# Your favorite books of childhood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 4, 1999, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861 "1999-11-04T19:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/101 "1999-11-06T07:45:00Z")
Lord of the Rings The Hobbit I’ve gone through about four editions of these since I first read them at 5, reading them to shreds. 🙂 Danny, Champion of the World is Dahl’s best and one of my favorites. Any Suess is great. Used to read a lot of the Three Detectives series as a kid. * * * \>\>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.\<\< —The dragon observes ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/102 "1999-11-06T15:12:00Z")
This thread’s already listed alot of childhood favorites; The Oz books, _The Hobbit_, Danny Dunn, the Heinlein juveniles, _The Twenty One Balloons_Encyclopedia Brown, _The Phantom Tollbooth_, _A Wrinkle in Time_, Jules Verne. One that hasn’t been mentioned in _The Magic Chalk_. It was about a boy who had a piece of magic chalk with the power that anything he drew became real. I had a copy when I was a young lad and about ten years ago I saw a copy at a garage sale and bought it for a friend who had young children. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the author’s name but I believe he was Scandinavian (the book was a translation). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/103 "1999-11-06T19:58:00Z")
I’ll add a few esoteric one’s: Christmas books: _The Year Without a Santa Claus_ by Phyllis McGinley _The Littlest Angel_ Every-day books: _Anatole_ _The Red Balloon_ ## and not so esoteric, but good for boys who might find reading a chore: Matt Christopher has about 20-30 sports-themed books out, appropriate for 3rd-6th grades, I’d guess. Sue from El Paso [members.aol.com/majormd/index.html](http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/104 "1999-11-06T20:14:00Z")
Did anyone read “The Mad Scientist’s Club”? That was one of my favorites. I loved Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I was also addicted to all of Heinlein’s Juvenile books, like “Starman Jones”, “Between Planets”, “Citizen of the Galaxy”, “Time for the Stars”, etc. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/105 "1999-11-06T20:27:00Z")
A Shel Silverstein book called “Lafcado, the Lion Who Shot Back.” I’m butchering spelling the names, but it was a hilarious book about a lion who ate the hunters, learned to shoot their rifle, went on to great acclaim in the human world as a trick shot artist and who then went back to the jungle, dressed as a hunter, and couldn’t figure out why his old lion pals didn’t recognize him and weren’t happy to see him. ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/106 "1999-11-06T20:37:00Z")
And to think I thought I was the only one to have read _A Wrinkle In Time_. The sequel to _A Wrinkle In Time_ was pretty cool to. A few others: _Encyclopedia Brown The Hobbit I, Robot_ by Issac Asimov Various _Mad Magazine_ mags and paperbacks _Star Trek_ novels _Farenhieght 451_ (sp) _The Martian Chronicles_ Various other Bradbury short stories A shit load of DC comic books like _Batman, Superman,_ and _The Justice League of America_ A bunch of “Ask me why” books, especially the ones with the Peanuts characters. and 20 years later, here I am, still visiting places that answer questions 😉 * * * You say “cheesy” like that’s a **BAD** thing. ---
**Author:** ![Snark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Snark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snark)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/107 "1999-11-07T22:40:00Z")
ANYTHING for young adults by **Enid Blyton**. I think I must have read “The Circus of Adventure” 50 times. Love her! ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/108 "1999-11-09T04:11:00Z")
**Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!** Okay, I’ll stop shrieking long enough to post a reply. I have hardly anything to add; I can second almost everything that’s been named here. Just let me clarify, though; **Anastasia Krupnik** by Lois Lowry and **Half Magic** by Edward Eager were each the first in their series. **What the Witch Left** was one of many, although not a series, by Ruth Chew. The story about the witch and the bumblebee was **The Witch Family** by Eleanor Estes. All her stuff is good, and I also recommend Elizabeth Enright (the Melendy family and Gone-Away). Also, Richard Peck, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Norma Klein, Lois Duncan, Maurice Sendak, Ellen Raskin and Anne Alexander. Once I was in a Borders and a kid was asking if they had any books about people being shrunk. I was a customer, but I overheard and recommended **Danny Dunn and the Smallifying Machine**. Would you believe it wasn’t in print?! I hope he found a library copy. Once I was waitressing and the soup of the day was chicken with rice. I served it as Maurice Sendak soup. Some people knew what I meant; some didn’t. * * * Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together. —Red Green ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/109 "1999-11-09T06:41:00Z")
Wow, a lot of my favorites here, though I read a lot of them when I was older than 13, some of them very recently. Ben and Me, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, and the Black Stallion series were great, also the Miss Pickerell books. I recommend them to all the kids in the school library where I volunteer. IMO, the best of the Seuss books are the Horton ones. Probably my favorite from those years is The Plain Princess, by I don’t know who. My daughters, who are both in that age range, love The Bridge to Terabithia, and Tuck Everlasting. Now, I have two “mystery books”. One of them is about a young girl who lives with a witch who she thinks is her mother. At some point she finds out that her real mother is imprisoned in one of the witch’s bottles of potions, or something like that, and at the end of the book, the witch turns into an anteater. Oh, and the little girl’s name is Minx. The other is set in England, and is about three(I think) friends or siblings on holiday in the country, staying with someone they are not totally familiar with. Distant relative, or something. They discover a cloak that makes people invisible, a magic ring, and some sort of maze or magic temple. I know that isn’t much to go on, but those are the visual images I remember. Oh, and Zenna Henderson’s books about “The People” are wonderful. No Different Flesh, and another one. I wanted to find those people and be one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/110 "1999-11-09T17:18:00Z")
