# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/61 "2006-10-24T22:24:22Z")
_The Necronomicon_, of course. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/62 "2006-10-24T22:53:51Z")
[QUOTE=Foldup Rabbit] My favourite childhood book was “The Hundred and One Dalmations” by Dodie Smith. Very excellent. The dogs had an entire language and history and culture - absolutely charming. I do not find myself lacking anything when I reread it. [/QUOTE] Did you ever read the sequel, _The Starlight Barking_? Not as good, but still worth a read. My own childhood treasure that still holds up today is _ **The Ship That Flew** _, by Hilda Lewis. Hard to find today, but a wonderful book. Just re-read it last night, and it still enchanted me after thirty years. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/63 "2006-10-25T02:48:25Z")
Back around grade 6, I discovered a book in my school library called **Sir MacHinery**. I must’ve checked that book out a dozen times to read it over and over. The story takes place in Scotland, where a scientist is working on constructing a robot. Some brownies (the little magic people kind, not the Girl Scout-ish kind) happen upon the robot, believe him to be a knight in armor, and call him “Sir MacHinery”, because there are boxes labeled “machinery” everywhere. And adventure ensues, with ghosts, the Loch Ness Monster, and all kinds of wonderfulness. Unfortunately, the book’s long out of print, so I haven’t read it in over twenty years. I would dearly love a copy so that I could revisit it, and maybe share it with my own kids someday. I did recently discover that there is a [SirMacHinery.com website](http://www.sirmachinery.com/) which has a bit of a blurb about the book, but unfortunately that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/64 "2006-10-25T02:55:52Z")
\*The Chosen \* and \*The Promise \* by Chaim Potok; read them first around 13 and still have copies around the house to dip into once in awhile. Likewise, \*The \* \*Screwtape Letters \* by C.S. Lewis. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/65 "2006-10-25T13:57:27Z")
_Chronicles of Narnia_ by C.S. Lewis, _Earthsea_ trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin, and _Watership Down_ by Richard Adams. Not only do they hold up well, but I still find myself finding new things about them when I re-read them now. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/66 "2006-10-25T14:03:12Z")
_The Wind in the Willows_. _Frog and Toad are Friends_, and _Frog and Toad Together_. _Hold Fast,_ by Canadian writer Kevin Major The aforementioned _Stuart Little_. The common thread seems to be that all these books are wistful, with moments of true sadness. Anyone’s childhood will have moments like that, and it takes a skilled author to capture that reality without overdoing it. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/67 "2006-10-25T17:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=Lightray] _Watership Down_ by Richard Adams. Not only do they hold up well, but I still find myself finding new things about them when I re-read them now. [/QUOTE] I enjoyed the other books you mentioned, but especially **Watership Down**. It was assigned to me many many years ago for a leadership class I was taking. I still reread it regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465/68 "2006-10-25T18:26:08Z")
[QUOTE=anu-la1979] Oh wow, agree ten times over on Roald Dahl. My teacher red us the one about the foxes in 2nd grade (out loud) and I read every last one after that. Even My Uncle Oswald, which is most definitely not a children’s tale. [/QUOTE] Ohhhh…The Fantastic Mr. Fox…I LOVED that book! Never a big Charlie & the Chocolate Factory fan, but Mr. Fox was the best. I also agree with those who mentioned L.M. Montgomery…I still reread the Anne and Emily series from time to time. I didn’t discover Betsy-Tacy until I was an adult, and I read them all…very charming, with realistic characters. Laura Ingalls Wilder is my favorite, and they get a reread fairly regularly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-from-your-childhood-that-hold-up-well/377465.md?page=3)