# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/161 "2000-08-20T22:45:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NothingMan \* > \*\*As has been mentioned many times above, “Charlotte’s Web” was a very influential book in my life. I truly love it. I must have read the book about 6 times over, back to back. > > When I was a senior in high school I had a choice between portraying the lead in “Grease” (I was a theater dork) at school or a small part in “Charlotte’s Web” at a fairly prestigious community theater. I chose to be “John Abel” . . . "Fern"s dad. I do not regret it. My HS drama director never forgave me. Oh well. \*\* Charlotte’s Web. I knew I forgot something- though spiders have, still do, and always will have the power to frighten me to death. That’s really sweet that you chose the role in Charlotte’s Web though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dubs)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/162 "2000-08-21T00:15:04Z")
One of life’s greatest pleasures is to find a book that I had read as a kid. When I found a new edition of _Mara, Daughter of the Nile_ by Eloise Jarvis McGraw in a Borders Bookstore, I could barely keep from jumping up and down and screaming with joy. I had been looking for it casually for many years and never really expected to find it. (This was before you could find almost anything via the internet.) When I read it again after not having seen a copy for 25-30 years, it was almost exactly as I remembered it. I didn’t own many books as a kid except for Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins. Most of my reading was from our school library. About 10 years ago I also bought my own copy of _The Princess and the Goblin_ and _The Princess and Curdie_, old classics by George MacDonald. For quite a few years now I’ve been trying to remember the title of a book that I’d checked out of my school library quite a few times (can’t remember if it was elementary or jr. high). It was sort of a fantasy about a young girl named Anemone (which I could never pronounce) and her dog, a Kerry Blue Terrier. There was some sort of bad guy of course and I think a castle. I’ve even searched some of the old book sites on the net trying to stumble across it. No luck yet. ---
**Author:** ![Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/163 "2000-08-21T01:36:55Z")
Hmmm. I still am a child. In the last year I read 35 Dragonlance books, all of Salvatore’s Forgotton Realms books, 15 Vampire books and I reccomend them to anyone. Especially the DL Choronicles and Legends. You’ll enjoy them, I promise. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/164 "2000-08-21T02:16:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Goose \* > \*\*Hmmm. I still am a child. In the last year I read 35 Dragonlance books, all of Salvatore’s Forgotton Realms books, 15 Vampire books and I reccomend them to anyone. Especially the DL Choronicles and Legends. You’ll enjoy them, I promise. \*\* Speaking of dragons- I think there’s a book called my Father’s Dragon. It might have been a series. I dunno… Oh yeah, two other books i loved, “Outside Over There”- think that’s the title, and “Guy and Jack.” I remember liking Mauriece (sp?) Sendak as a child. Where the Wild Things Are was good…and so was In the Night Kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![BobSchroeck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@BobSchroeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobSchroeck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/165 "2000-08-23T03:17:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jera \* > 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. Same here… I have all of them: _Deep Wizardry, High Wizardry_ and _A Wizard Abroad_ being the others. I remember being part of a writers’ workshop at Princeton University in the middle 1980s, where Diane read the passage from _High Wizardry_ (still being written at that point) which had the cameo by the Peter Davidson Dr. Who… ---
**Author:** ![BobSchroeck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@BobSchroeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobSchroeck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/166 "2000-08-23T03:24:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by laughery \* > \*\*I was surprised that the Tom Swift books didn’t show anywhere. “Tom Swift and his \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_\_\_” Giant cannon, giant airship, etc. I wonder how well the handyman Obidiah (sp?) would be received in today’s pc climate. His speech was almost unreadable. > Don Laughery \*\* Jeeze, the original Tom Swifts? Yow, _primitive_ – “Tom Swift and his HandHeld Battery Lamp” is about the level of technology in those. I’m far more familiar with the _second_ Tom Swift series, “Tom Swift, Jr.”, which came out in the late 50s and early 60s. The first volumne was “Tom Swift and his Flying Lab” (which was a _monster_ jet with all kinds of then-cutting-edge research equipment on it) and eventually got as far as antigravity spaceships… This Tom was the son of the original Tom Swift. Oddly enough, a few years ago I stumbled upon a _third_ generation of Tom Swifts in a local K-Mart. Young Adult paperbacks (of course), they started off with a Tom Swift (who might or might not have been TS III, it wasn’t made clear in the little I browsed) who was into parallel universes and quantum black holes… Unfortunately, I couldn’t spare the cast to buy them at the time. I gotta get over to [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) or Barnes and Noble and see if they’re still in print somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![BobSchroeck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@BobSchroeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobSchroeck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/167 "2000-08-23T03:28:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by E \* > The Mad Scientists’ Club! I recently spent a sinful amount of money to buy one of those books, a slender mass-market paperback, from a used bookstore via bibliofind. Oh, I loved those stories. Oh yeah, those were great. I still remember the lake monster and the money in the cannon… In a similar vein: \*The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet{/i] and its sequels. ---
**Author:** ![HerMajestyLorna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7cd45c/32.png) [@HerMajestyLorna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HerMajestyLorna)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/168 "2000-08-23T04:15:21Z")
Does anyone else remember the Mr. Men books? Tiny, white books, featuring people like Mr. Neat, Mr. Clumsy, Mr. Ticklish, Mr. (insert any adjective)… these were GREAT!!! ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/169 "2000-08-23T04:44:05Z")