Well, as long as someone’s mentioning Natalie (TUCK EVERLASTING) Babbitt, lemme throw in a plug for THE DEVIL’S STORYBOOK and THE DEVIL’S OTHER STORYBOOK. Excellent, witty, and thoughtful Devil stories. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/111 "1999-11-09T17:45:00Z")
Anybody remember the “LITTLE GOLDEN BOOKS”? I’m trying to locate a copy of a volume called “PERRI and PORRO” Anybody out there know where I can find? -AMAZON doesn’t have it. ---
**Author:** ![Eissclam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2acd7d/32.png) [@Eissclam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eissclam)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/112 "1999-11-09T20:30:00Z")
You all have mentioned so many. As I _skimmed_ through, I didn’t see: A Fish Out of Water (little kid’s book) The “Tom Swift” series All the Bill Peet books (more stuff for little kids) “Freddie the Pig” series (Walter R. Brooks) As for Natalie Babbitt: I wrote to her once to tell her how much I loved “The Search for Delicious” and “Kneeknock Rise” and she answered me – personally! She asked me to send her a copy of my first book. What class. I had framed a quotation from “Delicious” : “Facts are the barren branches on which we hang the dear obscuring foliage of our dreams.” Words to live by. Eissclam. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/113 "1999-11-10T00:26:00Z")
Hardy Boys. I’m currently re-collecting all of them, and they cost a lot more than they used to. 🙂 The Black Stallion. The Madelyn l’Engle books. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/114 "1999-11-10T02:15:00Z")
I talked to a friend of mine and asked him what his favorite book of childhood was and he didn’t hesitate ( and I’ve never heard of it) The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Jester. ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/115 "1999-11-10T05:18:00Z")
Surely you jest!! Are you telling me (us) that you’ve _never_ heard of The Phantom Tollbooth?? For Shame, Shirley!! Get to reading! (I know at least **Mike King** has heard of it.) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/116 "1999-11-10T08:07:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Anybody remember the “LITTLE GOLDEN BOOKS”? I’m trying to locate a copy of a volume called “PERRI and PORRO” > Anybody out there know where I can find? -AMAZON doesn’t have it. ## The following commercial sites are provided as an informational service. I have no financial ties to these sites (except I buy a fair amount of books through them.) If this is a violation of the board policy, please delete this post, and let me know… [http://www.abebooks.com/](http://www.abebooks.com/)[http://www.addall.com/](http://www.addall.com/)[http://www.bookfinder.com/](http://www.bookfinder.com/) Sue from El Paso [members.aol.com/majormd/index.html](http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/117 "1999-11-10T20:59:00Z")
The Beverly Cleary books: _Ellen Tebbitts, Otis Spofford,_ and the Henry Huggins series through _Henry and the Clubhouse._ (I turned 14 the year that one was published.) _Mr. Popper’s Penguins_ (author’s name was Atwater) _Big Tree_ (about Wawona the redwood tree) _Pepper_ (about a raccoon) _The Shy Stegosaurus of Cripple Creek_ Sorry, I don’t know the names of these three books’ authors.) _Building Blocks of the Universe_ by Isaac Asimov ---
**Author:** ![eden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f9b8f/32.png) [@eden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eden)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/118 "1999-11-10T22:49:00Z")
Oh my gosh, I thought I was the only person in the world who’d read the Finn Family Moomintroll books! They’re wonderful. So many of my faves are here already, but I notice no one is mentioning… Goodnight Moon (I used to laugh hysterically, my mom told me, at the “Goodnight nobody” page.) The Peter Churchmouse books (“I could listen and listen and listen!”) Albert Payson Terhune books, notably Lochinvar Luck, which made me a huge Collie fan. ---
**Author:** ![eden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f9b8f/32.png) [@eden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eden)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/119 "1999-11-10T22:55:00Z")
And KSO: I think I remember Little Witch…was her name Little Minx, or something like that? Did bad children get turned into flowerpots? Whatever it was, I loved it too. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/120 "1999-11-11T01:41:00Z")
I was at Borders today and saw copy of Phantom Tollbooth and I have seen it, but I don’t remember reading it. I have added that to my book wish list…excuse me…my children’s book wist list 😃 I have a couple of books I want to add that are recent publications. Anyone with kids in their life might want to check into them. **Say Please.** (By Virginia Austin, Candlewick Press, 1994, ISBN:156402833) Great for preschoolers with soft pictures. Teaching a little boy to Say Please through the animal’s in his life. " The dog said, Throw my ball, woof woof. Please…" ($4.99) \*\*Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star \*\* (By Iza Trapani, Whispering Coyote Press, 1994. ISBN:1580890156) A wonderfully new variation on the familiar poem with lovely illustrations. Very lyrical. Parents will enjoy it as much as the kids. ($6.95) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861.md?page=7)