# Your favorite kid's books **URL:** \ **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:** 3
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2000, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/41 "2000-07-26T17:27:47Z")
Peter Pan Narnia The Phantom Toll Booth And A.A. Milne- not, actualy, the stories so much as the poetry- “James, James Morrison, Morrison Whetherby George Duprey Took Great Care of his Mother Though he was only three.” of course to really appreciate them, you have to have my mother come over your house and read them to you. There’s a couple I almost forgot till i started working in a bookstore: The Search for Delicious The Light Princess (for the longest time I thought I dreamt that story) Mistress Masham’s Repose If you don’t know them, read them. Better yet, have children just so you can read them to them. ---
**Author:** ![Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bottle_of_Smoke)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2000, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/42 "2000-07-26T17:39:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by popokis5 \* > **Denbo-were the three investigators the Alfred Hickcock series?** Yep, those are the ones. Alfred Hitchcok would loan them his limo and they had their secret hideout in an old trailer buried in a junkyard. I never really understood the Hitchcock connection, but it’s been a while. I heard that they are revising the old series and it no longer has any reference to Alfred Hitchcock…some kind of legal mumbo jumbo with his estate. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/43 "2000-07-26T17:44:19Z")
JESS – I too love the Betsy/Tacy books, but mostly the later ones (high school and marriage). I went out an bought a bunch of them when they were reissued in paperback a couple years ago, but not the early ones (“Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill”) because they’re not as interesting to me. I also read and re-read childrens’ books. My favorite “chapter book” is one called _The Brothers Lionheart_ by the woman who wrote Pippi Longstocking – Lindstrom? It’s very different from Pippi, though, a fantasy-type saga for an older reader – what I think they now call “young adult.” My favorite “picture book” is _Arrow To The Sun_, which I vividly recall reading and loving in first grade. Other faves: – Louisa May Alcott books – _Little Women_, _Eight Cousins_ – _The Dark Is Rising_ series – The Chronicles of Narnia – Scott O’Dell books – _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ – _The Westing Game_, which I recommend to every “young reader” I meet. Some recently published favorites include _Ella Enchanted_, _Catherine, called Birdy_, and _The Midwife’s Apprentice_, all more for girls than for boys. And, of course, Harry Potter. My favorites for kids’ poetry are Shel Silverstein’s _Where The Sidewalk Ends_ and A.A. Milne’s _Now We Are Six_ Man, I love kids’ books. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![popokis5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@popokis5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/popokis5)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2000, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/44 "2000-07-26T17:52:17Z")
denbo-I though so. Those were really good. I still have the series packed away up in my attic. I looked for them at the bookstore for a friend’s son, but I couldn’t find them. (Pre-web). I hope when they revive them they reissue the old stories also. ---
**Author:** ![Welfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e56c9b/32.png) [@Welfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welfy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2000, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/45 "2000-07-26T18:47:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayron 32 \* > \*\* > _Bunnicula_, _The Celery Stalks at Midnight_, _Howliday Inn_, \*Return to Howliday Inn \*, _Bunnicula Strikes Again_, _Nighty-Nightmare_ _Rabbit-cadabra_ all by James Howe. Bunnicula was the Harry Potter of my youth. I LOVED these books. All my friends LOVED these books. We’d read them over and over and wait for the next one to come out. The basic story was about a bunny rabbit that was adopted by a family, that they named Bunnicula after finding him abandoned outside a showing of the movie Dracula. The family’s other pets(Harold, Chester, and Howie), however, begin to suspect that his name has a more sinister connection… These books were GREAT fun, and I loved every page of them. Does anyone else remember the Bunnicula series? \*\* I do! I had at least 3-4 of those books and I loved them! Unfortunately, I went through this phase where I wanted to be a do-gooder so I took like 1/3 of my books and donated them to the library, and I think my Bunnicula books were among those. _sniffle