# Your favorite kid's books
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 26, 2000, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849 "2000-07-26T00:49:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/1 "2000-07-26T00:49:21Z")
I really like children’s books. I often read them for pleasure (and not just because the Harry Potter craze has taken everyone by the short curlies).
I wondered what other people’s favorite children’s books were/are. They may be from your childhood, or books that you’ve read to your children and really liked. Or, if you’re like me, books that you’ve discovered recently, and have kept the embers of kiddie lit glowing.
My favorites are
_Ferdinand
The Encyclopedia Brown series
What Happened in Hamelin_ by Gloria Skurzynski (find it, read it, you’ll love it!)
_The Captain Underpants books
Harry Potter
Most Chris Van Allsburg
Tuesday_
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### Author:  [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/2 "2000-07-26T01:00:46Z")
I enjoyed the Encyclopedia Brown series.
My personal favorite is “The Oddkins” by Dean Kootz
Yes the author of “wathers” and “lightning”
Osip
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### Author:  [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/3 "2000-07-26T01:01:41Z")
Well, that depends on what you consider a “children’s story”.
But I’ll go with any and all of Roal Dahl (did I spell that right) and JRR Tolkien.
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### Author:  [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/4 "2000-07-26T01:12:13Z")
err watchers… fricking mistyped grrr…
Osip
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### Author:  [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/5 "2000-07-26T01:16:23Z")
the Ramona Quimby books
the Fudge Hatcher books
The Children of Green Knowe
101 Dalmations
The Dark is Rising series
So You Want to be a Wizard
The Littles
Charlotte’s Web
the Black Stallion books
James and the Giant Peach
Treasure Island
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Oliver Twist
Rabbit Hill
any Robin Hood related stories
the Chronicles of Narnia
All Aboard for Freedom
The Incredible Journey
The Jungle Book
There’s probably more, but that’s all I remember right now.
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/6 "2000-07-26T01:19:05Z")
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Kat took all the booooo-ooooooks!
Just kidding. 🙂
The Boxcar Children
Tarzan
Wizard of Oz
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/7 "2000-07-26T01:36:36Z")
The Phantom Tollbooth
Narnia
Where the Wild Things Are
Winnie the Pooh _and_ The House at Pooh Corner
My younger daughter is on a hiatus from Oz. She has read up to number ten, _Rinkitink in Oz_, since school got out. I am insisting she read three other books before she gets the next in the series. She is now on page 62 of _The Hobbit_. She has read _Charlotte’s Web_ and _Stewart Little_.
Not bad for someone who just turned seven in June.
My older daughter seems to only read Harry Potter lately.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/8 "2000-07-26T01:52:42Z")
The PHantom Tollbooth
Where’s Waldo 🙂
LOVED! Encylopedia Brown
Tales of a 4th grade Nothing
Polar Express
A series of books… I don’t remember the series name…t hey were by Lloyd Alexander… the books were
The Book of Three
The Black Cauldron
(shoot I forget the 3rd and 5th… the fourth is
Taran Wanderer)
Those were excellent books
Where the REd Fern Grows.
Screeme (I’m not a book)
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### Author:  [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/9 "2000-07-26T01:58:58Z")
The Giving Tree (which can be found at [http://members.tripod.com/KINGSCOVE/THE-GIVING-TREE](http://members.tripod.com/KINGSCOVE/THE-GIVING-TREE) )
and anything else by Shel Silverstein
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### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/10 "2000-07-26T02:27:30Z")
Screeme – do _The Castle of Llyr_ and _The High King_ ring any bells? The series is called the Chronicles of Prydain. (The former children’s bookstore clerk strikes again.)
Of course I took the job because children’s books are one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Especially _Anne of Green Gables_, _A Little Princess_, the All-of-a-Kind Family series, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. I can’t wait 'til I have a daughter so I’ll have a good excuse for indulging. A boy just wouldn’t be the same, although I do have fond memories of J. D. Fitzgerald’s Great Brain series – and the Harry Potters are pretty good, although they’re too new to evoke all those layers of childhood memories.
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/11 "2000-07-26T02:39:16Z")
The Black Stallion Series
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Little House on the Prarie Series
The Nancy Drew Series (The old ones. Not the new ones)
The Ann of Green Gables series
The Secret Garden
The Little Princess
The Jungle Book
And of course, The Ramona Quimby Series
I have a lot of “series” books, don’t I?
