I just remembered another classic I was very taken with as a boy and that I read multiple times - "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George. It was such a great adventure and I remember wanting it to go on and on and wished the book was twice as long as it was.
Favorite Books from your childhood.
- Thread starter nortac
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I remember The Call of the Wild leaving quite an impression on me, as did The Yearling.
I remember that movie very well, always made me want to try algae pancakes.
I did not like reading when I was young. The schools forced you to read books that you had no interest in, so that really soured the whole idea of reading on your own. Yes, I gained a skill, but hated doing it. The first book that I read on my own and enjoyed was Frankenstein when I was about 12.
The school systems do a serious disservice to kids by their choice of books. My understanding is that it is even worse for boys now than it ever was and it was terrible decades ago. Very few boys will want to read Tuck Everlasting. Give them the choice for something like Robinson Crusoe. Instead of Sarah Plain and Tall give the option for Gulliver's Travels.
The school systems do a serious disservice to kids by their choice of books. My understanding is that it is even worse for boys now than it ever was and it was terrible decades ago. Very few boys will want to read Tuck Everlasting. Give them the choice for something like Robinson Crusoe. Instead of Sarah Plain and Tall give the option for Gulliver's Travels.
The works of L. Frank Baum were a favorite.
I had very good teachers in grade school, particularly in 3rd grade (Mrs. Berger) who really encouraged reading. I had a large collection of Classics Illustrated comics and she encouraged a club where we could take a few minutes out of the day to read those comics. I did go on to read many of the actual books (Like Robinson Crusoe and The Three Musketeers).
The Bridge Over the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes, both by Pierre Boulle
I was about 8 when the movie Planet of the Apes came out and it blew me away. Then months later I was in the library and by accident discovered that Planet of the Apes was a book too!! It blew my mind! I didn't know that they made movies from books. That was quite a discovery for me.
I read Planet of the Apes first and that gave me a hunger to find what else Pierre Boulle might have written. I was also impressed with Bridge over the River Kwai, and would never have guessed it was written by the same man.
I later saw the film based on the book, and it was nearly as good.
Off the top of my head, the most transformative books for me, at various ages, were A Friend Like That by Alfred Slote, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Time for Andrew by Mary Downing Hahn, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, and The Call of the Wild by Jack London. I was a voracious reader and I am sure I am forgetting some gems though.
Dr. Seuss, Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn, The Hardy Boys, Mad Magazine paperbacks
The Jungle Book is often mistaken by some to be the story of Mowgli, Shere Khan, Baloo and Bagheera where in actuality, that is just one of the stories in the book. It was a marvelous collection of Kiplings stories, and I encourage anyone and everyone to get the entire anthology and read all of them. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is fabulous.
Not to mention Kaa is one of Mowgli's teachers, rather than a villain, as is often portrayed in movie adaptations. Rikki Tikki Tavi and The White Seal were my personal favorites.
The Hardy Boys, and/or Nancy Drew series, but the versions that I would have read in grade school in the 50s. I understand they've been edited several times since to be more PC. Another favorite book series from back then was Bomba the Jungle Boy, the later Africa set. Libraries only carried a few of those back then, so I maybe only read half. Apparently none were so offensive or racist to scar me for life as I majored in Sociology and was a social worker my first 5 years out of college until I got burned out from the system, not the people.
the mention of Hardy Boys reminds me I was an Encyclopedia Brown junkie in grade school. I couldn't wait for the scholastic book orders to pick up another book.
I loved the Scholastic book order days when I was in elementary school! It was so exciting when the books came in. I can't remember the title of the book but one that made an impression on me was the story of a boy who was messing around with firecrackers or something when one exploded and blinded him. The story went on to tell about how he got a guide dog and learned to cope with his blindness.
Hardy Boys, Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, Encyclopedia Brown... But the best was Tom Swift.
Science, the promise of space exploration was everything.
AA
Science, the promise of space exploration was everything.
AA
nortac:
Hmmm...I remember reading this book series somewhere around 6-8yrs. I would eagerly await on the mail for the next book but before Mom would order the next book...I'd would have to 'prove' I read it (Mom was skilled...I got 'grilled' on every books narrative /
etc...sigh).
And anything by;
Also...I can't leave out anything by Richard Scarry.
And I remember reading this book somewhere around 10-11yrs (would read again).
The Martian Chronicles (and other books), by Ray Bradbury I think I read in my teens.
"[Reading] a book is a device to ignite the imagination". Alan Bennett
Hmmm...I remember reading this book series somewhere around 6-8yrs. I would eagerly await on the mail for the next book but before Mom would order the next book...I'd would have to 'prove' I read it (Mom was skilled...I got 'grilled' on every books narrative /
etc...sigh).
And anything by;
Also...I can't leave out anything by Richard Scarry.
And I remember reading this book somewhere around 10-11yrs (would read again).
The Martian Chronicles (and other books), by Ray Bradbury I think I read in my teens.
Although I don't consider them strictly reading for youth, I discovered them when I was young...any of Michael Moorcock's Elric series...still good. Really disappointed that this series never made it to the big screen. Mervyn Peake's, Gormenghast, Titus Groan and Titus Alone.
