What books did you read as a kid?

United States
January 11, 2010 6:18pm CST
How many of you have loved reading since a really young age, and what books did you read as a kid? My parents were determined to plant the love of reading in me. I remember being four and Mom telling me I had to follow along while she was reading so I could learn to do it myself. By the age of six I was reading books on my own. Some of my favorite books and books series were the Baby Sitter- Little Sister series, the Bailey School Kids Series, Bruce Coville's Unicorn Chronicles (Ironically, I am still waiting for the last book in this series. *sigh*), the Secrets of Droon series, and the magic tree house series. There was also a children's classic that I liked called the Secret Garden. What did you read?
6 people like this
46 responses
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
13 Jan 10
I didn't read a lot as a child, just couldn't find books I was interested in. Then I discovered horse books... I read all the horse books in the school and local public library in 3 years, THEN I discovered Science Fiction... I've been reading them ever since! Now, I love the Secret Garden - have you read her other books? I highly recommend them!
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
14 Jan 10
I didn't READ Secret Garden as a child, a teacher read it to the class, and I loved it, didn't remember the name but looked for it when I got grown so I could have a copy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Hodgson_Burnett
1 person likes this
• United States
13 Jan 10
I've read "A Little Princess" and I liked that one. I technically read it when I was a teenager, so I didn't include it in the books I'd read as a kid. I have yet to read any others, but I will be looking for them.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
13 Jan 10
Now that my daughter is getting old enough to discover the joys of reading, I am reliving my childhood vicariously through her. When I was just a little bit older than her, I started reading chapter books for the first time. I started out with The Boxcar Children and now she is reading the first one of those. She came to me a couple weeks ago and told me that she wanted to read a chapter book. She is seven years old right now. Some of the other books that I really liked to read were Sweet Valley Twins, The Babysitter Club and also I really liked reading anything written by Lurlene McDaniel.
1 person likes this
• United States
13 Jan 10
Seven years old and asking for chapter books, good for her! I remember reading a few of the Boxcar children books. I think it was only the first few. I liked the first one the best.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
12 Jan 10
The Secret Garden is the only one you've mentioned that I've actually read or even heard of. My very favorites were the Wizard of Oz books. I also read the Little House books, A Wrinkle in Time, Island of the Blue Dolphins, most of the Dr. Seuss books, Alice in Wonderland, the Nancy Drew books and many many others.
1 person likes this
• United States
13 Jan 10
I read the first Wizard of Oz book, and I liked that one. I was never much into Nancy Drew or mysteries in general, but I had a few friends who were.
@Allie_xoxo (1063)
• Canada
12 Jan 10
I'd planted the love in myself for as long as I can remember. Has anyone ever heard of a facinating book called Og, about these kids who go to another land through their floor. I remember the teacher reading it to my class in grade one or two, and to be honest I've never stopped thinking about it, but have never seen it again. Have you heard of Og?
1 person likes this
• United States
12 Jan 10
It sounds a bit like the Secrets of Droon series. The kids could travel to a fantasy world through the floor in the basement closet when the light was off. But I don't remember any series with a world called Og. Sorry!
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
12 Jan 10
I read when I was very young too. My grandfather spent a lot of time with me reading and everywhere you looked in my house there was a book. I liked the Choose Your Own Adventure Books. You could read through them and choose to turn to different pages after coming to a choice page and have a different story each time. I loved them. I also read Stephan's King The Eye of the Dragon from my school library.
1 person likes this
• United States
13 Jan 10
I read a few of those, but they always kinda frustrated me. I would get to the end of one path and then go back to where the last choice was and try to read all the options and find the best ending. Then I would get completely lost and not know what page I was going to. I like linear books much better, even if I don't get to choose the ending. :D
@jshan87 (31)
• United States
12 Jan 10
I actually cut my teeth on Goosebumps. I hate to say it but I craved those books, I think my favorite was the one with the evil camera or the one with the puppet.
1 person likes this
• United States
12 Jan 10
I read two Goosebumps books that my friend made me borrow, and that was when I first discovered that me and creepy just don't mix. lol
@Angelwriter (1954)
• United States
14 Jan 10
I learned to read in kindergarten, and one of the first books I read was The Poky Little Puppy. After that, I moved on to all the classics - Little Women, Heidi, Alice in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Those were all given to me by my mother, who knew I would be a reader. I also read The Secret Garden, but my favorite book by that author was A Little Princess. Baby-Sitters Club books, too, and the Sweet Valley High books. And, a whole boatload of other books that would take forever to name. I was always the girl with a book on the playground.