I remember the Mr. Men and Little Miss books. (Little Miss books were by the same folks who did Mr. Men. Little Miss Late, Little Miss Naughty, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/170 "2000-08-23T05:10:40Z")
“Dominic” by William Steig (cried at the end because it was OVER. Hey, I was eight.) “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster The Alice and Sylvie&Bruno books by Lewis Carroll “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeline L’Engle The Narnia books by C. S. Lewis “The Dark is Rising” series by Susan Cooper: freaky, Freaky, FREAKY! ---
**Author:** ![Togepi\_no\_Miko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Togepi\_no\_Miko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Togepi_no_Miko)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/171 "2000-08-23T05:41:51Z")
The Green Futures of Tycho- an absolutely first rate science fiction book about alterate futures and time travel. I 8think\* it’s by William Sleator… The Silver Glove, and sequels ---
**Author:** ![BobSchroeck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@BobSchroeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobSchroeck)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/172 "2000-08-24T04:00:38Z")
For those interested… I went to [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and just searched on Tom Swift under books; I got 86 hits back, including collections of the original volumes (now called Tom Swift Sr.), several of the 1950s-60s Tom Swift Jr books, and at least three of the third generation TS books (published ca. 1991). ---
**Author:** ![Scribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Scribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribe)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/173 "2000-08-24T04:47:06Z")
I’m glad that some of you remembered the Mrs. Pigglewiggle books. I had them read to me in elementary school and I thought they were great. I have one of the books now. Poetic justice used amusingly to make bad kid characters smarten up. I also liked Encyclopedia Brown, the Great Brain series (I once owned them all), the Tripod SF series, the old Hardy Boys (I had their Detective Handbook…with tracking people advice), the Narnia books…and I read a lot of Beverly Cleary, Dr. Seuss and Judy Blume when I was a wee gaffer. ``` I also remember my Grade 6 teacher reading us a bowdlerized abridgement of Les Miserables in class. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Creant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Miss\_Creant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Creant)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/174 "2000-08-24T04:58:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jess \* > \*\*I also love children’s books and I second (or third) most everything in this thread. Especially, (these are books I still re-read often, although it is by no means a complete list of my favorites!): > the Betsy/Tacy books – the High School and older ones are my particular favorites. > > the Little House books – I HATED the TV series! > > the All-of-a-kind Family books – they made me want to be Jewish. > > the Narnia books > > the Great Brain books – Has anyone else read Fitzgerald’s memoirs for adults? Interesting look at the genesis of this fun series. > anything by Beverly Cleary – I prefer the Henry Huggins series to Ramona, though, for some reason. And Otis Spofford is my absolute favorite. Also, Cleary’s memoirs are fascinating. > > anything by Rumer Godden – I want the last few paragraphs of The Doll’s House to be read at my funeral. > > As for new children’s books… has anyone read Holes by Louis Sachar? Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Totally left Harry Potter in the dust, as far as I’m concerned. Although, I DID like the Harry books, too. \*\* My sister and I love the Betsy/Tacy books. However,her boyfriend Jim, torments her about this constantly. She has a Betsy Tacy and Tib mouse pad and gets the official newsletter. Personally, I just enjoy watching torment the women who is responsible for my need to be heavily medicated and in therapy 2x a week. Loved Ramona. I think it was the illustrations. ---
**Author:** ![H\_Wylde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@H\_Wylde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H_Wylde)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/175 "2000-08-28T21:03:36Z")
That would be “Curious George and the High Tension Powerline” Coincidentaly, the last in the series. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Spider\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Spider\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider_Woman)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/176 "2000-08-28T21:57:02Z")
Unless, of course, George was well-grounded. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![xanadu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c4cdca/32.png) [@xanadu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanadu)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/177 "2000-08-29T16:06:23Z")
“The Little Prince” is a really good book. It’s a n adult’s book cleverly disguised as a children’s book. I’d recommend it to everyone! ---
**Author:** ![iksova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/59ef9b/32.png) [@iksova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iksova)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/178 "2000-08-29T16:35:14Z")
Has anyone heard of a book called Dogsbody? It has been lurking in the dark corners of my mind for years and I pretty much assumed I dreamt it until this thread caused me to do some digging. IT DOES EXIST!!! Has anyone else read it? It was wierd a la Madeline L’Engle. (PS Words like fewmets, tesseracts, and farandolae still pepper my conversation). I don’t think anyone else has mentioned Enid Blyton, but I loved her Adventure series… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/179 "2000-09-23T15:30:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iksova \* > \*\*I don’t think anyone else has mentioned Enid Blyton, but I loved her Adventure series… \*\* Oh I mentioned her. I did too…I thought they were great. When I was little anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Deadball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Deadball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deadball)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849/180 "2000-12-28T03:33:58Z")
This is the first time I have visited the Straight Dope Message Board, and instantly I find something interesting. No one mentioned the Danny Dunn series, my very favorite as I was growing up. I cannot remember who wrote it. Has anyone else read this series? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-kids-books/26849.md?page=10)