I’d like to hear about some books that were important to people growing up. I’ve searched and found recommendations and gift ideas for certain ages, but I don’t have a specific age in mind (FWIW my oldest is five and the third is due next week).
This time of year, when we’re traveling, I often find myself digging through piles of books in yard sales, used bookshops, etc., while waiting for my wife. I’d just like to have some titles or authors in mind in case I come upon something worthwhile I might otherwise have overlooked. There are books on the kids’ bookshelf such as Astérix & Obélix which they’re not ready for but will be there when they are ready to read them (they’ve started flipping through and looking at the pictures); I’d like to add some more to their shelf for the coming years.
This would be a good spot for some obscure recommendations, you never know what you’ll uncover in some of these places.
When I was growing up I had the Little House series, all of the Oz books written by Baum, which I still have (plus two written by other authors) and thanks to my sister, we helped each other remember the name of Shadow Castle by Marion Cockerell.
Encyclopedia Brown also got read to shreds. I also loved my first full length mystery book…The Westing Game
Don’t be afraid of the classics. I had Little Women, and I read *Gone With the Wind *about 50 times by the time I was 12. Granted, I skipped over Ashley’s soliloquies until I was older, but I loved that book.
Instill in your children a love of reading and they will never be lonely.
And although I think it’s gone the way of the dodo now, we had a full set of World Book Encyclopedia. I would take one of the volumes and just browse through it.
Available for about 100 times what it cost new (although you could get lucky and find a copy for a dime at a garage sale): The Magic Tunnel, written about the time of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair that coincided with the tricentennial of the city’s passing from Dutch to British hands. Not only painless history through time travel, but I still remember some of the Dutch words (kas, Vrouw*) that were sprinkled through the text.
respectively, “a chest for storing linens” and “Mrs.”
Typing on behalf of my better half - and now handing it off to her but still under muy name. Be gentle - she’s cherry and will have her own name in a day or two.
Mrs peekercpa says:where the wild things are is great to read to a 5 year old.
Gawd, I did the exact same thing. It’s partially what led to my posting about this. When I was young I read what was available which wasn’t much other than the encyclopedia (ours was Funk & Wagnalls). I see my daughter picking up books of poetry or mythology; even though she can’t read them she glides her fingers along and makes up wonderful stories of her own. I love listening in on her stories.
The old Golden Books series (started in the 40s maybe?) were really good; one of my favorites was “The Pokey Little Puppy.” Roly poly, pell mell, tumble bumble …
Another favorite was “Make Way for Ducklings!” by Robert McCloskey (I think); Captain Kangaroo always read that every spring!
One year, a teacher read the class “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” about this man who had a bunch of penguins and kept them in his bathtub! I also greatly enjoyed the Walter Farley books, especially the Black Stallion series. The Little House books were another favorite, as was “A Wrinkle in Time,” by Madeline L’Engle, my introduction to science fiction. I re-read this about 8 years ago, and wow, it really does hold up well!
I loved The Westing Game. I’d like to see it as a movie, but I’m sure it’d get butchered. But the cover of the one I always checked out at the library (made it more special) was so cool - the ‘scary old mansion’ made out of money!
My mother was English, so I had some Enid Blyton books too…I think she was as prolific as Stephen King. I had the Enchanted Wood, Once Upon A Birthday, and others that I can’t remember.
When I was a little kid, I remember my mom reading There’s a Monster at the End of This Book (or something along those lines) starring Grover from Sesame Street.
I wanted it read to me over and over…man, those were good times.
Five is not too young for a library card either. My dream in life is to visit the Library of Congress…that’s my Mecca, and I know I’ll just be a puddle of goo on the floor the second I walk in.
Thanks for all the responses everyone, I’m writing them all down.
I’ll pick some up from the local Chapters store but it’s more fun finding them amid stacks of books When we make our annual trip down to NYC in a few months I’m sure I’ll find quite a few.
The Black Stallion books. Also Misty of Chincoteague, but not Brighty of Grand Canyon, because it was stoopid.
Black Beauty.
And yes, I was a horse-crazy little girl.
Nancy Drew. Oh, how I wish I’d kept them, they’d be collectible.
Perry Mason when I was in junior high. Hey, don’t knock it, they’re famous for a reason.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, yes. Ditto wishing I’d kept them.
Gene Stratton Porter: Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost. Loved both of those. Even made a pilgrimage to her home in Northern Indiana. Not much to see, but then, pilgrimages aren’t about scenery, they’re about grokking the author’s ambience.
George McDonald’s The Princess and the Goblins haunted me for years, but as an adult I was chagrined to discover I couldn’t remember the exact title of it, and the local children’s librarian was (surprisingly, in retrospect) no help at all. I finally ended up writing a letter to the children’s librarian in the town where I’d grown up (this was before the Internet), describing the book in great detail right down to the orange-red cover and where in the stacks it was, and she very kindly wrote back and put me out of my misery.
When we make our annual trip down to NYC in a few months I’m sure I’ll find quite a few.