# The First "Real Book" You Ever Read. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090 "2006-02-18T14:50:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/21 "2006-02-18T18:36:55Z")
When I was about seven years old I begged my parents to buy me a book. It was a small one about six inches wide and five inches tall dilled with tiny print and photographs of WWII aircraft. It was pretty darned comprehensive, containing specifications of the aircraft and histories on each. My parents thought it was too ‘grown up’ for me, but I amazed them by being able to tell them just about anything they wanted to know about most of the aircraft. I started reading Poe at age eight, after I came upon a quotation from _The Conqueror Worm_ in a comic book. I’m not sure what the first book that was not of the ‘See Spot Run’ variety, but I think it was [_Snow Treasure_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0590425374/103-8395179-4959802?v=glance&n=283155), about Norwegian children protecting their town’s gold supply from the Germans in WWII. I read that one in about grade three. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/22 "2006-02-18T18:48:57Z")
I learned to read at an embarrasingly young age, and the first book I recall reading was _The Fellowship of the Ring_. I didn’t read it again for another twenty years or so. Clearly, this did major psychological damage. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/23 "2006-02-18T18:50:26Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > If you even remember, what was the first genuine novel you ever read? > \ > Anyway, do you remember the first fictional piece you ever read? I think for most of us these are two different things, which would explain the wide range of answers you’re getting. I’m not sure which you really want to know, myself. Very first fiction: Harold and The Purple Crayon was the first book I could read all the way through _all by myself_(!). Age 4 First book with chapters: I’m not counting those short early-reader “chapter books” like Amelia Bedelia, which are just picture books broken into chapters… My mom introduced me to Pippy Longstocking when I was in first grade. Age 6. First adult novel: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. Age 10. I’d begin reading everything I could get my hands on by Stephen King the next year… ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/24 "2006-02-18T18:52:22Z")
_Little Women_ at…seven? Maybe eight. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/25 "2006-02-18T19:04:14Z")
I remember reading _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ before I finished 1st grade. In the year following that I think I read every one of Roald Dahl’s children’s books. Other favorite writers I read before I discovered science fiction at age 8 were E.B. White and Judy Blume. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/26 "2006-02-18T20:13:35Z")
I don’t remember the first “real book” I ever read – I’m just too old – but the first “real book” I **remember** reading is The Box Car Children. Like **jayjay** , I read the Oz books at a young age. I remember that the librarian had to get them off the shelf for me, I was too short. My first “adult” books were by Mickey Spillane and Ian Fleming. Not in the OP, but the first book report I remember doing in grade school was SF, The Ant Men, which coincided nicely with the movie Them!, released in 1954. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/27 "2006-02-18T20:16:55Z")
It was either **Sundiver** by David Brin or **Moby Dick** , at 9 years old. I read them in close proximity so I’m not too sure anymore which came first. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/28 "2006-02-18T20:21:04Z")
In addition to the Oz books, I remember reading Thornton Burgess’ \*[Old Mother Westwind](http://home.overzealous.com:8080/comics/view.jsp?comic=roseisrose&date=20060218), with all the little anthropomorphic animals having little kid adventures. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/29 "2006-02-18T20:41:01Z")
_The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle_ - in first grade, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/30 "2006-02-18T20:58:44Z")
My dad started to teach me to read when I was 2 1/2. My father was diagnosed with a brain tumor and lost his ability to read when I was 6 so I would sit by his bed and read him his Zane Grey books. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/31 "2006-02-18T21:13:57Z")
The first novel I remember reading was called _Invaders From Rigel_, I can’t remember the author. I liked it so much ( at that age ) that I grabbed the next sci fi book from my Mom’s collection - Roger Zelazny’s _Creatures of Light and Darkness._ I read the _Invaders_ book in a day; Zelazny’s book took . . . somewhat longer. Several months longer, as it happens; it was quite a jump. I’d forgotten the start before I finished it, in fact. _Great_ book, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/32 "2006-02-18T22:07:23Z")
I read Pat Conroy and John Irving when I was about eleven, certainly not my first books, but those two are authors designed to scar a young mind. Man, I still love Hotel New Hampshire. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/33 "2006-02-18T22:17:23Z")
Do encyclopedia brown books count? I used to read them from about grade one to grade four. I could never solve the damn mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/34 "2006-02-18T22:31:55Z")
The first “real” book I consciously remember reading was _A Wrinkle In Time_, when I was five. But that was mostly out-loud reading with my mother and my older sister. Granted, at the same age I was also reading stuff like _Max the Taxi Dog_ and other sub-age-approrpriate books, because that was all we were given in school. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/35 "2006-02-18T22:34:16Z")
Depending on what you mean by “real book” _Mystery of the Green Ghost_ by Robert Arthur in about 4th grade _Tunnel Through Time_ by Lester Del Rey in about 5th grade _Siddhartha_ by Herman Hesse in high school ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/36 "2006-02-18T22:35:47Z")
_Madame Bovary_ ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/37 "2006-02-18T23:13:10Z")
My mum claims I could read at 2 two and a half. What her definition of reading is, I’m not sure. Probably some limited word recognition in Ladybird books. I know that I read ‘A Child’s Bible’ at the age of four (strange choice considering my parents are atheist/strong agnostic) and was definitely devouring Enid Blyton ‘Secret Seven’ books by the age of five. However, these might not count as ‘real’. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/38 "2006-02-18T23:30:59Z")
I would have been quite young when I read my first full length book. Some of my early memories are of reading Rudyard Kipling’s “[Just So Stories](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1857159063/qid=1140304461/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/002-8130698-4408803?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)”, and it may very well have been the first novel I read. I would have been about five or six, I’d say. I’m thinking the book had both the Jungle Book, and Just So Stories in it. One of the earliest “actual” books I was given was [The Blue Fairy Book](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/155742439X/sr=8-2/qid=1140304221/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-8130698-4408803?%5Fencoding=UTF8), I believe I was eight when that was given me, along with Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. (The Kipling was my father’s book.) I was reading Issac Asimov’s “I, Robot” at about age 9.5, but also age appropriate stuff like Nancy Drew, Wizard of Oz, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Freckles, Beautiful Joe, The Heidi series, Little Women, 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Tom Sawyer, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. I was given Pride and Prejudice for my tenth birthday, but for some reason I didn’t like it much until later, and I read A Rose in Bloom that year. Each year for my birthday I got at least one good book, often several, sometimes hardcover. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/39 "2006-02-18T23:56:14Z")
The first “real book” - i.e., books written for adults, was Walter M. Lords’ _A Night to Remember_. I was 6. The first “real book” that was fiction (as dictated by the OP, though ANTR wasn’t used as a “reference”) was _The Seven Science Fiction Novels of H. G. Wells_. I was 7. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090/40 "2006-02-19T00:11:21Z")
I’m certain I was reading other books long before, but the one I remember most was \*Island of the Blue Dolphins \*by Scott O’Dell. I read it when I was 8 and in 3rd grade. My first adult novel was when I was in 5th grade. I was spending a boring vacation with my grandma, it was raining, so I looked through the bookshelf. I pulled out _The Scarlett Letter_ and read it cover to cover that weekend. Whew. Of course, I had to ask Grandma to explain a few things. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-real-book-you-ever-read/345090.md?page=3)