The Yearling
Tom Sawyer
Where the Red Fern Grows
Cracker Barrel Troubleshooter_

I also liked all of Marguerite Henry's books, all of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and just about any horse, dog, or hunting book. Gotta throw in the _Little House_ series, and I got started on Louis L'Amour about the 6th grade.


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## Lonesomelov (Jul 14, 2009)

A few of my faves:

anything by Laura Ingalls Wilder
As the Waltz was Ending by Emma Macalik Butterworth (true story)
Walking Out...I don't know who wrote it but I loved it!
Cherry Ames series
Judy Blume

and in high school my fave book was To Kill A Mockingbird.


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## summerdaze (Jun 11, 2009)

When younger- Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins, 5 Little Peppers and How They Grew My side of the Mountain, Old Yeller
When older- The Outsiders, Manchild in a Promised Land, Jonathan Livingston Seagull


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## SoINgirl (Aug 3, 2007)

My most favorite when I was young was Ferdinand the Bull, I still have it. Pipi Longstocking, Winnie the Pooh, and anything that had to do with horses.


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## pamda (Oct 14, 2004)

How do you pick just three?

Anything by Louisa May Alcott, Heidi, Swiss Family Robinson, Where the Wild Fern Grows, Island of the Blue Dolphin, and A Wrinkle in Time ( I loved this book in fifth grade). I re-read Little Women in the winter still and read Little Men this winter also.


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## nancy237 (May 29, 2008)

pheasantplucker said:


> In sixth grade, Rascal by Sterling North


I checked that out over and over in 6th grade and reread it over and over
until my teacher told me I needed to read something else...

I was always so mad at that boy that teased Rascal and made him bite...


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Votes here for Sterling North with Rascal & the Wolfing; the Black Stallion series, Gentle Ben, Call of the Wild, one I can't remember the title of about a boy who hatches out a dinosaur egg, Marguerite Henry's Chincoteague series, and King of the Wind.


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## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

#1 My Friend Flicka
#2 My Side of the Mountain
#3 Huckleberry Finn
#4 Flatland

After that, the entire Hardy Boys series.


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## BUDSMOM (Jun 21, 2006)

Anything By Lois Lenski, Carolyn Haywood, And Beverly Cleary. I Am 61 And It Is Interesting How Timeless These Books Are Still Today. Beverly Cleary Had I Believe 3 Teen Girl Books, Fifteen, The Luckiest Girl And Jean And Johnny, In Addition To Henry, Beezus And Ramona. I Loved Them And Would Like To Read Them Again, Just To Feel Young Again For A Few Minutes Even. I Have Purchased Several Of The Lois Lenski Looks For My Grown Children From Amazon. I Bought Corn Farm Boy And Prairie School For Myself To Read Again.


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## greenboy (Sep 5, 2005)

Plutonia is a Russian book by Vladimir Obruchev, My mother thought I was going to become Communist, but the book is like "travel to the center of the Earth" probably more Hopeless like all Russian novels. GB


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## CherieOH (Jun 10, 2005)

My three childhood favorites:
1. Good-Bye, My Lady...by James Street
2. Misty of Chincoteague...by Marguerite Henry
3. Anne of Green Gables...by Lucy Maud Montgomery


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## Big Dave (Feb 5, 2006)

Treasure Island
Huckleberry Finn
Mangum the Robot Fighter


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## bowdonkey (Oct 6, 2007)

Same here Rick, only my favorites were Forest Patrol, Wild Trek and Lion Hound.


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## debmal1 (Oct 11, 2008)

All of Alcott, Henry, Wilder books. Glad to see someone liked Trixie Belden,too. GWTW when I was 13 or 14. Of course Mockingbird. Loved movie, too. There was a book titled "From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E -----. I can't remember the rest. I loved it. May have to go to Amazon and figure it out.


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## blufford (Nov 23, 2004)

1. Snow on Blueberry Mountain, Stephen W. Meader
2. The Red Car, Don Stanford
3. Charlotte's Web, E.B. White 

Also my Cub Scout and Boy Scout handbooks and Archie Comics.


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## gracie88 (May 29, 2007)

Shoot. I could have listed three if I didn't read the other responses first. Now, there are way more options floating around in my head.

Watership Down and the Hobbit, because those are the first "real" books I remember reading. My 3rd/4th grade teacher read them to us and I was hooked, stayed up late with a flashlight every night, reading ahead, because I couldn't wait for the next day's story time.

Then, books by Madeline L'Engle and Susan Cooper, and I confess, everything by Marguerite Henry and Walter Farley. I went more by author than individual books back in the day, had a lot more free time for reading.


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## EHardman (Mar 22, 2008)

1) My side of the Mountain
2) Robinson Crusoe
3) Lord of the Flies


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

Tom Sayer& HuckFinn who could read one without the other 
Tales of the arabian knights
The once and future king 

enjoyed the island of the blue dolfins and many Jules Vern novels


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

" the Black Pearl"
"The Island of the BLue Dolphins"
"The Tombs of Atuan"
All read and appreciated by age nine
edited to add...for Deaconjim...you might wish to read " http://www.amazon.com/Finn-Novel-Jon-Clinch/dp/1400065917


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## limey (Sep 1, 2004)

The Wind in the Willows
What Katy Did (and What Katy Did Next)
The Water Babies
and anything by Louisa May Alcott.

Limey


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Down the Long Hills- Louis LaMour

Tom Sawyer- Twain

Crow Killer- can't remember the author

My Side of the Mountain


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