sniffle_ Does anyone remember _How to be a Perfect Person in Three Days_? It was about a kid in 4th grade who thought he was a loser so he took this book out of the library telling him how to be perfect. It included wearing a piece of broccoli around his neck. I remember our teacher having us wear broccoli every day when we read that story. I love hands-on learning! :^) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2000, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/46 "2000-07-26T23:08:55Z")
Whenever these threads come along, I read through them quickly, desperately hoping that my Great Suggestion hasn’t already been taken by someone else. Then I quickly hit Reply and compose a fast message, my heart pounding at the possibility of a simulpost. So it is with great joy and alacrity that I mention: **The Tripod Trilogy.** _The White Mountains_, _The City of Gold and Lead_, and _The Pool of Fire_, by John Christopher. (Here’s the [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068900852X/o/qid=964652566/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_3/102-7220940-4752106) link. This edition has the whole series in one volume.) The first book was our in-class “story time” read-aloud selection in 5th or 6th grade. After less than a week, I was so hooked I went to the library, got all three books, and zipped straight through them. Appropriate for kids ages 8 to 15; adventurous, thoughtful, and just a little scary in all the right places. If you haven’t read these, do. They still hold up (mostly) for an adult reader. You’re welcome… P.S. A big “second the motion” to the George and Martha books. Wonderful, wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![bunnymom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@bunnymom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunnymom)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/47 "2000-07-27T00:31:19Z")
I loved Richard Scary as much for the illustrations as the storied themselves.You could sit and find all sorts of little details.Where’s the goldbug? When we were very little, my brother and I loved a Sesame Street book called “There’s a Monster at the End of This Book”.Throughout the book Grover is trying to talk you out of turning the page.It was just hysterical but not a good bedtime story.Got us too wound up. \*\*Mrs.Piggle-Wiggle!\*\*She was a kind of good witch with all kinds of magical ways to get kids to behave and do what they were told.And she lived in an upside down house!How cool is that? I read Watership Down to my hubby a few years ago and we both loved it.Now I’ve given it to my favorite niece and she’s hooked too.Reading is such a fun addiction! ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/48 "2000-07-27T00:36:58Z")
I can’t belive I forgot: Bunnicula A Wrinkle In Time Little Women Pippi Longstocking I just realized that I don’t remember any picture books. I know my parents must have read them to me, but I can’t think of a single one. ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/49 "2000-07-27T00:41:32Z")
I love the Louis Sachar series, _Sideways Stories From Wayside School_. I can’t get enough of them. Also, Shel Silverstein’s, _A Light in the Attic_, and all of its spin-offs. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/50 "2000-07-27T01:07:06Z")
I have so many, I will list but a few: Where The Wild Things Are. The Rainbow Fish. Stellaluna. The True Story of The Three Little Pigs. (ResevoirDog- This is by the same author as The Stinky Cheese Man, and one of my all time faves) The Empty Pot. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Green Eggs and Ham, and anything by Dr. Seuss. A Light In The Attic, and anything by Shel Silverstein. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/51 "2000-07-27T01:16:18Z")
Green Eggs and Ham (include all Dr. Suess books) Where the Wild Things Are The Giving Tree (which I read to my nephew all the time) And, when I was in about 4th or 5th grade, I read the Babysitter’s Club Series. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/52 "2000-07-27T01:40:50Z")
I have just realized that I remember no books I had read when a child, except for _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ while in second grade. Took me some time to read it, too. Got one gold star. Kelly Sullivan read about thirty _Go, Dog, Go!_ or _Ten Apples Up On Top_ books in the same time frame and SHE got the prize. Bitch. That made me turn to comic books and Mad Magazine… ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/53 "2000-07-27T09:03:25Z")
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. Of course! Forgot that one in my eld. ---