1 person likes this
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
13 Jan 10
The first books I learned to read were the old elementary school primers, allyoftherain, and I still remember them fondly. As I grew older I was fascinated by all of the Fairy Tales. I suppose that the Nancy Drew Mysteries and the Hardy Boys Mysteries were my favorites as a pre-teen. I also don't want to leave out the comics, like Archie and Veronica, Little Lulu, Superman, etc. I was a huge comic book fan. I guess that is why I love the movies they are making these days based on comic book characters.
@aerous (13434)
• Philippines
15 Jan 10
When I was a kid, I like to read our local books that have the history of our ancestors. Those are a good books because I can learn about my ancestors origin...Have a nice day!
@Ritchelle (3790)
• Philippines
16 Jan 10
i do remember reading science books solely because i've voluntarily lost interest in playing and there were stacks of donated books by americans in my grandparents' place where i used to live and i found these books a whole lot of different from my school books primarily because i don't need to answer any page there . it then shifted to hard bound story books with stamps that says donated. i still don't know why my grandparents have those. when i was twelve i was reading nancy drew. early teens and i was digging into the kennedy biography. now, it's basically the same thing and it just depends on the time and availability of those types of reading materials online.
@verabear (796)
• Philippines
13 Jan 10
I loved reading even as a kid. I had local story books from Adarna, then an illustrated Gulliver's Travels was among my favorites. I read classics too and The Secret Garden was a fave, so was Little Women. I also read Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys... Then Sweet Valley Twins and the whole franchise.
1 person likes this
• Pamplona, Spain
19 Jan 10
Hiya allofthebrain, The Secret Garden was one of my favourites the idea of having a secret refuge in your Garden or somewhere else is a wonderful idea. The Secret Garden holds your attention from the beginning to the end of it. Used to read anything I could get my hands on I was quite a bookworm before not so much now as I only like to read in English and there is not much of that here So I have to wait till I can get back to England and I usually go to the second hand bookstore and buy what I can from what´s on the Store naturally I have to really like the look of the story beforehand.
@MimiRemo (418)
• Philippines
12 Jan 10
When I was a kid, I liked reading Sweet Valley Twins and Nancy Drew. I often borrowed those old books in the school library. I also remember I had Disney books when I was way younger, those classic fairy tales, and a kiddie dictionary.
1 person likes this
• Canada
12 Jan 10
I read ALL those sweet valley books! I especially liked the Sweet Valley High Legacy and that special horror one about the blonde girl, Margo trying to Kill Elizabeth and take her place.
@flavyx (22)
• Romania
15 Jan 10
My favourite books that i really enjoyed when i was young were: Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Prince and the Pauper,some books from Jules Verne and fairy-tales from Grimm Brothers.
1 person likes this
@Sharon38 (1912)
• Jamaica
12 Jan 10
I started reading at age four but one book stands out in my memory and it is a book about Percy the Chick and Farmer Ben (I think it is. Percy is always getting into trouble or getting some one in trouble. Then I used to call my last brother Percy because he was just like that chick. He laughed when I told him the reason behind that name.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
12 Jan 10
I remember reading Where the Wild Things are and I was very upset that I did not get a chance to see the movie in theaters, I can't wait till it comes out on DVD. I also remember reading the Frog and Toad series about a frog and a toad that were friends. I also remember reading some of the Dr. Suess books, I thought they were silly and funny.
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
12 Jan 10
Hey ally! It has been a very very long time since I was a kid! I remember reading the Dr. Seus books when I was very young! And as I got older I remember reading Nancy Drew Books! I think I probably had the whole series because I just loved them! And then there were books like "Little Women" and other classics that I read too! Like I said, it was a very long time ago, but those are the ones that stand out the most!
1 person likes this
@acer5540 (354)
• China
13 Jan 10
I remember the books that i liked to read when i was young was Andeson Fairy Tales. Mon bought it for me as a present,i don't know read at first, so she read for me and explain the story to me, later , when i started to learn reading, i began to read by myself. Haha, how time flies, 20 years have passed.
@PastorP (1170)
• United States
12 Jan 10
Hi allyoftherain. I read mostly non-fiction when I was younger. For poetry I liked the works of Robert Frost. For fiction, the only thing I can remember is the Hardy Boys series.
@tabet20 (14)
• United States
12 Jan 10
When I was little I loved the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book. I also loved the nursery rhymes little Humpty Dumpty. When I started reading chapter books, I loved The Boxcar Children books. One of my favorite authors is Christoper Pike, he wrote teen mystery novels. Also I like the Sweet Valley series. I didn't get into the Harry Potter series until I was around 17 or so.