# Books from your childhood that hold up well **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465 "2006-10-22T18:08:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/1 "2006-10-22T18:08:01Z")
[In the interests of discussing every aspect of every topic](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=393071), I figure I’ll ask the follow-up question in a new thread instead of the old one. What books did you love as a child and, when re-reading them as an adult, found that they were still pretty damned good? I’ll start with two suggestions: -Lloyd Alexanders **Prydain Chronicles**. I was afraid to reread them for a long time, out of fear that they would turn out to suck. But finally I ventured it, and hot dang, those books are fantastic! They’re probably the best children’s fantasy I’ve ever read–and I’ve read a lot of children’s fantasy. - **Harold and the Purple Crayon**. Loved it as a small child. Picked it up recently. Yup, still love it. To me, it’s the best depiction of a toddler’s imagination; I’m pretty sure it’s how I saw the world until I was about four or five. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/2 "2006-10-22T18:14:16Z")
Like I said in the other thread, Mary O’Hara’s _My Friend Flicka_ is really well-written and worth reading. I’m also a huge fan of Prydain and _Charlotte’s Web_. Narnia hasn’t held up quite as well, but they are still worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/3 "2006-10-22T18:18:44Z")
The Laura Ingalls Wilder series is one that I go back occasionally and re-read as an adult. My favorit children’s book was always _The Velveteen Rabbit._ I buy a copy for every child in my family. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/4 "2006-10-22T18:20:13Z")
\*The Hobbit. The Left Hand of Darkness. Where the Lilies Bloom. Harriet the Spy. Rats, Lice, and History. Aku Aku \*(a fine read, though not accurate). ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/5 "2006-10-22T19:04:29Z")
E.B. White & E. Nesbitt have held up well for me. I re-read Dick King-Smythe’s “Harry’s Mad” in the store the other day, chuckling and remembering why I liked it so much at age 6. I think all the serious classics like Phantom Tollbooth, Westinghouse, Basil E. Frankweiler, View from the Cherry Tree, Betsy Tacy, Lucy Maud Montgomery are all holding up well for me. Oh and Enid Blyton, can’t forget the old bird. I snap those books up every time I find a copy. Yes they’re mildly racist and sexist…whatever. They’re still great. J.K. Rowling owes a lot to Enid Blyton. The only ones I look back on with a jaundiced eye are Beverly Cleary-Ramona is okay but some of her series are true treacle fests. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/6 "2006-10-22T20:17:51Z")
I still enjoy reading my old _Trixie Belden_ and _Three Investigators_ series. I don’t know why, but even the somewhat dated earlier Trixie Belden stories seemed more “real” to me as a kid than Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys (both of which I liked too, just not nearly as much). Maybe it was the fact that Trixie’s group included both girls and boys, they interacted mostly as equals, and they (at least the ones who weren’t super-rich) lived like normal people with normal families. Sure, there was a bit of the “boys take care of the girls” sort of thing, but it wasn’t that bad, especially for the time period. And Trixie was undeniably the leader and main instigator for the group. As for the Three Investigators–even now, after all these years, I’d _still_ like to have Headquarters in my backyard! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/7 "2006-10-22T20:27:48Z")
**The Wizard of Oz** series. I recently reread all 14 books by L. Frank Baum, and they still charmed me. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/8 "2006-10-22T20:49:06Z")
[QUOTE=anu-la1979] …Enid Blyton… [/QUOTE] Where did you grow up, that you had access to EB? I thought I was somewhat ususual among Americans in reading her. (They weren’t published in the US when I was a kid.) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/9 "2006-10-22T20:51:24Z")
Stuart Little by EB White ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/10 "2006-10-22T21:27:35Z")
_Brighty of the Grand Canyon_, by Marguerite Henry, the story of a Grand Canyon burro. My second grade teacher read it to us in installments. Almost 40 years later, I bought a copy on a visit to the North Rim. I was delighted that I remembered so much of it. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/11 "2006-10-22T21:39:52Z")
