# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/21 "2006-10-23T00:13:41Z")
**Younger:** Madeleine The Little House (_The little house first stood in the country, but gradually the city moved closer and closer_ Dr Doolittle **Older:** Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Red Sky At Morning 101 Dalmations (by Dodie Smith–NOT the Disney book) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/22 "2006-10-23T00:27:37Z")
Thurber’s [The Thirteen Clocks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirteen_Clocks). I was delighted to be able to snag it before any of my siblings when my folks started offloading stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/23 "2006-10-23T00:39:35Z")
As I’ve said before, I first read the two Alice books when I was 13 and I have re-read them almost every year for the past 55 years. They still fill me with wonder and joy. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/24 "2006-10-23T00:40:39Z")
I still love The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and A Wrinkle in Time. I won’t count Lord of the Rings, since I never finished it as a child and really consider my love of it to begin in '01. ---
**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 23, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/25 "2006-10-23T01:01:59Z")
**Random** , I grew up in northern Quebec and they had most of the Enid Blyton books at the local library. I moved to Massachusetts (Lexington) when I was 12 and started working at their library during high school (which is the biggest in MA after Boston Public supposedly) and they had a whole bunch as well. But mostly I know about her because my parents grew up in India and they used to read her. My father used to buy me tons and tons of EB books whenever we visited there but in the Great Housemoving Sale of 2003 some bitch-librarian for a public school saw my books in a box in my room and was like “yo can I buy all of those for $50 for the school library?” and my parents in the rush, and because they are fools for public schools told her she could have them for free! For free! I’m still sulking over it but I intend to buy them all back next time I go home to the mothership. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/26 "2006-10-23T01:06:13Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] Thurber’s [The Thirteen Clocks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirteen_Clocks). I was delighted to be able to snag it before any of my siblings when my folks started offloading stuff. [/QUOTE] AWESOME book, though I first read it in high school so I can’t really say it’s “from my childhood”. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/27 "2006-10-23T02:01:38Z")
[QUOTE=anu-la1979] **Random** , I grew up in northern Quebec and they had most of the Enid Blyton books at the local library. I moved to Massachusetts (Lexington) when I was 12 and started working at their library during high school (which is the biggest in MA after Boston Public supposedly) and they had a whole bunch as well. But mostly I know about her because my parents grew up in India and they used to read her. [/QUOTE] Interesting. I had to pester my Irish relatives to get them. (Discovered them on a summer trip there when I was about 8 and was very annoyed to learn that there weren’t available here when we got back home.) ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/28 "2006-10-23T05:51:14Z")
Chronicles of Prydain, The Little Prince (I swear I cry every time I read this), Flowers for Algernon (ditto), Maniac Magee. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/29 "2006-10-23T12:53:25Z")
Elizabeth George Speare, especially _The Witch of Blackbird Pond_ and _Calico Captive_, which forever put me in love with costuming and the 18th century. Still good books, fifteen years later. _The Velveteen Rabbit_. _Alligator Pie_. Lots of others that people have already mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/30 "2006-10-23T13:17:39Z")
Roald Dahl’s works are modern classicals. Especially Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/31 "2006-10-23T13:39:26Z")
**Where the Wild Things Are** by Maurice Sendak. Such a marvelous book and it still captures my imagination. **The Phantom Toolbooth** by Norton Juster. Just recently re-read it and caught many references that I missed as a kid. My 10 yr old just recently read it as well and absolutely loved it. **The Lorax** by Dr. Seuss. 'Nuff said. **A Penny a Look: An Old Story** by Harve Zemach. A charming story that I think still applies just as well today as it did when I read it 30 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/32 "2006-10-23T13:47:23Z")
**The Westing Game** by Ellen Raskin. Layers within layers, an engaging puzzle with fun character accessible to kids as well as adults. The original Three Investigators mystery series. The McGurk mysteries. The Henry Reed books. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/33 "2006-10-23T13:51:13Z")
_The Westing Game_ by Ellen Raskin My favorite book from my childhood. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/34 "2006-10-23T13:52:24Z")
**cmkeller** beat me on the simulpost. 🙂 And it’s a damned good book. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/35 "2006-10-23T14:09:05Z")
_[Where the Red Fern Grows](http://www.amazon.com/Where-Fern-Grows-Wilson-Rawls/dp/0440412676/sr=1-1/qid=1161612444/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0752717-5016112?ie=UTF8&s=books)_ by Wilson Rawls. Made me (and my classmates) bawl as a third-grader when our teacher read it to us; made me bawl a couple of years ago when I re-read it 25 years later. It’s a simply wonderful coming-of-age story, with a couple of well-wrought life lessons. Also, Ralph Moody’s [_Little Britches_](http://www.amazon.com/Little-Britches-Father-Were-Ranchers/dp/0803281781/sr=8-1/qid=1161612106/ref=sr_1_1/102-0752717-5016112?ie=UTF8&s=books) and its sequels, which are an autobiographical series of books on a young boy’s transition to adulthood in early 1900s Colorado. It’s quite similar to the Little House on the Prairie series, albeit set a few decades later, but written from a boy’s perspective. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/36 "2006-10-23T14:15:03Z")
Wow… reading everybody else’s choices brings back some memories, but as a boy I had a peculiar fondness for a certain genre of childrens stories and I think they’re all pretty good today. Rascal by Sterling North My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O’Dell The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare The Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne Yep… apparently I hungered to live the rugged life alone with nary an adult in sight, well… what kid doesn’t growing up? ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/37 "2006-10-23T18:22:50Z")
**E.Nesbit’s** series of children’s fantasy books, as well as\*\* Edward Eager’s\*\* more modern day versions, not only hold up well, they are both beautifully illustrated. Eager admired Nesbit and his books might have been considered imitations if not for his obvious respect for her. Both are still in print. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/38 "2006-10-23T18:54:34Z")
I loved reading **Shel Silverstein’s** poetry to my kids when they were younger. I think I got more of a kick out of it than they did, and they loved his stuff. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/39 "2006-10-23T19:04:14Z")
[QUOTE=Random] 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.) [/QUOTE] My mother was English, and I had several Blyton books, including the Enchanted Wood and The Birthday Wish(?), the one about the girl who gets a trip to Fairyland on her birthday. I also like the _Encyclopedia Brown_ books. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/40 "2006-10-23T19:10:50Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] AWESOME book, though I first read it in high school so I can’t really say it’s “from my childhood”. [/QUOTE] For the uninitiated: [QUOTE=from The Thirteen Clocks] The brambles and the thorns grew thick and thicker in a ticking thicket of bickering crickets. Farther along and stronger, bonged the gongs of a throng of frogs, green and vivid on their lily pads. From the sky came the crying of flies, and the pilgrims leaped over a bleating sheep creeping knee-deep in a sleepy stream, in which swift and slippery snakes slid and slithered silkily, whispering sinful secrets. [/QUOTE] 🙂 Sailboat [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465.md?page=3)