**Author:** ![Trout\_Mask\_Replica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Trout\_Mask\_Replica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trout_Mask_Replica)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/54 "2000-07-27T11:42:30Z")
Anything by Dr. Seuss The Chronicles of Narnia The Lord of the Rings Robert Peck’s ‘Soup’ books Sideways Stories from Wayside School Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Blubber Bridge to Terabithia The ‘Great Brain’ books Island of the Blue Dolphins How to Eat Fried Worms Dear Mr. Henshaw The Redwall Abbey series Anything by Roald Dahl The Three Investigators series Anything by John Bellairs My sister liked R.L. Stine, as well as those Babysitter’s Club and Sweet Valley High books. ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/55 "2000-07-27T14:47:04Z")
May I add the following to the list: Tuck Everlasting Number the Stars Sign of the Beaver The Witch of Blackbird Pond Maniac Magee Skinnybones The Best Christmas Pageant Ever The Hundred Dresses ---
**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:** [July 27, 2000, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/56 "2000-07-27T15:28:53Z")
Anybody here familiar with _Struwwelpeter,_ usually translated as Shock-Headed Peter? ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/57 "2000-07-27T15:46:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Erika \* > \*\*- Madeline L’Engle’s books - Wrinkle in Time, The Austins, everything. > > - Where the Wild Thinks Are > - okay - going obscure here - George and the Purple Crayon > - The Phantom Toll Booth > - Shel Silverstein stuff > - original Nancy Drew books > - A Little Princess > - Anne Rinaldi books (especially Wolf by the Ears) > - The Littles > - Avi books > > and lots lots more that just aren’t coming to mind now . . . \*\* I think it’s _Harold and the Purple Crayon_. Did the same guy do one about a dinosaur, a brontosaurus (back when we called them that, uh-huh), or is that the same book? Clifford the Big Red Dog was a favorite of mine; also any Richard Scarry books (hurray for Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm!). ---
**Author:** ![Jera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jera)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/58 "2000-07-27T19:05:24Z")
> [@](#): > > _Bunnicula_, _The Celery Stalks at Midnight_, _Howliday Inn_, \*Return to Howliday Inn \*, _Bunnicula Strikes Again_, _Nighty-Nightmare_ _Rabbit-cadabra_ all by James Howe. Does anyone else remember the Bunnicula series? \*\* Are you kidding, I **LOVED** the Bunnicula series. Also, someone mentioned _So You Want to be a Wizard_ I though I was the only one. I have made so many people read them, and they all love them. I also loved these: The Westing Game (If you haven’t read this, GO GET IT you could read it in one sitting, it’ll take you about an hour. It’s wonderful) The babysitter’s Club (up to 40 or so, then they kinda got old) Thoroughbred, ALL of them Tuck Everlasting The MYTH Books (you know Skeeve and Aahz not really for kids but I read them whe I was in middle school) Magic Kingdom, for Sale (also not for kids, but I read ALOT when I was little) Make way for Ducklings The Phantom Tollbooth (Once again, if you haven’t read this, read it you’ll laugh your ass off) Mythology (any and all) Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn The Redwall books King of the Wind The Dear America Series (these are relativley new, the were the pre-Harry Potter rage) The Hobbit The Stainless Steel Rat series My Teacher Is An Alien Dr. Dolittle: A Treasury But, my all time favorite book growing up was, believe it or not, _The Count of Monte Cristo_ I had a “Young Reader’s” version and I absolutley loved it. Now I read the real one and its even better. And of course, Harry Potter. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/59 "2000-07-27T19:29:08Z")
Well, heck, the really good stuff’s already been mentioned, but here’s one: I had a great fondness (as in, I checked it out of the library at least six times) for a book called _Sir MacHinery_. Premise: an inventor moves into a castle in Scotland to work on a robot. Some brownies (the mythical kind, not the junior-Girl Scout kind) discover the completed robot, and, since he looks like a knight in armor and there are boxes labeled “machinery” lying about, they call him “Sir MacHinery” (Scotland, ha!) and decide to recruit him for a Mission of Great Importance. Full of heroic stuff, ghosts, brownies, the Loch Ness Monster, and other coolness. ---
**Author:** ![katey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@katey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katey)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/60 "2000-07-27T22:52:49Z")
I haven’t seen anyone mention Big Max yet. It was one of the I Can Read series. I always wanted to visit Pooka Pooka. Amelia Bedelia used to crack me up as a kid. And The Little Prince which always reminds me to not become too much of a grown-up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849.md?page=4)