I found One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish holds up remarkably well (was the first book I ever read all by myself. Thanks, Suess). ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/12 "2006-10-22T21:44:31Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness] - **Harold and the Purple Crayon**. Loved it as a small child. Picked it up recently. Yup, still love it. To me, it’s the best depiction of a toddler’s imagination; I’m pretty sure it’s how I saw the world until I was about four or five. Daniel [/QUOTE] Ha! I opened this thread JUST to post that one! I LOVE that book! ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/13 "2006-10-22T21:47:23Z")
On a different note, P.S Your Cat is Dead. Which I read in 4th grade. Over and over. Yes, I was interested in books about tied up male prostitutes when I was ten. Read it again recently and while dated I still thought it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/14 "2006-10-22T21:51:54Z")
[A Wrinkle In Time](http://www.amazon.com/Wrinkle-Time-Madeleine-LEngle/dp/0440498058/sr=8-1/qid=1161553806/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7504463-6500911?ie=UTF8&s=books) holds up quite well. So does the [Danny Dunn](http://www.amazon.com/Homework-Machine-Raymond-Abrashkin-Williams/dp/0590468901/sr=1-1/qid=1161553849/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-7504463-6500911?ie=UTF8&s=books) series, which I read voraciously as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/15 "2006-10-22T21:54:30Z")
**The Dark is Rising** series by Susan Cooper, especially \*\*Green Witch \*\* (that marvellous sequence where all the legends of Cornwall come alive for one night), **The Grey King** and **Silver on the Tree**. The \*\*Weirdstone of Brisingamen \*\* and it’s sequel \*\*The Moon of Gomrath \*\* by Alan Garner. Come to think of it, _anything_ by Alan Garner. And the books I learned to read on:- The **Swallows and Amazons** series by Arthur Ransome. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/16 "2006-10-22T22:01:20Z")
[QUOTE=Boulter’s Canary] The **Swallows and Amazons** series by Arthur Ransome. [/QUOTE] These were the first that came to my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/17 "2006-10-22T22:10:32Z")
English language: Dr. Seuss. Also, I look forward to introducing my daughter to Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books (my niece likes them). Spanish language: nothing comes to mind. I’ve been looking for children’s books in Spanish (not previously translated from English) that my daughter and niece might like, but most of them have rather advanced vocabulary and stilted phrases, IMO. **Nava** or other Spanish speakers, am I off base in thinking this? Just as an example, here is a translated excerpt from a Spanish edition of Puss 'n’Boots: > [@](#): > > They traveled across the city until they reached the woods. Once there, they hid behind some bushes and, after a while, they saw a flock of quail appear. The defenseless birds rested upon the ground, an occasion of which they took advantage to capture them and put them, then, inside a sack. > “I will take these quail to the king in your name, which will from now on be the Marquis of Carabas, and in this way I will obtain many riches for you,” said the cat to Hans. OK, it doesn’t sound so bad in English. But this is a relatively modern edition of this book. ---
**Author:** ![Elysium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Elysium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysium)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/18 "2006-10-22T22:38:00Z")
Juniper by Monica Furlong. I loved it as a kid, but I didn’t get some of the historical context. Cornwall? That’s a made-up place right? I read it again later and confirmed why I loved it. I continue to love The Neverending Story so well I did my bachelor’s thesis on the book. It stands up incredibly well to the adult perspective. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/19 "2006-10-23T00:03:57Z")
**The Stars My Destination** by Alfred Bester **Cat’s Cradle** by Kurt Vonnegut (I read it in my early teens; reread it a few years ago and was amazed at how much I missed – it was good then; it is great now) ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/20 "2006-10-23T00:12:30Z")
Take a look at my doper name and you’ll see my first choice. I still re-read the book about once a year. I recently re-read **A Wrinkle in Time** and was amazed at how well it held up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465.md?page=2)