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/12 "2000-07-26T02:49:54Z")
That’s funny… **SaxFace** came by my office yesterday and asked me for a buncha recommendations for children’s book, as she wanted to surprise a co-worker with a gift.
She expressed a fondness for James Marshall’s picture books about the Stupid family, and I advised her to seek out the same author/illustrator’s books about **George and Martha,** two massively unwieldy hippos who indulge in tightrope-walking, ballet, high-diving, etc.
Martha is always elegant in a long skirt and matching handbag, with a tulip behind her ear, while the dapper George invariably carries a walking stick and wears a Homburg. They’re touted as “the best of friends,” but they occasionally descend into activities like spraying each other with garden hoses and playing other evil tricks.
I give these out regularly as kids’ birthday gifts, knowing that the parents who read them will be just as pleased as the children who hear them.
One other must-have for any household with kids: _The Oxford Book of American Children’s Poetry._
The goblins’ll GETCHA iffn’ you don’t watch OUT!!!
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### Author:  [@sorrel554](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sorrel554)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/13 "2000-07-26T02:51:05Z")
I used to love series (series-es?) too. My two favorites of all time are the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and the Maud Hart Lovelace “Betsy-Tacy” books. The best thing in the world was getting a new book in a series. I remember dropping everything to read the new ones, even resorting to the flashlight under the covers trick.
I also liked Encyclopedia Brown (those were cheap, so I could save up for new ones pretty quickly)
the Great Brain books
the “Soup” books by Robert Newton Peck?
the Noel Streatfeild “Shoes” books
the All-of-a-Kind Family books
the Black Stallion books
I never much liked Anne of Green Gables, but I loved L.M. Montgomery’s “Emily” trilogy.
I still read and reread children’s books, especially my favorites, quite often.
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### Author:  [@AndYrAStar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndYrAStar)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/14 "2000-07-26T03:17:54Z")
_A Rat’s Tale_ by Tor Seidler.
Cute, easy to read, has gorgeous illustrations, and most of all, it’s about RATS! (which are the best small animal pets BTW)
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### Author:  [@Cestlavie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cestlavie)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/15 "2000-07-26T03:42:24Z")
The BFG by Roald Dahl I still love it!!
The Boxcar Children =) I always wanted to live with them!
Have you ever heard of
Rats, Spiders, and Love
I forget the author but I have the book autographed by her.
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### Author:  [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/16 "2000-07-26T04:03:42Z")
So \* that’s \* how you spell his name. Well I’ll be…
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### Author:  [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/17 "2000-07-26T04:42:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by D Marie \*
> \*\*
> the “Soup” books by Robert Newton Peck?
> \*\*
I have always loved these books! In fact, I went to a local school’s book fair not too long ago and bought _A Day No Pigs Would Die_ which I have just discovered is on the list of most frequently banned books in the 1990s! WHY?
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### Author:  [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/18 "2000-07-26T04:55:40Z")
I still read childrens books. My favorites were/are:
Oz-all 14
Prydian
Narnia
Roald Dahl
Encyclopedia Brown
The Great Brain
The Secret Garden/Little Princess
Ramona
Emily of New Moon
Adrian Mole
Bridge to Terabithia
The Trumpeter Swan
The Railway Children
The Wishing Chair
Beatrix Potter
The Iron Man
The Donkey Prince
And of course, Harry Potter
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### Author:  [@jessicala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jessicala)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/19 "2000-07-26T05:37:48Z")
The Tailor of Gloucester
Madeleine L’Engle’s _Wrinkle in Time_ trilogy
David/Leigh Eddings’ Belgariad and Mallorean series, although I don’t know if they would be considered children’s books.
From when I was very young: Santa Mouse. It was one of the first books I was able to read and I still have it.
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### Author:  [@Welfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welfy)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/20 "2000-07-26T06:17:00Z")
Hmmm…everything you guys said. :^) I’m such a bookworm that I’ve read basically every book mentioned in this thread.
Anyone ever read any Brian Jacques books or Watership Down? For you animal lovers (hey, admit it, I saw Rabbit Hill, George and Martha, Beatrix Potter, etc mentioned) you’d really enjoy these books.
It’s good to read the books once when you’re a child, but read them again and again as the years go by. I didn’t notice the Christian undertones of the Chronicles of Narnia until I read the books a few times, for instance. And when you read books a few times through you catch a lot of things that you missed the first time around.
The first two books I ever read by myself were “In a People House” and “Look Out For Pirates!” Odd, huh?
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